Brake light troubles.

-
Jeff Seighman

Jeff Seighman

aka jeffnmo
Joined
Jan 19, 2020
Messages
2,214
Reaction score
4,632
Location
South Carolina
Hello everyone,
Just recently my driver's side brake light is dimmer than my passenger side, I've switched bulbs from side to side with no change, checked and cleaned all connections and checked the brake light switch, which is OK. I've wiggled wires with no change. could it be my head light switch? 1970 340 Dart.
Thanks for any help.
 
Last edited:
You didn't say what car. Majority of these fixtures are chassis grounded with the hardware that holds it in the car. So there is no ground wire to wiggle check.
The headlight switch is relative to park lamps but not brake lamps. The turn signal switch is relative to brake lamps.
 
Just had a similar problem with my '72 Dart driver's side back up lamp. The bulb, for whatever reason was sloppy in the socket, and not grounding. So I put a stainless steel shim beside the bulb when I pushed and twisted it in. The shim was from an old feeler gauge set. May be worth a try.
 
I will give that a try, but it's going to happen tomorrow, I put my back out wrestling around under the dash today!
 
x2 on grounding issue. use a multimeter from the positive side of the socket to ground. If you get a full 12v start working your way back from the socket on the ground side testing ground along the way.
 
I hear ya! I almost do nothing under the dash without removing the front seat.
 
Sdriche said:
x2 on grounding issue. use a multimeter from the positive side of the socket to ground. If you get a full 12v start working your way back from the socket on the ground side testing ground along the way
Click to expand...
With a suspected bad ground, a multimeter will show 12v, but a load will have high resistance with the bad ground and have a voltage drop.


Clip a jumper wire on to the suspected bad ground and the other end to a good ground.


Maybe what you were trying to say is check voltage from the tail light metal bucket to ground and if you have anything over 0 volts you have a ground problem
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top