This is pissing me off... My right tail-light bulb keeps blowing shortly after i put it in... It's just that bulb (signal and light in one)... none of the other bulbs in the car repeatedly blow... yeah, seems a "2x life" bulb lasts 2 weeks these days... so yeah, any ideas...??? This little "problem" has already resulted in myself giving those scum-fucks at PEN-DOT a lot more money than i care to think about... Alright, thanks in advance...
Is it getting wet. I had a tail lite in a 40 coupe the leaked water into the housing and it would blow the bulb.
Sounds like you have a poor ground and are picking up sneak currents. Change the bulb socket and / or the ground wire. Ground the wire directly to a good source.
Is it loose at all?Could be from vibration.Some Harley bulbs are supposed to be built to withstand vibration.I just learned this,so I'm not too sure on the details.
"I'm with you guys" it could be any of the above issues. whats happening to the bulb? is it breaking? or just burning out.. either way it could be ground.. vibration.. or water.. my first guess would be ground.. since EVERY electrical problem should be diagnosed from that point a "harley" bulb, if its made to take excess vibration would be a band aid.
Try checking the bulb socket for those little terminals being loose.Clean the socket carefully ,use that battery terminal cleaner with the wire brush. If you can reach the back of the light assembly see if anything moves when you shake or move the wires. More serious- try disconnecting either of the two wires going to the bulb. If one side works ok and the other one blows the bulb you've found where to look. Might even try juryrigging another taillight assembly in place of the stock one.If the bulb blows the trouble is back up in the wiring. My bet is one of your terminals is contacting the side of the bulb socket and shorting the bulb. Is one side of the taillight brighter than the other ? Take your time ,try one thing at a time, you'll find it... Have you tried using those new bulbs in the other side and using the bulb that works in the bad? side. Do the bulbs look the same on the end where the brass contacts are ?\ Same size ,same shape ? good luck .......
well, the housing grounded the bulb... see, the socket was too rusty to use... So, i ran wires DIRECTLY to the bulb... then i duct-taped them on... i think the turn-signal filament is the one that blows... I was thinking, i'm pretty sure that the bulb in the instrument panel is blown, too... It always was, actually... you think that maybe the circuit needs that bulb to work, to "drain" off a bit of amperage...??? i dunno... the bulbs are goung in right, and the other side hasn't blown a bulb since i bought the car over a year ago... i ran a solid ground, too... All i can think of is the possibility that the instrument bulb might need to be there...??? I was also thinking about wiring a small resistor in-line to knock the power down a bit... But, if there is a problem back in the circuit, i don't really wanna just "quick-fix" something that could result in an electrical fire or something... i dunno...
It's more likely that the brake is blowing the bulb than the signal as the sigal is flashing and interupting the current flow...installing any kind of resister is just a waste of time....do as some others have told you and fix it right....either clean or change or dhange the socket as it is the most likely problem...with a short to ground...the one on the dash does not have to work for the rear to work, it is so you know its on..fatchuk
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