Tony72Cutlass'S'

Hi All,

When i pull my headlamp switch on to the first position (the one where only the marker lights come on and not the headlamps), one of my front bumper lights (in red below) turns on, and one of them does not.


1) Are these lights supposed to come on in the first position?

2) Is it possible that i just have a bad ground, i've played around with the socket, connector and have had no luck so far.



Thanks for the help,

Tony

oldcutlass

Yes the parking lights should come on in the first click. It should be an 1157 lamp, so if your directionals work then you may have a bad bulb.

Allan R

Yes, I agree with Eric.
An interesting side note Tony. When the park or headlights are on the front side marker lights will alternate with the front headlights. An early feature to creating the side flash indicator.
Also put some dialetric grease in the socket. It will help prevent corrosion and improve conductivity.

Allan R

A thought - if you put on that signal light, does the front bulb flash or do you get a solid green indication on the dash? Usually a burnt out bulb will cause a no flash condition.

Tony72Cutlass'S'

I shall check and report back! thanks all

oldcutlass

A burned out marker filament will not effect the signal light operation.

Allan R

But a burnt out signal light will. That's what I was referring to when I asked if the front light flashed.

Tony72Cutlass'S'

Alright so i made some diagnostic progress last night!

Here shows a picture of what happens when i pull the switch into the first position:



Here is a picture that shows what happens when i hit the left turn signal, the marker light on my fender and the driver side bumper light alternate and flash (i think as they should?).



NOW, what i did is disconnected the little connector that the light connects to and i tested to see if it is hot when i turn the headlamp switch to the first position. YES, i have voltage, so this leads me to think there must be an issue with the light housing.

I tested the continuity between the connectors and the light switch (with the two metal buttons that pushes in) and both are hot.

Here is the kicker, i tried to get a connection between the headlamp housing and the lightbulb ground and BAM, nothing. I couldn't get a good ground connection (See below).



Now, how the heck do i take this headlamp socket out and clean the contacts, the whole housing could probably use a bit of a refresh..

Allan R

Tony, you haven't grounded the housing to anything. I'd bet your problem is simply a faulty bulb after reading what you did. Put in a brand new 1157 A and see what happens. If you have voltage to both contacts, that tends to indicate the bulb is the problem. You might also try lifting the contacts in the socket just a bit to ensure they're contacting both nibs in the bottom of the bulb.

Tony72Cutlass'S'

I will try that, but is the method of grounding through the bumper body? maybe i should clean up the contacts and see if that helps as well?

oldcutlass

Make sure the spring loaded contact move in and out easily. Clean the area where the screw contacts the housing that mounts the housing to the bumper. Since all the other lights work your ground is good. Then change the bulb.

RetroRanger

Tony

I use some wd40 squirted in the socket to get the spring loaded part working again you can also get in there w a child's toothbrush or maybe a brass 22 gun barrel brush to clean it up

Tony72Cutlass'S'

Is it possible to take the little spring loaded part out and clean it? I'm going to try the WD-40 thing as well as what Eric suggested above for piece of mind.

oldcutlass

No they don't come out, use wd40 as suggested above or a lubricated contact cleaner to free them up.

Tony72Cutlass'S'

Thanks for the help guys, i'm going to try this all tonight. This has literally been bugging me for 10 years and i'm happy we're getting to the bottom of it.

Fun71

Yes, make sure of this! It's a very common problem with the sockets on front and rear lights. The grease gets old and hard, or the springs corrode and may even fall apart. The result is the wire terminals not making contact with the bulb base. While you're cleaning the socket, try pushing the wire from the rear so it and the terminal come forward a bit. This allows you to clean the gunk off the part of the insulation that moves in the socket and may help it move more freely when you put it back together.

Allan R

The lights ground through the front bumper, which is attached to the car body. By all means you should clean the contacts on the connector of the harness too. Use electrical contact cleaner - it's not expensive and does a great job. IIRC you had the front bumper off a few years ago when you did your grills? Likely you would have noticed if there was a lot of corrosion and cleaned it up then, right? I remember seeing the back end of the car when you were doing the fuel tank and straps (shudder...)

Agreed, however if it's just the contact that's stuck there might not be a need to replace the bulb once it's freed up.

Yes, it is. I completely redid my tail light buckets. It's NOT an ezpz job though. It involves cutting the OEM harness, leaving plenty to reattach, and pushing the contacts up through the housing. After I had everything cleaned and repainted I made sure the contacts and springs were perfect, then fed them back through the holes. Put some shrink wrap on the wires prior to soldering, then move the shrink wrap up and heat. Mine worked perfectly and the bulbs seated exactly as they should. No issues.

Kenneth, sounds like you have done this too. So much fun isn't it? If the springs do fail, a small spring like from a ball point pen but cut to length would likely be a good substitute. Some parts stores or electrical supply do carry these very small springs.

Fun71

Yep, learned on my 70 Supreme back in the 80s. Seemed like every time I changed a bulb I had to clean the sockets so the terminals would make contact.