Any one have any ideas where I can start to fix my left rear brake light and turn signal on a 54 Hornet 4dr. The bulb is good and it will work sometimes. I have tried running an extra ground from the bulb socket to the body in the trunk and have wiggled the wires in the trunk at the small distribution block that is close to that light housing.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Rick
If it is not the ground
I have had the spring that holds the inslater that presses the contacts against the bulb contacts on the end of the bulbs go week.also the contacts can wear down.The local auto parts store should have a kit to repair this.
Sounds like the same problem I had with my '54 Jet. I tried just about everything; rewiring at the block, socket, ground, etc.
At the advice of another member; I removed the horn ring, got a can of electrical contact cleaner, and sprayed the turn signal contacts. (make sure you put towels and a drip pan under the steering wheel) Couldn't believe the amount of dirt and gunk that came out.
Worked like a charm, and have not had any issues since. It may be as simple as that!
Have you tried troubleshooting it at different points along the route between the battery and light?
Troubles could be occurring at the wiring (any point), the turn signal switch, the junction block in the trunk, or in the socket itself.
(The brakelight switch is obviously NOT the culprit since your right brakelight works.)
So, first get some long wire and clip one end to the car battery's negative terminal (that's assuming you're still "positive ground!"). Make a good connection of the other end to the correct contact in the taillight socket. See if the light bulb lights okay. It should, 'cause you're cut out all the "middlemen" that might be fouling you up. If it does not, then you have a problem right there, with the wiring, socket terminal, or even the ground.
(To check the grounding of the terminal, you can clamp a second wire to the socket itself and run the other end to a known "ground point" on the car -- or even back to the battery's POS terminal!)
If everything works fine with this test, the problem is elsewhere, so move down the line. Hook that long "hot" wire from the NEG battery terminal, to the incoming left brakelight terminal on the junction block in the trunk. If the taillight doesn't light, you know the problem lies between that block and the taillight. Or maybe in the block itself.
If that part of the system checks out, head back to the turnsignal switch itself. Or maybe the wiring that leaves the switch (heading back to the left taillight). And so on.
Somewhere in all of that stuff, there's a problem. By isolating and checking separate portions of the entire system you can zoom in on the exact spot that's giving you grief.
Leave a reply
