So I'm in the shop foolin around with my NOS 53 Lincolin taillights today, and I think "I'll pop a new bulb in there and see what they look like." I tried every combination of ground and hot I could think of, and I still only got the dang taillight to light up. I could not get the brake light to come on. I know the 1157 socket has 2 wires on the pigtail, so i figured one is brake and one is tail with the socket as a ground. Am I thinking right or wrong? What wire goes where?
yea it sounds right to me one hot to the tail light one hot to the brake.and the housing grounds to the body right?did you have your key on when you tryed the brake light it might be wired through the iggy but probally not its worth a shot though ,nd did you check you fuses
Speedy, this test was conducted in clean-room-like garage using only the most high-tech and state-of-the-art equipment. (Battery sitting on the only open space on the ol' workbench with two lengths of wire left over from the recent rewire.) And these lights are going in a 51 Merc, so it's 12V.
Ground man ,,,ground...Ya gotsta ground the housing to the body...the body to the frame..the frame to the lektriks. I had a brakelite out in the same lites a week ago, it was dirty ground. Plus Flamedabone wired it, so I could be wrong.
If the tail light filament lights, it's not a ground issue. It could be the brake filament is burned out or the contacts in the socket aren't making contact with the bulb base for some reason. Sometimes the insulator in the socket that holds the contacts gets turned misaligning the contacts.
I hate to highjack your post but while we are discussing taillights, can you replace a stock light socket with a newer modern socket to use the 1157 bulb? later plmczy
Make sure you have the bulb in correct and the socket wired correctly. If the wiring is reversed taillight power will be powering the brake filament so that when you trigger the brakes you can not tell the diffeeance in light intensity. I've also had the contacts get turned inside the socket before so they didn't align with the bulb contacts.
Try a different brand of bulb. I've had some problems with some of the off-shore wonders that are flooding into the country. You can test the bulb proper with a jumper wire held to the socket case and another jumper wire touching the lead/tin buttons on the bottom - one at a time. If that works ok, you've got a problem in the socket - usually the wire connection to the socket brass terminal. Been seeing a lot of that in the off-shore trailer lights etc. that are sold most places. After visiting my local diesel truck shop yesterday and seeing what appear to be good quality lights etc. I'd be inclined to bite the bullet and get some trailer lights there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [ QUOTE ] I hate to highjack your post but while we are discussing taillights, can you replace a stock light socket with a newer modern socket to use the 1157 bulb? later plmczy [/ QUOTE ] Yes. Replacement 1157 sockets are available at most parts stores. Usually on the turnstile gadget with all the electric parts etc. You may have to do a little engineering to get em in, but most times it's no big deal..
[ QUOTE ] Make sure you have the bulb in correct and the socket wired correctly. If the wiring is reversed taillight power will be powering the brake filament so that when you trigger the brakes you can not tell the diffeeance in light intensity. I've also had the contacts get turned inside the socket before so they didn't align with the bulb contacts. [/ QUOTE ] The 1157 bulb has side pins on the base. These side pins are staggered. (one higher than the other) The bulb will only fit in the socket ONE WAY. The contacts in the base of the socket are normally kept in alignment with a small "tab" on the lead insulator. If the contacts (wire leads) in the socket are reversed, (or out of alignment) or the tab is missing, the problem above can occur.
Plmcrzy, the nole in my lights is an even 1". I just grabbed a socket from the parts bin and it fit perfectly. It even had a tang on it for a seperate grond wire, just in case you had none.
[ QUOTE ] I hate to highjack your post but while we are discussing taillights, can you replace a stock light socket with a newer modern socket to use the 1157 bulb? later plmczy [/ QUOTE ] That's what I do BUT the old steel universal sockets are getting hard to find in the parts stores. They all stock the late model plastic replacements that they can sell. I stock pile any new steel sockets that I run across.
Thanks guy's, I'll keep an eye out for those sockets. I plan on keeping the stock lights on my 40 and I wanted to get an idea of what I need to do or get when I rewire the car. later plmczy
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