brake light problem

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chryslerman6772

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when push the brake pedal down on my 1971 dodge dart,the driverside brake light turns off.the passenger tail light is alot brighter then the driverside is as well when the brakes lights are off.driverside is very dim.i put a new light bulb in.nothin could i have a bad tail light harness, driverside tail light or both? any replys would be nice
 
First..
In the future, PLEASE tell us what vehicle you have. In this case they are all about the same, The problem is lack of sufficient chassis ground from the left rear bulb socket to the car chassis.
 
Chassis ground on most old cars isn't a wire. It is metal to metal contact through , parts, hardware, etc.. On whatever you are working on , I dont have a clue. Good luck with it.
 
You want good clean bulb sockets and verify each housing has a ground.
You might be able to just have the brakes on and wiggle the bulbs a little bit and if it's a ground problem they will sometimes make contact again and work right.
 
I believe '71 is grounded by the lamp sockets fitting into the lamps. Look for a ground tab on the sockets. If not, (that is, if there is two wires to the sockets) and if you can solder, attach a pigtal to the lamp sockets, run them over to a bolt, such as the trunk latch, and ground them that way
 
unplug the light socket from the tail light housing. take a light wire brush to light socket all around where it makes contact with the tail light housing. take the tail light housing nuts off and clean them in the same fashion and install serrated washers under the nuts.
 
And if that doesn't work; have fun with the new turn signal switch. Be very gentle with it.
 
so, after cleaning all the grounds, and checking all the wiring, if no obvious problems are found, then the turn switch could be to blame?
Any trouble-shooting ideas to test the switch? Haven't found any diagrams of how they work.
It doesn't look like the brake wiring goes through the switch.
 
Crap, can't remember company name. $65. Gave one to the body shop, those monkeys screwed it up. Bought another, did'nt over-tighten the screws, and perfect. If you can't find it on line. let me know. It was a bud's charger. he will know name.
 
HANG TEN said:
so, after cleaning all the grounds, and checking all the wiring, if no obvious problems are found, then the turn switch could be to blame?
Any trouble-shooting ideas to test the switch? Haven't found any diagrams of how they work.
It doesn't look like the brake wiring goes through the switch.
Click to expand...

It sure as hell does, just look at any diagram. There have been shop manuals posted here on this site many times, and there are "somewhat usable" diagrams to download over at "MyMopar."

The brake light switch goes directly to the turn signal switch. When the signal switch is centered, it routes the brake light switch power out to BOTH left and right turn signal filaments at the rear

When the signal switch is to one side, the switch routes brake switch power to the "non" signalling rear light, and routes flasher power to the filaments to be flashed, front and rear.

In cars where the 4x flasher is part of the signal switch, this additional part of the switch also handles routing power from the 4x flasher to all 4 lamp filaments.
 
67Dart273 said:
When the signal switch is to one side, the switch routes brake switch power to the "non" signalling rear light, and routes flasher power to the filaments to be flashed, front and rear.
Click to expand...
One day I checked all the lights in my Duster, and the left brake light wasn't working. I spent about 2 hours trying to track down the problem, and finally realized after I about gave up and turned the key on that the signal light switch wasn't centered:banghead:


now I know the way it works lol.
 
never figured it out yet.still have the problem.i ordred a new tail light haraness,might replace the driverside tail housing as well.
 
Now I feel educated. Thanks for all the help. Haven't gone out to the garage to tackle it yet, but I am certain I know what to look for now. What did I ever do before these forums?
I'm working on a 69 Swinger in which I replaced the switch just a few years ago.

Love that Duster 95teetee!!!
 
We did a full on restore on a 69 Charger. The wiring drove us nuts. Found hacked stereo wires, etc. Had a factory manual. Worked hard on all the grounds, including the front. Crap. No go every time.

Then time for paint, owner had bought 1 switch already- pos. Then he found an nos , let the shop put it in; over tightened, so he got another, and I gentley put it in; works great.
 
I have one on order. I found when i move the turn signal around with my foot on the brake, the dark light flickers.
 
I just fixed this exact same problem yesterday on my 71 demon. I discovered a problem in the bulb socket on passenger side tail lamp.

I discovered you can push on the wires going into the socket and shove the spring and contact assembly up out of the socket to view it. Then I discovered one of the two electrode contacts was slightly corroded and touching the spring (right where the wire is soldered to the socket). When I cleaned and adjusted it, all my lights returned to normal.
 
Every car is different I guess. After replacing my switch, I had no brake lights at all. After a lot of foul four letter words and then some thinking, I found I had to tweak the metal rods even on the brand new piece. Using two needle nose pliers, I bent the ends away from the plastic in order to make better contact with the contacts on the inner piece. Someone else wrote that the stuff from China is junk, and now I have to agree. On my 69 swinger, jumping wires at the connector at the base of the steering column quickly prove the wires and grounds were good. Had to be in the switch and contacts.
 
Our very own slantsixdan carries good made in USA turn signal switches at good prices.
 
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