Tail light weirdness...

[mikmik]

I have no tail-lights at the moment, however, they come on as I'm pushing in the bulb holders, then go off once the lamp is pushed home.

bad earth 'm thinking?

Anyone got a quick fix?

Thanks in advance

Mick

[JoshWard]

Probably bad earthing...

I have similar problems sometimes!

[stuthegasman]

they use the metal body of the rear lamps to earth probably just need pushing in but if you look at the bulb holder Mick it will only go in a certain way there is a tab the bulb holder is sort of spring loaded so you need to push it and it will click into position, it must be your bumpy roads either that or you've been giving mjp a bit of welly on those country roads......lol I did notice that mjp was fitted with plastic covers that protect the bulbs and wiring at the rear of the clusters not sure but perhaps all of them should have these none of my other mk1/2s had them just that one ???
stu

[Martec]

Yes had this problem and the coppers stopped me for it, I found my problem inside the bulb holders not the light fitting.

Remove the bulb holder from the light fitting, then take the bulb out of it and look at the metal bits inside. I found there are two metal parts and they can become corroded and not make contact when pushed into the light fitting.

I tried removing them, cleaning and refitting, but the coppers stopped my stepdaughter in the car. Eventually I soldered the bits together and then refitted it to the lamp holder, no more problems.

Brian

[mikmik]

I know the tab only allows fitting one way Stu. whats weird is that it works just BEFORE the bulb holder pushes home, not when its actually home.

There was gaffa tape holding the tail lights on on one cluster, so someone else has had the same gip with it at one time.

MJP is now ZV 462, by the way! On natty new black and silver plates...

[black tulip tc]

Mick, try GENTLY bending the tabs out a bit to make tighter contact.

Another trick is get a piece of auto cable, strip both ends about a centimetre, wrap one end around one of the metal mounting tabs and the other end behind one of the cluster mounting nuts. This 'extra earth' worked for me.

Worth a try?

Dave.

[mikmik]

Thanks Dave

I already tried expanding the tabs out slightly. I had considered wrapping some cable around them, stripped, to bulk out the connection, but I'll try your idea now too.

[bigcarle]

one of the first jobs i do with a new marina to the family is to 'fix' the
light the way black tulip hs described only with a flash crimp fitting under
the mounting nut, works very well

[mikmik]

Sorted as per Black Tulip's recommendation. Thanks lads!

[locost_bryan]

Another trick is get a piece of auto cable, strip both ends about a centimetre, wrap one end around one of the metal mounting tabs and the other end behind one of the cluster mounting nuts. This 'extra earth' worked for me.

Worked for me 20 years ago.

[Coupedriver]

I've found almost 100% of the time that the earthing contact inside the bulbholder loses continuity with the bulbholder body. I've attempted soldering with some success. Most of the time it's just a frustrating experiment, and I toss the bulbholder in the can and get a new one. Fortunately they are not hard to find, though not cheap. As I remember, TR6 used the same bulbholders. Skip