Broken light bulb cap for gauges?

[david05111]

Bought a ‘68 on impulse a few weeks back and took two of the gauges out to be serviced. When I did so, I noticed that at some point in the past, one of the bulb housings had split.

Where do I begin on fixing this? Most of the results I get when I do some searches on the subject are about replacing the bulbs themselves, not the housing.

I suppose I could try to solder it, but it’s separated from the wire itself as well at this point. Probably makes sense to simply replace it, depending on how difficult that ultimately is.

[john walker's workshop]

Probably could reassemble it and slide it back in to close the gap, at least temporarily until you find a good one.

[SBell]

There are bulb housings that have a spade connector rather than be directly attached to the wire. Probably easiest to get one of those then just crimp a spade connector on the wire.

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[dictoresno]

could you carefully clamp it and spot solder it back together? if they are anything like the 80's G body, those act as the ground to make the bulbs work.

can you push the rear back in with the spring and then solder it back together?

[EC900]

I have one that’s jammed far into the gauge and difficult to remove. I searched for a replacement in case I damage it trying to pull it out. Basically it’s a BA7 socket but I don’t know if any old versions are available, instead has a male spade at the end which will require soldering new female terminal. Not much room to solder comfortably.

I'd try and save that old one. Take out spring and disks, re-solder your wire end, then Gently squeezing that socket together just enough to close up the gap, maybe a little more to create some tension. Then put the fiber disks back in & sandwich the spring in between, re-insert bulb.. it may hold it together well enough to re-insert without separating (until yanked out again).
The socket doesn’t need to flush to the gauge back, so maybe a thin picture wire strand can be wrapped around the socket to close the gap too.

These are available

[gerakroo]

Please repair carefully, this circuit is not protected by a fuse.

[PeteKz]

True. So while you're in there, install a fuse in the lighting circuit.

[76FJ55]

Originally Posted by david05111

Bought a ‘68 on impulse a few weeks back and took two of the gauges out to be serviced. When I did so, I noticed that at some point in the past, one of the bulb housings had split.

Where do I begin on fixing this? Most of the results I get when I do some searches on the subject are about replacing the bulbs themselves, not the housing.

I suppose I could try to solder it, but it’s separated from the wire itself as well at this point. Probably makes sense to simply replace it, depending on how difficult that ultimately is.

My first observation is that it appears that you have this assembled backwards ( as best I can tell from your photos, since I can't see which end the wire comes out). I think the wire should extend out the end of the housing with the flare. The bulb needs to be inserted to the ne=arrow end of the housing so it can be inserted into the instrument housing. Once inserted into the instrument it should be a self supporting system, so I don't even know if the bulb holder needs to be soldered. the spring pressure will tend to push the rear plate out of the holder, so it may need to have some compression to keep the holder from opening up before installation, but you could use pretty much anything to accomplish this, a zip tie, safety wire, tape...

[david05111]

Originally Posted by dictoresno

could you carefully clamp it and spot solder it back together? if they are anything like the 80's G body, those act as the ground to make the bulbs work.

can you push the rear back in with the spring and then solder it back together?

One of the concerns I have is that the only thing actually left in the car now is the wire. The bulb assembly itself -- in parts -- is on my desk. I think I could cobble it back together with some solder. It wouldn't look particularly pretty, but I think I could do it.

The issue then is how in the world I'd re-connect it to the wire itself. It's pretty tight in there, as far as being able to work, and I'm not really sure how that wire was supposed to attach to that assembly anyway. More soldering being involved might be really tricky.

And if it really is a circuit that doesn't have a fuse on it, that worries me a bit more.

[david05111]

Originally Posted by EC900

I have one that’s jammed far into the gauge and difficult to remove. I searched for a replacement in case I damage it trying to pull it out. Basically it’s a BA7 socket but I don’t know if any old versions are available, instead has a male spade at the end which will require soldering new female terminal. Not much room to solder comfortably.

I'd try and save that old one. Take out spring and disks, re-solder your wire end, then Gently squeezing that socket together just enough to close up the gap, maybe a little more to create some tension. Then put the fiber disks back in & sandwich the spring in between, re-insert bulb.. it may hold it together well enough to re-insert without separating (until yanked out again).
The socket doesn’t need to flush to the gauge back, so maybe a thin picture wire strand can be wrapped around the socket to close the gap too.

These are available

I'm going to look at it carefully this weekend. I'm sort of leaning toward replacing it with a spade setup like this, and then crimping a female connector onto the factory wire with some heat shrink. I don't really like it as a solution, considering how original the car actually is, but at the same time I have to be somewhat practical about it. I just can't really see trying to solder all this back together in the narrow space in which that wire resides.

[EC900]

For what it’s worth, I picked up one of these soldering contraptions ($5 at Menardsj for doing some under the dash re-soldering of hacked up aftermarket radio and speaker connections just last weekend.
If you’re going to try and re-solder the wire back, this will come in handy, still a challenge to get comfortable access, even getting crimp tool to proper position.

I like to keep stuff as original whenever possible too.
The other suggestions were to wrap a wire around the original socket. Here I would use picture hanging wire, separate a couple individual strands, wrap 2-3 times around the split end of the socket. Cut excess flush. Picture wire is stronger than copper strands which would work too but has too much stretch and will likely break under twisting tension. Put the bulb and spring back in and then wrap wire carefully, then reinstall socket to check tension so you’re not essentially collapsing the brass socket by over twisting the wire.

I’ll be back to attack my high beam socket which is jammed in to the gauge as I’m replacing my dash lights and turn signals with Carmagic LED’s, not original but their vintage color LED lights are pleasantly warm bright.

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by 76FJ55

My first observation is that it appears that you have this assembled backwards ( as best I can tell from your photos, since I can't see which end the wire comes out). I think the wire should extend out the end of the housing with the flare. The bulb needs to be inserted to the ne=arrow end of the housing so it can be inserted into the instrument housing. Once inserted into the instrument it should be a self supporting system, so I don't even know if the bulb holder needs to be soldered. the spring pressure will tend to push the rear plate out of the holder, so it may need to have some compression to keep the holder from opening up before installation, but you could use pretty much anything to accomplish this, a zip tie, safety wire, tape...

^^^ This.

The flange on the bulb holder barrel is what stops it being inserted into the instrument too far. So the wire supplying voltage comes out of that end (because the other end is the end the bulb is inserted into).

The little bit of PCB (that the wire is soldered to) forms the feed contact for the bulb, that spring behind it provides tension for the bayonet action of the bulb.

I don't think the PCB is held captive by the bulb holder - fairly sure it isn't, in fact. When changing/fitting bulbs, you just push it back into the holder and fit the bulb against the spring tension.

Only reason to replace the barrel would be if it can no longer provide spring tension. This might require de- & re-soldering the bulb base. I'd just try to re-assemble correctly first, before resorting to using replacing with a spade or screw-up type BA7 holder.

[david05111]

I just had another look at it and based on what the one next to it looks like, this doesn’t look too difficult. I thought the actual wire had to be soldered to the barrel, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case. It looks like the wire pokes through almost all the way to the bulb, then there’s a cork/leather washer, then there’s a spring, then there’s another washer at the back end of the barrel to seal it all off. It looks like that wire sort of free-floats between the bulb and the cork/leather washer in the front of the barrel. With the bulb touching the housing, the system is grounded. Simple.

The real issue for me is how the heck I solder the barrel and the components when it’s in the dash (to hold everything together), while being clean enough of a job for the barrel to still fit in the housing. The simplest thing to do would be (as someone else said) simply to put it back together, squeeze it, and push it into the speedo. Would work until it would need to come out again.

I just worry about further damage to the barrel, to the point it splits completely. It’s kinda hanging by a thread at the moment. I’m tempted — in a way — to try to super glue it lightly to try and close it up. I could at least sand that down a hair to make sure it doesn’t impede it going into the speedo. The only concern I have is the glue somehow adhering to the speedo itself when it heats up and the barrel getting perpetually stuck in it. I really am just not that good with a solder gun, and since it has to be done in the car, I’m pretty worried about that route becoming a disaster.