Tail Light Bulb Issues - Have bulbs changed?

[Tidybuoy]

I recently had my left rear tail light burn out - after many, many years of faithful service.

I decided to replace all bulbs at the rear since I was in there. However, when I went to the auto-parts store, the bulb charts did not go back as far as 1974. I asked at the counter and they looked up #1126 and #1127 for my tail lights, blinkers, and brake lights.

The bulbs seems to have a loose fit but they worked. After a couple of days, the left blinker stopped working but resumed if I jiggled it. After a couple more days, I discovered that none of the rear lights were working.

I looked up on the net & Pelican and I see that the correct bulbs are #7506 and #7528. I returned to a different auto parts store and they did not carry the #75xx bulbs but had a conversion to #1126 & #1127.

Has anyone had this problem and if I order the correct bulbs from Pelican, will they have a slightly fatter base as the current bulbs have a very loose fit and I don't recall the old bulbs being that loose - unfortunately, I tossed to old bulbs.

Thanks for any advice.

[mspirito]

I had the same problem and found that the Chinese bulbs do not fit well. You need to get the German or Eastern European bulbs. Which are generally not available in the regular auto parts stores

[sled9146]

Had same issue with my 1970 914/6 just recently. Check out the thread:

914World.com - The fastest growing online 914 community!

Sled

[Quicksilver]

I have seen that the flexi metal contact tabs get flattened with age and use. Gently bending them back up has worked fine in those cases for me.

[Tidybuoy]

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

I have seen that the flexi metal contact tabs get flattened with age and use. Gently bending them back up has worked fine in those cases for me.

That's what I did last night and it seemed to work. But the bulbs still have a lot of looseness and is due to a base that is a tiny bit too skinny. I'm going to order bulbs from Pelican (which are osram or hella) and see if they are better.

[dan88911]

I recall someone in another post mentioning wrapping electric tape around the collar were the base contacts the bulb.

[Stephen-911SC]

Need to replace my reverse lights and will be "bulb shopping" soon. I'm assuming the reverse lights and front turn signals all are affected similarly by this?

[Jrboulder]

Wow I just went through this.

I tried electrical tape but it was too thick. I managed to put a few little pieces of aluminum foil tape on one side to snug it up. It's still working fine.

[emac]

Toothpick
Ernie 81sc

[E Sully]

You don't want to use anything that will insulate the base from the socket, it needs contact for ground.

[JAR0023]

They are all a BA15 base. The single filament bulb is BA15s and the double filament bulb is a BA15d. There will be several numbers that interchange. I wanted bright as practical but did NOT want LED. 3497 for the single filament and 3496 for the dual filament. If you want to kick up the reverse lights a notch look for a 796 it's a 35W bulb.

I bought all my bulbs from memotronics_llc via eBAy. All bulbs were manufactured by CEC in South Korea. Excelent quality, service and cheap. Here's a link to the eBay store. Just search on the bulb numbers.

Clear 12 Volts, Bayonet items in 3496 store on eBay!

These bulbs are the ones recommended on the Daniel Stern site as Honda bulbs. There are some threads here if you want to search. I switched all of the bulbs in my car over to these and it made a significant difference in brightness. Not night and day but a difference you can clearly see at night. The increased amp draw is almost nil. I'm running the 796 in my third brake light as well as for reverse lights. I've had these bulbs in my car for about six months now with zero issues.

Below is text I cribbed from the net and saved in a word doc. I can't rememeber where I found it but this is what started me researching the above bulb options.

1034: dual-filament park/turn and brake tail. Clear bulb for use with red rear or amber front lens.

1034A or 1034NA: dual-filament park/turn. Amber bulb for use with clear front lens.

1141 or 1073: single-filament bulb. Reversing/backup lights (and single-function—brake-only, turn-only—lights not frequently found on old Mopars).

In the early '70s, the 1034 was replaced by the 1157, the 1073/1141 by the 1156. These 1150-series bulbs put out the same amount of light, but draw slightly more current and last quite a bit longer. When changing from 1034s to 1157s, often it was (and is) necessary to replace the turn signal flasher, because the original would flash too fast if used with 1157s. Nowtimes, it's difficult to find a flasher calibrated for 1034s.

So, what to use for upgrade bulbs? Well first, here's what NOT to use: 2057s! People sometimes assume that because it's a higher number, it's a brighter bulb. No. The difference between 1157 and 2057 is in the "minor" (dim parking or tail) filament. On the 2057, the dim filament produces 2 candlepower. On the 1157, the dim filament produces 3 candlepower. The difference doesn't sound like much, but it's very large as a percentage. Both 1157 and 2057 produce 32 candlepower from the bright (brake or turn) filament.

Though they are spendy, the best bulb you can use in place of 1157 is called P3496. It draws the same amount of current as 1157, but is much more efficient. It produces 43 candlepower on the bright (brake or turn) filament, and 3.5 candlepower on the dim (tail or parking) filament. It also has a nickel-plated base that is much more corrosion resistant than the plain brass base of an 1157.

The best replacement for 1156, 1141 and 1073 in all applications *except* reversing/backup lights is P3497. It produces 45 candlepower. (Yes, the 6 and the 7 in P3496 and P3497 are reversed from the 6 and the 7 in 1156 and 1157 relative to how many filaments the bulb has. This is not a typo.) The P3496 and P3497 bulbs have a life span about double that of an 1157.

The best bulb for use in backup/reverse lights is a P796. It is a 35W halogen bulb that produces 62 candlepower, or about double the light of an 1156 and about triple the light of an 1141. The extra wattage is minor (35W vs. 28W, the wires and lenses will not notice or care) and the filament is in the right place. Neither of these compliments can be said of those 50W halogen backup bulbs you see in the parts stores! 50W is wayy too much current draw (100% overload!) for the stock wiring and switch, they produce way too much heat for safety near plastic lenses, and the filament's in the wrong place so the reflector doesn't work correctly with them. The P796s work great, and you finally get to see where you're going when backing at night.

[JAR0023]

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

I have seen that the flexi metal contact tabs get flattened with age and use. Gently bending them back up has worked fine in those cases for me.

A little right angle pick and gently pry them forward. Too much and you break 'em. -J

[Creve]

Originally Posted by Tidybuoy

That's what I did last night and it seemed to work. But the bulbs still have a lot of looseness and is due to a base that is a tiny bit too skinny. I'm going to order bulbs from Pelican (which are osram or hella) and see if they are better.

Osram bulbs still seem to be made in Germany. When I went to a few FLAPS looking for bulbs, I found that some carried Osram plus a few other brands (GE?) A few that said "made in Germany" in small print on the back. Those that did say "made in germany" seemed to work and fit well. Syvania all seem to be made in China, IIRC.

You might also look into LED bulbs for those new numbers and see if you find some to your liking. I found some red LED bulbs for my brake lights that work pretty well at the local Auto Zone.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by JAR0023

1034: dual-filament park/turn and brake tail. Clear bulb for use with red rear or amber front lens.

1034A or 1034NA: dual-filament park/turn. Amber bulb for use with clear front lens.

1141 or 1073: single-filament bulb. Reversing/backup lights (and single-function—brake-only, turn-only—lights not frequently found on old Mopars).

In the early '70s, the 1034 was replaced by the 1157, the 1073/1141 by the 1156. These 1150-series bulbs put out the same amount of light, but draw slightly more current and last quite a bit longer. When changing from 1034s to 1157s, often it was (and is) necessary to replace the turn signal flasher, because the original would flash too fast if used with 1157s. Nowtimes, it's difficult to find a flasher calibrated for 1034s.

So, what to use for upgrade bulbs? Well first, here's what NOT to use: 2057s! People sometimes assume that because it's a higher number, it's a brighter bulb. No. The difference between 1157 and 2057 is in the "minor" (dim parking or tail) filament. On the 2057, the dim filament produces 2 candlepower. On the 1157, the dim filament produces 3 candlepower. The difference doesn't sound like much, but it's very large as a percentage. Both 1157 and 2057 produce 32 candlepower from the bright (brake or turn) filament.

Though they are spendy, the best bulb you can use in place of 1157 is called P3496. It draws the same amount of current as 1157, but is much more efficient. It produces 43 candlepower on the bright (brake or turn) filament, and 3.5 candlepower on the dim (tail or parking) filament. It also has a nickel-plated base that is much more corrosion resistant than the plain brass base of an 1157.

The best replacement for 1156, 1141 and 1073 in all applications *except* reversing/backup lights is P3497. It produces 45 candlepower. (Yes, the 6 and the 7 in P3496 and P3497 are reversed from the 6 and the 7 in 1156 and 1157 relative to how many filaments the bulb has. This is not a typo.) The P3496 and P3497 bulbs have a life span about double that of an 1157.

The best bulb for use in backup/reverse lights is a P796. It is a 35W halogen bulb that produces 62 candlepower, or about double the light of an 1156 and about triple the light of an 1141. The extra wattage is minor (35W vs. 28W, the wires and lenses will not notice or care) and the filament is in the right place. Neither of these compliments can be said of those 50W halogen backup bulbs you see in the parts stores! 50W is wayy too much current draw (100% overload!) for the stock wiring and switch, they produce way too much heat for safety near plastic lenses, and the filament's in the wrong place so the reflector doesn't work correctly with them. The P796s work great, and you finally get to see where you're going when backing at night.

.

Thanks for that. I just copied and pasted that to my files.

[HarryD]

I just punted an bought an after market bulb socket and replaced the worn bulb socket that was cast into my taillight assembly. For $2 seems to get the job done.