Wonky lights

[Ross Bibby]

Had an interesting problem today. Got told that my LHS brake light was out so duly went to Halfords and got the new buld. When I came to change the bulb I discovered that the round flat plastic that acts as a screw plate and keeps the rubber seal the right shape was more or less shattered - it all fell out.
I changed the buld and tested it. Now when the brake is on the RHS bulb is brighter than the LHS one.
When my side lights are on it's the other way around

What's going on?

Is is because the connection isn't as good now the plastic has all fallen out and if I get a new light unit will it all be alright again?

Oh and I double checked it's the right bulb and tried some pokery jiggery all to no avail

Ross

Oh it's a TDi 200 90 - a green one

 

[BandM]

If it works when you press the pedal, why worry?

 

[slob]

yer probably gort a bad earth and yer leccy is find new and interesting ways to return to the battery

 

[slob]

If it works when you press the pedal, why worry?

ah thought you was on a promise?

 

[Ross Bibby]

If it works when you press the pedal, why worry?

I hate peple with lights out on their motors - winds me right up! Just don't want to be that guy.

yer probably gort a bad earth and yer leccy is find new and interesting ways to return to the battery

Cool - i'll jigger it with my poker tommorow and see what comes of it.

 

[pos]

I had this very problem my self not long ago. Chances are that the bulb has been brighter on one side for longer than you think, and this is down to the bulb being wired incorrectly. Simple unscrew the plastic socket and pull it out. Keep pulling the wire out of the socket until you find the connector block / cable joins. Two of them will be connected incorrectly and it's up to you to work out! Basically someone has connected the "brake" wire to the "light" terminal, as opposed to the "brake light" terminal on the plastic socket. When you press the brakes you will probably find that the bulb dims as opposed to getting brighter, is this the case?

Also make sure that you put the bulb in right. The bulb has little metal dimples on the metal casing around the bottom, one of them higher than the other. The grooves in the plastic socket are shaped differently so that they fit the bulb correctly. If you put it in wrong, the socket will damage very easily and the bulb will pop out with the slightest little bump!

-Pos

 

[slob]

I had this very problem my self not long ago. Chances are that the bulb has been brighter on one side for longer than you think, and this is down to the bulb being wired incorrectly. Simple unscrew the plastic socket and pull it out. Keep pulling the wire out of the socket until you find the connector block / cable joins. Two of them will be connected incorrectly and it's up to you to work out! Basically someone has connected the "brake" wire to the "light" terminal, as opposed to the "brake light" terminal on the plastic socket. When you press the brakes you will probably find that the bulb dims as opposed to getting brighter, is this the case?

Also make sure that you put the bulb in right. The bulb has little metal dimples on the metal casing around the bottom, one of them higher than the other. The grooves in the plastic socket are shaped differently so that they fit the bulb correctly. If you put it in wrong, the socket will damage very easily and the bulb will pop out with the slightest little bump!

-Pos

how does this :When my side lights are on it's the other way around: fit into yer theory?

 

[pos]

That's what it will look like. If he has his sidelights or his main beam on (that's both rear lights on either way) and one is brighter than the other, the brighter one is obviously wired up to the brake terminal as opposed to the light terminal. The simple thing to do is turn the sidelights on and have someone watch from behind. As he presses the brakes, the side which was initially dimmer with just the sidelights on will brighten up, and the initially brighter side will dim down, looking like the lights have changed around.

Is that not what he means?

 

[slob]

eh! if he had one sidelight wired up as a brake light and vicky verky then the side lide as a brake light would have to lose power for it to go dimmer.
look its a bad earth, now stop confusing things

 

[pos]

lol! Don't you understand? Makes perfect sense to me. There's two or three wires going into the back of the socket. One for when the brakes are pressed, one for just the standard light. I've had it meself. When I had the lights on and I pressed the brakes it looked like all the power was going to one side.

 

[slob]

ah see what yer saying but unless he managed to put the bulb in arse about face then ah still say its a bad erff.

yer did put the bulb in the correct way round, dint yer?

 

[pos]

Cheers Slob, thought I wasn't making sense. He's only gone and buggered off Chances are you're right...

 

[chris_mack]

i agree with slob

bad earth..

check your number plate lamp, is this is rusted or earthing badly it can play havoc with the rest of the lights!

 

[Ross Bibby]

Pos, I did understand what you were on about and I'll put it third on my list.
With regard to putting the bulb in I followed this logic. Put bulb in - twist bulb around - turn light on - light comes on - job done.

Now if someone's going to put points in higher and/or lower and complicate the whole issue then it's all greco-roman to me.

I'll be checking the bulb in the morning tho.

 

[slob]

yer got two filements in yer bulb. one fer brake and one fer tail light
yer brake one has a higher wattage doodaa as it needs to be brighter. if yer manage to force it in arse about face you end up with the sidelight wires feeding the brake light filiment and vicky verky.

it is possible to do but yer really need to try as usually it wont go in the wrong way easily.
course as yer bulb holder is gubbed yer might have found it falls in the wrong way.

but other than that its most likey a bad erff

 

[pos]

I've managed to knacker two bulb sockets doing that, one of which was a new wipac fitting! Only cost £2 mind but managed to fix it. T'plastic was soft as hell!

 

[bustersbus]

instead of pullin' the wires out of the hole, ye could always take the metal cover off in the rear tub and have a better look. Ye could always use the other side for referece anaw

 

[ratty]

It's definately arse about face bulb syndrome. Remove bulb, rotate bulb 180degrees, re-fit bulb. If it was a bad earth he would have wonky indicators too.

 

[slob]

It's definately arse about face bulb syndrome. Remove bulb, rotate bulb 180degrees, re-fit bulb. If it was a bad earth he would have wonky indicators too.

not nessarseeariler, if yer erffs are playing up all sorts of weird and wonderful things can happen. an ah still say the most likely cause is a bad erff. that dunt meant to say the only cause just the most likely as yer have to be pretty stupid to get the bulb in arse about face. plus bad erff are standard fitting on series/defenders it all depends how long the delay has bin set to as to when it comes into operation

 

[ratty]

not nessarseeariler, if yer erffs are playing up all sorts of weird and wonderful things can happen. an ah still say the most likely cause is a bad erff. that dunt meant to say the only cause just the most likely as yer have to be pretty stupid to get the bulb in arse about face. plus bad erff are standard fitting on series/defenders it all depends how long the delay has bin set to as to when it comes into operation

As switching the bulb around is the quickest test I would advise doing that first.

I lost the rear earth on my own defender a couple of months back. I lost ALL rear lights. The first sign was my indicators flashing fast to alert me to bulb failure. If he had lost or had a weak earth at the back end his indicators should have been effected too.

While you are correct in what you are saying about earths doing strange things an earth fault causing bulbs to dim AND brighten normally rears its head when indicators are applied with either rear light, brakelight or both (due to load being applied and removed).

As a temporary fix I drilled a small hole in the bottom corners of both my reverse and fog lamps (so it had an earth on each side) and ran a wire (about 3" long) from the lamp earths to a small bolt that I put in each side the rear crossmember (using existing holes).