Dim tail light

R

ross3655

New member
Was stopped by police for having a dim tail light on my 28 A. It only came with one running tail light. Police were right. You can hardly see it whether the car is running or not. Stop light works fine. Strangely the light goes on very brightly when I turn the switch from ON to BRIGHT. The head lights don’t work on bright, just the tail light brightly. I’ve juggled the tail light housing but still only dim results. WHAT CAN I DO? Larry
 
A voltage drop from excessive resistance would cause as dim bulb. That's ff it's not the normal 6V dim lights. You need to look for the excessive resistance in the circuit using a voltmeter and a "voltage drop test". There are some good YouTube videos showing you how to perform the test. It's really easy and the only way to pinpoint where that resistance is in the circuit. You can pull the bulb and give it power and a ground directly from the battery to see how much brighter it is. That will tell you if it is excessive resistance in the circuit or just a dim bulb.
 
Run a ground wire from the bulb socket to a solid ground on the frame. Years of rust and corrosion have probably built up at fender or body joints and you are not getting full battery voltage at the bulb. Also check the battery supply wire for good continuity.

Tom Endy
 
The running light is 3 candle power?, can be replaced by higher candle power bulb or switch to led lights as I did. Much safer. Possibly add brake lighter to rear window.
 
Hello, as mentioned may have bad ground ,have seen that a lot, plus changing to higher candlepower bulb will help.
 
Les Andrews blue book, "diagnosis and troubleshooting", Chapter II, has excellent descriptions of voltage tests.
 
Make sure the bulb is 6 volt, some PO may have put in a 12 volt bulb.
Also make sure the bulb is in the proper orientation, if it's in backwards that would explain why it goes BRIGHT when the headlights are turned on.
 
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