Taillight issues 92 'Burb - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

billnorman · 03-25-2017, 07:55 PM

I bought this 92 burb, the P.O. dragged it out of the woods so I plunked down my $600 and drove it home. The taillights were spastic, some times the signals and taillights worked sometimes they didn't. I bought NEW taillights because the sockets where the 1157 brake/turn/running lamps were had melted. These seldom worked either. I used L E D bulbs to hold down on the heat in the turn/running light sockets and in the back-up sockets. I finally found that the light assemblies weren't grounded, the trailer hitch wiring was bad so I removed it. Then everything worked but one of the LED's burned up inside so I had to order a new one and put a regular bulb in it temporarily. Today the other side LED running/brake light stopped working, and when I took the housing apart the other new LED had burned up and arced the housing socket badly.
Had anybody else run into taillights that melted the sockets, or has anybdy tried LED lamps and had them catastrophically fail? I mean they both burned, the second one looks like a used firecracker.

deejaaa1 · 03-28-2017, 10:39 PM

had them get the sockets hot and melt. what brand were the LEDs? i would trace the wiring all the way to the fuse panel. chances are something else is messed up.
my tails act up when the ground is broken but not overheat.

billnorman · 03-28-2017, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deejaaa1

had them get the sockets hot and melt. what brand were the LEDs? i would trace the wiring all the way to the fuse panel. chances are something else is messed up.
my tails act up when the ground is broken but not overheat.

I do not know the brand I got them from Amazon. These LED's are supposed to function on 12 to 24 volts, I grounded the Right Side taillight wiring to the body, maybe, just maybe the left bulbs are not getting enough voltage, due to a bad ground. I added a 8 gauge bonding wire from the LH exhaust manifold to the LH inner fender where the brake controller mounts. The left LED that blew up really scorched. I know you can't run household LED's on a dimmer, maybe the ground being poor LOWERED the available voltage, which is defined as a "difference in potential" by allowing the ground potential to rise.
I'm gonna add another ground wire to the Left side taillight tomorrow.
I'm not going to put the LED's back in until after I get it inspected.

03-25-2017, 07:55 PM	#1
billnorman Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: glen burnie md Posts: 174	Taillight issues 92 'Burb I bought this 92 burb, the P.O. dragged it out of the woods so I plunked down my $600 and drove it home. The taillights were spastic, some times the signals and taillights worked sometimes they didn't. I bought NEW taillights because the sockets where the 1157 brake/turn/running lamps were had melted. These seldom worked either. I used L E D bulbs to hold down on the heat in the turn/running light sockets and in the back-up sockets. I finally found that the light assemblies weren't grounded, the trailer hitch wiring was bad so I removed it. Then everything worked but one of the LED's burned up inside so I had to order a new one and put a regular bulb in it temporarily. Today the other side LED running/brake light stopped working, and when I took the housing apart the other new LED had burned up and arced the housing socket badly. Had anybody else run into taillights that melted the sockets, or has anybdy tried LED lamps and had them catastrophically fail? I mean they both burned, the second one looks like a used firecracker. Last edited by billnorman; 03-28-2017 at 10:48 PM.



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