License plate light not working

on the 98 I just bought, I checked all the lights today. The license plate light did not work. it only took 2 hrs to get it fixed. I finally figured out I had no power to the the light. I decided to tap into the left parking light for a power source. Running a feeder wire around the liftgate and then trough the groummet was no easy task. i had to take one of those straight looking dental tools and 5 min epoxy a wire to one end. after getting the front part of the dental tool through the groummet, I pulled everything through with pliers. It also took a little time figuring which wire to splice into to. Bottom line, I fixed it w/o paying some mechanic $$$$$$ .

Well good for you on saving the money.
I am curious though on WHY that wire had no power.
And are you sure that it was a lack of power and not a bad ground or something?
If memory serves me correctly, most of the wiring junctions in the drivers rear quarter panel, ....In hindsight, I would have tried some trouble shooting there, and tracked down the underlying cause.
Worst case, it could have been a broken wire, and you most likely woul dhave had a hell of a time trying to repair it (depending on where it was) or you would have had to do what you did anyways.
Good job on the repair though.

I tried 3 different bulbs. no go. I ran another ground. no go. I cut the wires going to the socket and tried it on a battery I had in the garage and the light worked. Hence the conclusion I had no power. I felt it easiest to run another power wire and since I knew the parking lights worked, I chose to run a feeder off the left parking light.