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Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:11 am

I have a 1969 bay window:

after many searches of this forum and cleaning all the grounds and making sure the correct bulbs were used and all sockets and connections are clean and replacing the flasher relay I can not get my right rear running light to come on, the brake light comes on and the turn signal works but for some reason the running light wont come on, I can switch the wires around and make the light work but no turn signal or brake

any and all help/abuse is great

thanks guys

Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:55 am

phantomlimb wrote: I have a 1969 bay window:

after many searches of this forum and cleaning all the grounds and making sure the correct bulbs were used and all sockets and connections are clean and replacing the flasher relay I can not get my right rear running light to come on, the brake light comes on and the turn signal works but for some reason the running light wont come on, I can switch the wires around and make the light work but no turn signal or brake
How about the fuses? The left and right tail light have separate fuses. Give them a spin in their sockets, replace any blown ones, and see if the lights work. If not, I'd break out a voltmeter and start tracing the power back from the tail light.

Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:59 am

Have you tried a different bulb? Are the rear side markers on? Licence plate light? Have you tested inside the socket for voltage? Looking at the wiring diagram it looks like 1 wire feeds right side tail and side markers and licence plate light. And I have had the little "tits" on bulbs get to short to make contact or the the little tabs they make contact with get flattened.

Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:39 pm

well i went out and checked everything again, fuses and connections..all good. plate light is hooked up, i will check the voltage asap, i need to find some good instructions on how to use my multimeter (the ones that came with it are crap) would it be the bulbs not making contact? i do have brake and turn signal so wouldn't that mean that the bulb is making good contact..... what kind of voltage should i get when i test the socket?

Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:49 pm

12 (engine off) to 14 volts (engine running) at the bulb.

Does the license plate light work? How about the right marker light? They're all on the same circuit as the right tail light. If they both work, then you likely have a socket or bulb issue...

Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:21 pm

yea, the plate light works and so do the markers, put in new bulb that is making good contact and we just replaced both tail light assemblies when the problem first started, could it be something with the headlight switch?

Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:25 pm

The bulb has TWO filiments, you need to check each one separately.
Brake/Turn on one filiment, taillight on the other.

Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:51 pm

Quote: yea, the plate light works and so do the markers, put in new bulb that is making good contact and we just replaced both tail light assemblies when the problem first started, could it be something with the headlight switch?
No, not if the other lights work. Gotta be something in the socket, bulb or wiring connection. Remove the tail light assembly and bench test. Could be a bad-out-of-the-box tail light assembly...

Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:44 pm

well f#$@, just to humor the situation, I switched the bulb from the left with the bulb from the right and the problem reversed itself, I think that I may have found the problem. off to get a new bulb

Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:02 pm

:shock:

Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:26 pm

went and got new bulbs...again... and everything is working !!!!
thanks for putting up with me