bulbs burning out
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From: Cottondale, Texas
bulbs burning out
The left taillamp on my 66 F100 keeps burning out. The last one fried after it had been in just a few minutes. The bulb fills with smoke and looks all white. Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?
Thanks,
Paul.
Thanks,
Paul.
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Senior User
Joined: Sep 2002
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From: Cottondale, Texas
Thanks for the reply, I'm not sure which bulb it is but I checked the owner manual and bought the one it had listed. It used the same for the front parking/turn signals as the rear. I replaced the bulb in the front parking lamp and it hasn't given any problems.
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Huh. I had all sorts of problems with the rear lights on my 63. A friend said all electrical problems in these old trucks are ground problems. Not quite right, but I went his way and found a bad ground wire in the rear harness.
Have you done the obvious and
a) examined the socket for corrosion?
b) put a voltmeter on the socket connectors to see what kind of voltage you're getting there?
c) pulled the wires off the socket and tried just touching them to a bare bulb?
Blowing a bulb that quick means SOMETHING is pulling a bunch of electrons through there. Which would indicate that (as my buddy said) something is interfering with your ground. Which means you probably need to figure out what downstream of your bulb is sucking the electrons.
The first test for this might be to get a length of lamp cord (or some other wire you've got laying about) and run a line from the socket ground connector straight to the battery ground (obviously disconnecting the socket ground wire).
If that works without blowing your bulb, at least you have a clue.
Bob
Have you done the obvious and
a) examined the socket for corrosion?
b) put a voltmeter on the socket connectors to see what kind of voltage you're getting there?
c) pulled the wires off the socket and tried just touching them to a bare bulb?
Blowing a bulb that quick means SOMETHING is pulling a bunch of electrons through there. Which would indicate that (as my buddy said) something is interfering with your ground. Which means you probably need to figure out what downstream of your bulb is sucking the electrons.
The first test for this might be to get a length of lamp cord (or some other wire you've got laying about) and run a line from the socket ground connector straight to the battery ground (obviously disconnecting the socket ground wire).
If that works without blowing your bulb, at least you have a clue.
Bob
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From: Cottondale, Texas
I checked the socket itself and the contact plate and springs were pretty corroded. I went to a local guy that has a Ford boneyard and found another light housing, installed it and it works fine. But as Ken said, I could have gotten some defective bulbs, which by the way were #1157. However now there is a new mystery. I hadn't noticed before but the brake portion of the light will not work unless the key is on. The turn signal does and the lights do. And the right tail light seems unaffected, it works all the time. I guess tonight I'll have to trace the wires all the way back and see if something is amiss.
Paul.
Paul.
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