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Picked up a "better" harness for my third brake light, but none of my bulbs have a number still visible on them. What does it call for? Or what are you using?
I'm pretty sure it is a 921. However due to the fact that the tend to melt the lamp housing and the harness, I would would switch it to an LED to save the OEM lamp/harness from heat damage, since the only replacements available are the cheesy LED junk. I got this one from SuperBrightLEDs. These trucks can get a little picky with having all 3 brake lights changed to LED where the torque convertor won't lock up. I don't think that is an issue if you just change the one bulb. It wasn't for my truck when I changed only the third brake light, but it was when I changed the tail/brake lights and had to add resistors.
It's extremely common in my industry where old school brake light housings melt and causes no support to the metal contacts. It's not the bulb or contacts. it's just the cheap plastic they use.
Plastic has been used for years without any problems, but someone got the idea to change the plastic and probably lived in the country where you don't stop so often. Rush hour traffic sucks in the city. Brake light bulbs are at least 16w but usually 21w. Try grabbing that bulb when it has been on for awhile. You soon will learn not to do that again.
I work on mostly German cars and there is not a manufacturer that does not have this problem [built from the 90's].
Are people driving around with the cargo light on or leaving the lights on overnight?
I do not understand how there can be so much heat build up when either getting in and out of the truck, or sitting at a traffic light.
low system voltage, corrosion on connections, sitting with brake , hot out, that kinda thing. to my knowledge a bigger bulb cant fit (in incandescent sizing) so it shouldnt be a heat thing from using the wrong bulb, i could be wrong
The 3rd brake light on my f350 melted, bubbled, and made it very difficult to get the housing out of the hole. I replaced the whole thing with a cheesy integrated 3rd brake light housing, which included led bulbs off eBay. It doesn't seal very well to the cab. And a few of the LEDs have burnt out. As long as you have 1 incandescent bulb in the brake light circuit, the cruise control, brake controller, and transmission will work fine.
The 3rd brake light on my f350 melted, bubbled, and made it very difficult to get the housing out of the hole. I replaced the whole thing with a cheesy integrated 3rd brake light housing, which included led bulbs off eBay. It doesn't seal very well to the cab. And a few of the LEDs have burnt out. As long as you have 1 incandescent bulb in the brake light circuit, the cruise control, brake controller, and transmission will work fine.
so you think an incandescent in the CHMSL and LED in the tail lights with a flasher thats LED compatible would not affect the lockup?
tried an LED flasher in my truck with LED tail lights but they wouldnt behave normally which was weird , but i never took it on the road because it wouldnt function with the headlights on and the turns at the same time lol. may have been the wrong kinda LED Bulb tho. I have an LED in the CHMSL , one of those integrated ones. its held up ok but the seal to the fixture itself sucks so theres water in front of the LEDs behind the cover for it lol
so you think an incandescent in the CHMSL and LED in the tail lights with a flasher thats LED compatible would not affect the lockup?
tried an LED flasher in my truck with LED tail lights but they wouldnt behave normally which was weird , but i never took it on the road because it wouldnt function with the headlights on and the turns at the same time lol. may have been the wrong kinda LED Bulb tho. I have an LED in the CHMSL , one of those integrated ones. its held up ok but the seal to the fixture itself sucks so theres water in front of the LEDs behind the cover for it lol
Yes..an incandescent CHMSL and LED tail lights should should fine with the other systems. The turn signals don't talk to any other system on on the truck so the turn signals don't matter. I think they behaved normally when I installed all turn signal LEDs in my truck, but I took the tail light bulbs out and replaced them with normal incandescents because of the trailer brake controller, cruise control, and ECU issues.
Yes..an incandescent CHMSL and LED tail lights should should fine with the other systems. The turn signals don't talk to any other system on on the truck so the turn signals don't matter. I think they behaved normally when I installed all turn signal LEDs in my truck, but I took the tail light bulbs out and replaced them with normal incandescents because of the trailer brake controller, cruise control, and ECU issues.
when i get around to doing the amber turn signal housing swap using a trailer wiring function joiner in reverse I think I will take another crack at it, since id like to use a regular housing again for the CHMSL, I could either make Load resistor work since the turn signal would no longer heat them up in addition to the brake light and put some on the roof panel (below the roof , on the top side of the inner) or on the bed under the truck. Or may just leave a tail/stop halogen , to be seen yet.
Id be better minded about the tail/stop being halogen if the CHMSL is a solid, bright LED In a nice quality housing because as they were intended for visibility they would suffice in the safety improvement of being on quicker and not burning out (likely) for long time.
The buick lesabre (2000-2005) used a LED CHMSL from factory, but halogen tail lamps, and worked very well.
I also do not have cruise from factory, and would probably integrate an aftermarket or try and adapt a GM gear driven tape unit from the 90s-2000s
They were compact rectangular boxes and had fairly universal wiring, with a failsafe tied to the CHMSL on non gmt400 trucks (basically everything else) would sadly require a switch of some kind to operate, doubt the steering wheels with controls from ford would work because of the features on the GM's stalk wouldnt map to the buttons
Yeah, make sure to get the recommended bulb, I THINK its a 922, because a change in wattage can mess with your tranny. I am in the middle of trying to fix mine, because its melted and even the glass of the bulb melted. I went to two junk yards, and looked at 6 or 7 vehicles, and every one of them is melted, so its not like people are being dumb and leaving their brakes applied for hours at a time, it just SOMEHOW is an issue with these pre 2000s fords. Once you start looking for information on the third brake light effecting the tranny, you'll find that a LOT of people are having or have had this issue.
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