croftonfoxes
New member
‘48 Convertible Brake Light/Tail Light Problem Solved
Hello Everyone,
Just wanted to share my experience with solving a brake light/tail light issue on our ‘48 Convertible… Found out last week from a fellow car club member (Street Survivors of Maryland) that when he was behind me the week before, he noticed that I did not have brake lights. When I got home, I asked my wife to try the brakes while I checked the lights… Sure enough, nothing on both sides. I had her turn on the parking lights and discovered that the left tail light was about half as bright as the right. Then when she pressed the brake, both lights just dimmed. Hmm.. To me that looked like a grounding problem on the left light. Ran a test wire from the positive side (6V positive ground system) of the battery back to the left bulb and bingo! The tail light and both brake lights now both worked. I ran a separate wire from the bulb socket, through the loom and out to one of the rear bumper bolts (easiest and cleanest grounding point I could find). The lights now seemed work.. Great! Nope. After putting everything back together, I had my wife come out again to help me test. Brake lights, good; tail lights good; tail lights and brake lights together, whoops… I do not see the lights get brighter… Hmm… I pull off both lenses and try again, and both filaments glow when both the tail lights and brake lights are on, and each filament glows individually as they should too; however, the filament is just not bright enough to overpower the tail light filament on both bulbs…. Hmm again…. Some Internet searching and I start to see other folks experiencing the the exact same problem with 1154 6v bulbs they bought from Mac’s or Eckler’s. Guess where I bought my bulbs? Yup! A bit more reading and someone recommended 1154 6v motorcycle bulbs. I went on Amazon and found these: motoparty 6V 21/5W Tail Brake Light Bulb, Rear Indicator For Kawasaki Suzuki Honda Yamaha Motorcycle Scooter 10PCS. Upon reading some of the reviews, I saw that several folks with Model A’s and Model T’s say that the they worked for them. I ordered a set, they came today and I put them in… Problem solved! I can now see the brake lights lite even with the tail lights on. Hope this can help anyone suffering through the similar problem!
Hello Everyone,
Just wanted to share my experience with solving a brake light/tail light issue on our ‘48 Convertible… Found out last week from a fellow car club member (Street Survivors of Maryland) that when he was behind me the week before, he noticed that I did not have brake lights. When I got home, I asked my wife to try the brakes while I checked the lights… Sure enough, nothing on both sides. I had her turn on the parking lights and discovered that the left tail light was about half as bright as the right. Then when she pressed the brake, both lights just dimmed. Hmm.. To me that looked like a grounding problem on the left light. Ran a test wire from the positive side (6V positive ground system) of the battery back to the left bulb and bingo! The tail light and both brake lights now both worked. I ran a separate wire from the bulb socket, through the loom and out to one of the rear bumper bolts (easiest and cleanest grounding point I could find). The lights now seemed work.. Great! Nope. After putting everything back together, I had my wife come out again to help me test. Brake lights, good; tail lights good; tail lights and brake lights together, whoops… I do not see the lights get brighter… Hmm… I pull off both lenses and try again, and both filaments glow when both the tail lights and brake lights are on, and each filament glows individually as they should too; however, the filament is just not bright enough to overpower the tail light filament on both bulbs…. Hmm again…. Some Internet searching and I start to see other folks experiencing the the exact same problem with 1154 6v bulbs they bought from Mac’s or Eckler’s. Guess where I bought my bulbs? Yup! A bit more reading and someone recommended 1154 6v motorcycle bulbs. I went on Amazon and found these: motoparty 6V 21/5W Tail Brake Light Bulb, Rear Indicator For Kawasaki Suzuki Honda Yamaha Motorcycle Scooter 10PCS. Upon reading some of the reviews, I saw that several folks with Model A’s and Model T’s say that the they worked for them. I ordered a set, they came today and I put them in… Problem solved! I can now see the brake lights lite even with the tail lights on. Hope this can help anyone suffering through the similar problem!