taillights only work on rare occasiion

[Widows Son]

For me, understanding how my Backdraft is wired was inherently easier than figuring out how my wife of 21yrs is wired. It helped that The backdraft manual has a wiring diagram - maybe you're so lucky...wish I had a wiring diagram for my wife...

The good news is that it is basic. If one light is dim it's possible your 1157 bulb is in backwards - with the plastic housings that is easy to mess up - been there and done that. If your yellow parking light is bright and your flash/turn is weak/not so bright, then it's backwards...not knowing what you did, but you could have popped it out and in for a looksy when investigating your problems. That's why I swapped to metal housings: solid, reliable, and holds the bulb tight. Just trying to help...

[rpatton3]

My wonderful wife did no come with an owner's manual but angels don't need one. She is driving me in the avatar.

On my car, the lenses have never been removed. I have used a wheelchair for the past 40 years.

Can the metal housings just replace the plastic OE sockets?

Many thanks,

Russell

[rpatton3]

I wanted a Cobra for 44 years and got this three years ago for birthday #58. My hands are about as dexterous as boxing gloves. I do drive an E150 with hand controls and a wheelchair lift.

[Widows Son]

Russell, I'm humbled by your enthusiasm and commitment to follow through with your dream.

I wish the plastic sockets could be easily swapped for metal, but I had no luck finding a set. The sockets I used were fitted on a self-modified plastic socket. In other words l cut the original plastic socket and then inserted the new metal one inside. Cut the old wires and plug and re-soldered those to the new metal wires. Then just plug the new configuration into the car harness. It is a very inexpensive solution but the labor was free. For a garage to carry out the work, total cost is labor.

Although not a complete fix, replaced the incandescent bulbs with LED, as noted by others, is a low cost solution since this alternative eliminates heat and therefore plastic deformation and bulb retention. Just be sure your sockets are not already too deformed to retain the LED bulb or you will need to replace the plastic socket with a new plastic socket. The other reason I am skeptical as this being a sure fire solition is that I had LED bulbs in the front of the car and the plastic sockets still didn't retain the bulb well. Case by case I suppose. As others noted, soldering the LEDs directly is a fix but too "permanent" a solution for me should I ever have to replace the bulb/LED.

The dim light you experienced does indicated you need someone to troubleshoot the wiring.

Sorry I wasn't that much help.

[rpatton3]

Thanks to all.

[Grey 65]

Originally Posted by Widows Son

I have a backdraft #1185 and I had several of my front signal and rear lights go on the fritz. I traced the problem down to the 1157 bulb not seating well in the plastic sockets and over a very short time and it wouldn't take long for them to unseat again. Plastic sockets were a royal pain in that they didn't retain the bulb well; there are 2 notches of different depths to accommodate the tabs on the bulbs so the bright filament (brake or turning flash) and semi-bright filament (or parking light) would be properly set to the 2 pins.

Jay @ Vintage did his best by quickly sending me replacement sockets but they didn't last since the plastic was susceptible to the heat of the bulbs and softened to the point where the bulb just didn't sit right.

Being the electrical engineer I decided to modify the existing socket after a search for metal 1157 2-wire sockets + ground prong:
1) cut the plastic retaining socket off
2) insert the new metal socket
3) Re splice and solder the original socket wiring

All in, a total of 30 min per socket. The pictures show a before and after and thother is the 2 kinds of metal sockets I got : 1157 2 wire + ground prong and 1156 1 wire + ground.

Help 85860 Unv W/Grnd Tab Socket : Amazon.com : Automotive



So I'm not claiming you have a socket problem - All I'm saying is I had 3 that went bad and couldn't "hold" the bulb in position. I had folks drive up and say " Nice car, but your brake light is out."

I took your advice as I too have been told, "nice car, tail light is out"... I replaced the two brake light/running light sockets (85860) using your advice. I left the two upper (blinker) sockets alone as they never get hot.

I thank you for your post as it saved me time from having to figure out the best way to fix this problem.

Kevin.....

[Widows Son]

Originally Posted by Grey 65

I took your advice as I too have been told, "nice car, tail light is out"... I replaced the two brake light/running light sockets (85860) using your advice. I left the two upper (blinker) sockets alone as they never get hot.

I thank you for your post as it saved me time from having to figure out the best way to fix this problem.

Kevin.....

Glad the idea worked for you Kevin. Another tip (and you may have done this), is when you re-install the plastic housing back on the car with the 3 screws that go through the white plastic, the trim and then finally the body, I used a small washer between the screw head and the white plastic such that the lip of each of the 3 washers "pinched" the metal socket housing to really hold everything in place.

[lvictores]

Has anybody had good results with just changing to an LED bulb or does the bulb also burn out as I keep burning out the regular bulbs. And do you get the a regular LED or one that has dual function. My problem is the right lower brakelight bulb burns out after a few days. Thanks.

[spdbrake]

Switched to these dual type LED (red) for the tail running lights/Brake lights a couple years ago and they've held up so far
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Replaces the dual filament 1157 bulbs


For the rear turn amber signals I used
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Replaces the 1156 bulbs

[lvictores]

Thanks. Will try those LED's out.