Tail light bulb fixture issues

[santts]

I cleaned it sprayed and the damn bulb still won't come back on . I have power to it. What the hell. Maybe I should just change it

 

[santts]

Any ideas where to find it ? It's out of a 65 so having a bit of trouble finding.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Bad bulb? Bulbs can look OK and still be bad.

Proper bulb? Is it a tail light and signal circuit? If so, a dual filiment bulb that's grounded through the housing.
OR
Proper bulb? Is it a tail light only (no signal) and one terminal is power and the other ground?

Contacts retracting too far into the socket (poor spring loading on the contact)?

 

[1970cat]

the contacts look pretty smashed or ground down. have you tried installing the bulb and pushing the wires in from the back of the housing? sometimes the spring inside will get compressed and not push the contacts up to meet the bulb.

 

[santts]

the contacts look pretty smashed or ground down. have you tried installing the bulb and pushing the wires in from the back of the housing? sometimes the spring inside will get compressed and not push the contacts up to meet the bulb.

I'm gonna try that too. Thanks . They were working intermittently, now I have nothing . I took bulb out to inspect it now I can't get it to work .

 

[santts]

Bad bulb? Bulbs can look OK and still be bad.

Proper bulb? Is it a tail light and signal circuit? If so, a dual filiment bulb that's grounded through the housing.
OR
Proper bulb? Is it a tail light only (no signal) and one terminal is power and the other ground?

Contacts retracting too far into the socket (poor spring loading on the contact)?

Springs are working . Just can't seem to get it right . I'll fiddle more . Was always touchy since I've had the car . Now damn thing won't light

 

[D Cluley]

I've had trouble with bad ground connections between the socket and the housing. What happens if you add a jumper wire from the socket body to good ground somewhere?

 

[santts]

I've had trouble with bad ground connections between the socket and the housing. What happens if you add a jumper wire from the socket body to good ground somewhere?

Ty. I'm gonna try that

 

[fury fan]

If the spring- socket is holding in the light's housing, the grounding is possibly OK. Might be the ground path from the housing, and further downstream, that is the problem.

Using a small hoseclamp (or even a ziptie) to hold the bare end of a separate ground wire onto the socket is a durable (albeit hillbilly) way to improve the grounds. Smear some anti-corrosive on it, and make sure the other end of the wire is well-grounded also.

Rock Auto might have socket/pigtails available if you want to replace them.