Looking for help on weird navigation lighting issue....??

Ok, I recently got a new (to me) boat, this is the 6th boat I've owned and I've never had an issue like this....I'm hoping maybe someone else has experienced this in the past and can steer me in the right direction. So I can't get my Navigation lights to work at all......BUT, when you test the lights at the nav light sockets at both front and back spots with a test light it lights up the test light. I even put my test light down in the socket to make sure there wasn't somehow a loss in power from the wiring in the rear of the socket to inside the socket and it lights up the test light. I also took the end of the test light and tried to scrap any and all corrosion off the socket posts that might be on those to eliminate that variable. Another thing is that I still have my old boat and I took the light posts over and tested them on that boat and they worked just fine there, and I brought the lighting post over from my old boat that I knew where working and couldn't get them to work on my new boat. My battery is hot, I can start my motor, and it stays connected to an on board float charger. So anyway, I messed with it for at least 2 hours last night and got no where, could always light up the test light, but never the nav lights, not even a flicker.....???:banghead Anyone have any suggestions? Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Electrical stuff can be pretty tricky sometimes. When you are testing where are you grounding your test light on the ground that's part of the light socket or on the boat? My experience is that weird lighting issues will often times be a bad ground. Also if your test light is an LED light and your bulbs are incandescent lights you may have enough connection to light an LED but not enough to light an incandescent bulb. Any way I bet it's a weak connection somewhere, but most likely it's on the ground side of the connection. Is it an aluminum or glass boat?

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Originally Posted by Mac Daddy

Electrical stuff can be pretty tricky sometimes. When you are testing where are you grounding your test light on the ground that's part of the light socket or on the boat? My experience is that weird lighting issues will often times be a bad ground. Also if your test light is an LED light and your bulbs are incandescent lights you may have enough connection to light an LED but not enough to light an incandescent bulb. Any way I bet it's a weak connection somewhere, but most likely it's on the ground side of the connection. Is it an aluminum or glass boat?

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Thanks Mac Daddy for the response, I was grounding to the light socket because my test light has a short cable. And I was using an incandescent test light. Thanks again for the input. I was kinda leaning towards something of that nature. I will check that.

I recently had a problem with Trailer Lights ---- It was not making since till I found a butt splice in an out of the way place covered in tape to the frame. Dissimilar metals in splices can get enough corrosion to quit passing current

If its not a major ordeal i would run new fresh wires

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Originally Posted by Lawnmowerman43

If its not a major ordeal i would run new fresh wires

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I’m giving that some thought because I’m wanting to go to LED lights anyway. Thanks for the suggestions!


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Almost always a ground problem. Bare a small spot on your ground wire coming out of your receptacle and run a jumper from there to the neg post on your battery. If it lights up you know you have lost ground somewhere.

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Originally Posted by BG12

Almost always a ground problem. Bare a small spot on your ground wire coming out of your receptacle and run a jumper from there to the neg post on your battery. If it lights up you know you have lost ground somewhere.

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Thanks BG12, I will try that! That's a good test, hadn't thought of that! I have bigger issues to chase now.....I tried to take the boat out yesterday and it didn't go well! The boat would always start and run well at the house on water muffs but I got it out on the water and it wouldn't run, couldn't get it over 5 mph and it would die.....thank God I didn't get far from the ramp and I went against the wind so it helped push me back with the trolling motor....take it from me NEVER buy a used boat unless you know the boat will run out on the water! I'm hoping it's just minor fuel issues, maybe bad gas, water in the gas, bad primer bubble, dirty carbs....we'll see. At least I have next week off so I can work on it quite a bit! :banghead

Sounds like carbs need to be rebuilt.

Yep I would bet pretty positively that it’s a carb issue.


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Either a ground ( can easily be tested by clamping test light to ground wire at plug) . Or... and I'm sure you've checked this , but do your nav poles and new plugs have matching pins?

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Originally Posted by Dutchman

Either a ground ( can easily be tested by clamping test light to ground wire at plug) . Or... and I'm sure you've checked this , but do your nav poles and new plugs have matching pins?

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Hey Dutchman, thanks for your reply, yes I tried testing at the plug and my test light would light up, And yes my nav poles and plugs have matching pins. I haven’t had a chance to work on it again, we were out of town all weekend. Going to look at it again on Monday.


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look for corrsion on fuse or panel gary

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Originally Posted by gary

look for corrsion on fuse or panel gary

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Will do!


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Originally Posted by AR_Crappiefishr

Thanks BG12, I will try that! That's a good test, hadn't thought of that! I have bigger issues to chase now.....I tried to take the boat out yesterday and it didn't go well! The boat would always start and run well at the house on water muffs but I got it out on the water and it wouldn't run, couldn't get it over 5 mph and it would die.....thank God I didn't get far from the ramp and I went against the wind so it helped push me back with the trolling motor....take it from me NEVER buy a used boat unless you know the boat will run out on the water! I'm hoping it's just minor fuel issues, maybe bad gas, water in the gas, bad primer bubble, dirty carbs....we'll see. At least I have next week off so I can work on it quite a bit! :banghead

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Yep! You do know BOAT stands for Break Out Another Thousand!!!:Rofl

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Originally Posted by BG12

Yep! You do know BOAT stands for Break Out Another Thousand!!!:Rofl

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Oh definitely, I say it all the time! LOL! I've already put about and additional $800 in this boat since I traded for the boat, and still have more to go! SO an update, y'all were right, the lighting issue was a ground issue. Got it fixed today! :) I tore into the carbs yesterday and figured out there was A LOT of water in the gas! So, I drained the gas tank out and let it dry for several hours before adding new gas. And it really looked like the VRO was over oiling...and maybe I'm old fashioned but I wasn't feeling good about it, so I bypassed it and went to self mixing the oil, just wanted to know it's getting the proper oil mix since it's a pretty old motor! I took the boat out this morning for a short test run and at first I was nervous that it was still the same because it was acting like it didn't want to pull the boat off the trailer and even after I got it off the trailer it was acting really sluggish. I thought I would give it more time hoping it was just cold, and I was right (or it was still working out some water)....once it warmed up it took off like a rocket! I wouldn't say it's running perfect, but it ran pretty good when I was on plane! Just hoping it keeps running good! :pray

Good deal on both issues.

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Originally Posted by AR_Crappiefishr

Oh definitely, I say it all the time! LOL! I've already put about and additional $800 in this boat since I traded for the boat, and still have more to go! SO an update, y'all were right, the lighting issue was a ground issue. Got it fixed today! :) I tore into the carbs yesterday and figured out there was A LOT of water in the gas! So, I drained the gas tank out and let it dry for several hours before adding new gas. And it really looked like the VRO was over oiling...and maybe I'm old fashioned but I wasn't feeling good about it, so I bypassed it and went to self mixing the oil, just wanted to know it's getting the proper oil mix since it's a pretty old motor! I took the boat out this morning for a short test run and at first I was nervous that it was still the same because it was acting like it didn't want to pull the boat off the trailer and even after I got it off the trailer it was acting really sluggish. I thought I would give it more time hoping it was just cold, and I was right (or it was still working out some water)....once it warmed up it took off like a rocket! I wouldn't say it's running perfect, but it ran pretty good when I was on plane! Just hoping it keeps running good! :pray

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Just remind yourself how much fun your having

Good deal man! I've got a boat that I paid $500 for and probably couldn't break even if I sold it for $2500! :Rofl

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Originally Posted by BG12

Good deal man! I've got a boat that I paid $500 for and probably couldn't break even if I sold it for $2500! :Rofl

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I hear that, my old one I’m going to be selling before to long, I paid $1,000 for it, and I’ve lost count on total investment on it now...I’m pretty sure my wife is getting really annoyed with my boat obsession, but she’s keeping it to herself really well! She’s got to the point now where she just ignores me when I talk about my boats and things I need/want to buy! [emoji23]


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