both take lights went out same time?

[jacksonp32]

so both of my tail lights work fine, and both brake lights worked as of yesterday (swapped housing), and today they both stopped working.. any ideas what it could be?

[Mos6502]

[jacksonp32]

[Mos6502]

Find the wiring diagram for your year beetle. You didn't say what it was so I can't really be more specific.

Keep in mind your fuses may look fine, but if they're old they may not be making a good contact in the fuse box which can cause lights to not work.

[sjbartnik]

[sb001]

He says his tail lights still work but his brake lights dont. So it's probably not the bulb since they share the same two-filament bulb.

He doesn't mention anything else being wrong in the car, and the same fuse that powers the brake lights also powers lots of other stuff in the car. So it's probably not the fuse.

The key here is that he says he switched "housings." So, if everything was fine before, and then you swap housings and one thing doesn't work all of a sudden, it probably means the terminal for that one thing is grounding out against the new housing. Take the housing back out and bend that terminal a little bit so it (or the wire spade terminal connected to it) does not touch the housing. And yes if you are shorting one side out, the other will cease to work also.
_________________
I'm the humblest guy on this board.

1969 autostick sedan, family owned since new
1600 SP engine
Solex 30 PICT 3 carburetor
Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor

[sjbartnik]

sb, you make an excellent point which is:

If it stopped working after you did something, then you most likely broke it when you did that something.

If you go back over your work you will likely find the problem.
_________________
1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[jacksonp32]

update : i got the right side to start working again just fine after finding a grounding problem (thanks sb) but now the left side refuses to work. once again, tail light works fine, fuses are fine, and can't seem to find any grounding issues. does that lead me to believe it's a switch?

[sb001]

[jacksonp32]

[David_nc_72std]

Are you sure the bulb socket doesn't have any corrosion on it, either on the contact at the base of the socket, or on the terminal that the wire connector goes onto?

On the side that isn't working, does the tail light still work if you leave the wire for the brake light disconnected from the socket? Will the bulb still light if you then connect the tail light wire to the terminal for the brake light?

[jacksonp32]

[sb001]

[sb001]

[ashman40]

[jacksonp32]

this is how the wiring was BEFORE i took anything apart for the pass side, while the driver side (one not working) contains that same yellow wire and a black side tapped into a dual terminal, and on the other side was just white.

in response to whether i have the correct bulb/connections. i do. they're both the two tab, 2 bayonet.

[sb001]

[jacksonp32]

[ashman40]

This pic (not a VW light assembly) illustrates how the contacts at the bottom of the bulb connect to the brass tabs which are linked to the wiring.

You can also see how the offset bayonet prongs on the side of the bulbs lock into the slots on the side of the socket. Some sockets don't even have slots cut out, they just have grooves bent into the walls of the socket.

You want to confirm which bulb contact is the bright one (brakes) and the dim one (parking lights) and connect the wires correctly.

You need to make sure that the yellow wire has 12v while the parking light is ON, the red wire has 12v while the brake pedal is depressed and the black wire has 12v while the turn signal is ON. Then you will know which wire represents which circuit and connect them correctly.
_________________
AshMan40
---------------------------
'67 Beetle #1 {project car that never made it to the road }
'75 Beetle 1200LS (RHD Japan model) {junked due to frame rot}
'67 Beetle #2 {2019 project car - Wish me luck!}

[ashman40]