brake light problem

[toasty]

Recently replaced the bulbs on my driver side tail lights. The light works when the lights are on however does not work when the brake is engaged. Any ideas as to what needs to be fixed?

 

[something9000]

just the driver side? or both when the brakes are on

 

[toasty]

the passenger side works fine. just the driver side tail light doesnt work when I hit the brake.

 

[Currency]

Wiring problem?

Wires should run through the drivers rear panel along with things like shift modulator, amp for premo stock radio, alarm crap and other things.

 

[FIND]

take a thin piece of wire and use it to scrape off the contacts in the bulb socket. Then take a small nail and bend the contacts inward slightly to be sure that plenty of pressure is on the wires on the bulbs. Finally, make sure the wires on the bulbs are properly aligned to meet the contacts inside the socket.

If that doesn't work, try swapping bulbs between the right and left, maybe you have a bad bulb.

 

[Roadrunner777]

There are bulbs made by Sylvania that have a full plastic base (my Walmart carries them). I seem to have better luck with these. Also, just FYI, the sockets are still available new with pigtails from Ford. I FUBAR'd one earlier this year, and a new one obviously cost more than junkyard, but nice to have those fresh clean contacts.

 

[toasty]

So the bulb or the contacts could be responsible for the light working fine when i turn the lights on but not working when i hit the brake pedal?

 

[chiefadamus]

I hve the same problem except my turn signal doesnt work either

 

[Roadrunner777]

So the bulb or the contacts could be responsible for the light working fine when i turn the lights on but not working when i hit the brake pedal?

Bulb has 2 filaments, one thinner for the running lights, and the bigger one for brake/turn signal. You will see 3 wires going to the socket. Heh, had to go check, yeah, the tail light is a 3157, two filaments. You could just have a burned out filament. Oh, you just replaced them and now this is going on. Try a different brand bulb. I really hate the 3xxx bulbs. I am finding them far less reliable than the old bayonet base bulbs.

 

[something9000]

try the left turn signal if it works the bulb works too

 

[toasty]

I checked the turn signal and it didn't work either. Switching the bulbs didn't change any results. I removed the socket, cleaned the contacts of the bulb grease the guy at the store insisted i use, reinstalled the socket and, voila, brake/turn light works! Thanks for all the advice, I'm sure I'll frequent this forum more as my 93 Explorer continues to let me know how old it is.

 

[chiefadamus]

thanx for the advice it was the ligth bulb i was about to start tearing apart the steering column and dash trying to look for a short circut