Weak/ dim rear lights

[thfcian]

Hi All,

I have a 1976 ex Florida bus and I have some questions about the rear lights.

I got a message after leaving a friends last night to tell me I had not rear lights going home.

So went out to check this morning and they indded were not working. I assumed it was a poor connection, dirty etc so removed the lenses and the bulbs and cleaned everything a bit.

The bulbs were sitting in the holder and not "clipped in" using the little notches on the side of the bulbs which I found strange.

When I pushed them in like this the lights shone brightly, but when I twisted them in the "fastened" position they were really dim.

So in the correctly fitted position I have strong brake lights but very dim night lights.

OR I can have them resting in position (they will come loose after driving) and I will have stronger night lights but very weak brake lights.

Has anyone else come across this, could it be European bulbs on a US bus? Do I need to change the connector plate behind the bulbs??

I am going to check the strength again tonight when it is dark and take some pics to show how dim the lights are and will of course post here.

Anyone with a similar problem??

[Tom Powell]

I would start by cleaning the bulb holder with a wire brush. It is very possible that the bulbs have an intermittent/poor ground. The wire brush used for cleaning female copper plumbing fittings is an excellent tool for this job.

Aloha
tp

[GeorgeO.]

I removed the sockets and dip them in some CLR which you can get at any hardware or grocery store in the cleaning isle. Dip them for about 15 minutes, brush off the any excess residue, and rinse them thoroughly to remove the excess. That will be half the battle. Also I took the rear tail light assemblies and painted the cups with a silver chrome paint which helps the to reflect more light and increases the brightness of all the lamps.

[thfcian]

So after cleaning the contacts this morning they rear light still looked 10X less bright than the brake light. But I've just been out in the dark and they are now plenty bright enough at night.

Oh and while I was messing around I cleaned the horn contacts, I nearly blew my head off when I tested it afterwards!

It's amazing how little things make so much difference!