With headlights on, one brake light stays lit??!

[bigchillcar]

Missed it at first, thought that my driver's side brake light wasn't lighting with the brake. Looking at it last night I realized that that brake light is lit all the time (makes it look like my rear parking light is brighter on that side). So when i hit the brakes the passenger side brake light comes on, matching the intensity of the driver's side.

Any reason you can think of why the brake light is lit with the headlights turned on? During the day it isn't lit. It seems that turning on the lights is illuminating both filaments in the bulb on that side?

Ryan

[ccandgc]

Just went thru this....when I changed all the bulbs, I mixed some up, and accidentally put a single filament bulb in one of the front lights-screwed the whole system up! Everything lit up when it wasnt supposed to. Finally found the culprit, things started to work normally. I also discovered that even after bending the bulb contacts to provide better contact, the sockets were loose, allowing the bulb to move around. Solution-a little dielectric grease(on everything!) and a little piece of electrical tape on the base(side near little prongs) tightened up the bulb in the socket....Now ALL my lights work!

Try it out, be patient-you'll get it!

[bigchillcar]

Thanks for the reply, Chad. I guess I'll double-check to day just to make sure that my new bulbs I put in were indeed dual-filament. Actually, I realized yesterday that during the day, with the headlights off, when I press the brake no brake light comes on that side. But at night, with headlights on, it appears that both filaments light...pressing the brake doesn't change anything...it just makes it appear that the brake is pressed on that side the whole time the lights are on. Weird.
Ryan

[Jocke]

I had the same problem when I converted my rear lights to the 964 concept, it turned up to be the ground-cable, I change the cable and refresch all conectors.

So if you just take an extra cable and press it against the grond on your car and the lights, you been able to see if itīs turn to normal.

Hope it was that easy for you to!

/Jocke

[bigchillcar]

I feel like a million bucks...I fixed the brake light problem! Had to remove the tailight assembly and disconnected and cleaned all contacts. There's a plate on the back of the assembly held on by two screws and the seals were all worn out letting all kinds of grit and debris inside. Once this was cleaned out, I used dielectric grease on the cleaned contacts for the tailight/brake light, bent the contacts out some more, reassembled and now it works like a charm. Not much worse-looking than a cool car with lights that don't work! Yay!
Ryan

[RoySL]

Guys-
Please remember that dielectric grease is an INSULATOR...NOT a CONDUCTOR! So if you put it on contacts thinking you are going to get better contact...you won't. You will get worse contact or none at all.

This seems to be a very common misconception.

"Dielectric grease, or tune-up grease, is a silicone-based grease that repels moisture and protects electrical connections against corrosion. ... The grease does not conduct electricity, so it shouldn't be applied directly to the mating surfaces (pins and sockets) of an electrical connection."

[timmy2]

Use NO-OX ID for all connectors.
Been using it for 30 years at home and work.
https://www.sanchem.com/electrical-contact-lubricant.html