christophercon Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 This has been driving me crazy for days now! 1994 STS First sign is left turn signals are blinking much faster than the right. The major problem is the rear left dual filiment bulbs. With headlights/running lights off all brake lites work, although maybe on the smaller filliment(running light filliment). When headlights are switched on all running lights illuminate. Here is where the problem lies -on the left rear side of the car when you step on the brake the two dual filiment bulbs in the outer lens go out completely. However the inside bulb which is on the left side of the trunk lid operates correctly as do the right side of car and the third brake light (led's across the trunk lid)... What I have done so far is change ALL dual filiment bulbs on the left side of car. NO change. I have taken out left rear lens and visually checked the 10 inch lead from the tail lights to the connector in the trunk and could see no problems with the wires(cracked insulation or shorting.) Next I disconnected the connector inside the trunk and took voltage readings on the car side of the connector. 3 wires- black is ground, yellow is brakes, brown is running lights. With running/headlights on I have 12.5VDC between black and brown. When I apply theh brake the 2 outter light bubs go out. A voltage check shows 10V between black and yellow AND black and brown. Please remember that the third dual filiment bulb on the trunk lid opperates correctly and that this is feed off a different harness that goes up to the lid near the trunk hinges. also the single filiment running light that is also on the left side says lite as long as running lights are on regardless of brake position, which is correct. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS> THEY WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. THANKS, CHRIS (516)987-7610 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry94 Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 "Back in the old days" a lot of Chevys with multiple brake/tail lights experienced a very similar problem. It always ended up being a bad ground to one of the lights. The taillights work because they pick up the ground thru the brake lights and work. When you apply the brakes, then the ground is gone and the lights go out. Check the grounds, (not with a meter), as a meter will show a ground when actually the ground is not there, it gets continuity from other lights in the circuit. Physically check that the sockets are grounded. Barry 2008 STS V82016 Colorado Z711970 Corvette LT-1 Coupe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldgamer Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Barry94 is absolutely right. Check the grounds. You can check the voltage on a grounds when bulb on. It should be very close to zero or zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Look at the plastic inside the socket. Any browning of the socket plastic indicates a bad internal ground inside the socket. The real only fix is splice on a new socket. This image is a classic burnt socket. Very common on the Cadillacs.... http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/376867..._memory_081.jpg Logan Diagnostic LLC www.airbagcrash.com www.logandieselusa.com www.ledfix.com www.ledfix.com/yukontaillightrepair.html www.ledfix.com/ledreplacements.html www.ledfix.com/j42385toolrental.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davedog Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 I would try starting at the taillights and tracing the wires the whole way to the front of the car. On my previous caddy I was having similar problems and found a 1 ft length of the wiring harness had gotten pinched and shorted then melted together. I rewired it and everything started working normally again. HERE IS MY POST FROM A YEAR AGO (OLD BOARD): http://caddysearch.netgetgoing.com/mbarchi...id=caddymb-8572 Crystal Red Tintcoat Exterior | Shale/Brownstone Interior | 32k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franey Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 I HAD the same problem on my 96 SLS, i finally found this part number GM 15306194 , which is made better than the original sockets, I do not know what GM product they were made for, but they look identical to your 2 element sockets and they work. I RECOMMEND that you replace all six 2 element sockets in the backat the same time, total cost about 60 to 70 dollars. I also found the GE bulbs sold a wally world, work best , the two bottom contacts on the GE bulb are odlong in design and for some reason make better contact with this design. IF you will make these changes your problem is over. I CHASED what you are going through for over a year , and finally found this socket last May, since i changed all of them out at the same time and put the GE , BULBS in ,i have had ZERO trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc_caddy Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 As others mentioned, I'm pretty sure it's the light sockets. After cutting off the old sockets, you can carefully cut through the plastic housing with an exacto knife to get to the internal ground connection. You'll then see the corrosion. It's not a pretty sight! Lots of burned deposits, etc. from the internal electrical arcing. I was fixing my sockets late one night and wanted to repair them FAST. I just soldered the connection tight (OEM is just a friction fit) and then used 5 minute epoxy to re-seal the socket housing. I then reinstalled the "fixed" sockets. It's been working fine for the last year or so. As I said, it was a quick and dirty fix, but it works if you're in a hurry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 The 2000 Deville backup lamp sockets are a perfect fix for the burnt Seville sockets. They use a different style of dual filimamt style bulb. One can be seen in the photo we attached earlier. No part # available. Logan Diagnostic LLC www.airbagcrash.com www.logandieselusa.com www.ledfix.com www.ledfix.com/yukontaillightrepair.html www.ledfix.com/ledreplacements.html www.ledfix.com/j42385toolrental.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christophercon Posted October 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2004 THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO RESPONDED TO MY ELECTRICAL PROBLEM POSTING!!!!!!! Problem has been corrected after hours of chasing a ghost. the responses to my posting certainly steered me in the CORRECT direction. First I followed "gc caddy's" lead and did a McGIEVER on the lanp sockets by cutting through the plastic casing of the socket on the ground side with a dremel and sure enough the connection between the ground wire and lamp socket recepticle was cooked and not conducting. I made a solder bridge and pluged harness back on the car and that bulb now worked correctly!!!!!! So I went on my merry way to the caddy dealer to get replacement sockets - part# GM15306194. Cut the old ones off the harness and soldered and shirk wapped and reinstalled. All is well and ALL my lights now work and my blinker has slowed down to normal speed. THANKS AGAIN TO LOGAN FOR THE PICTURES OF THE BURNT SOCKETS (which mine looked like), and THANKS TO FRANEY WHO ACTUALLY CALLED TO DISCUSS HIS YEAR LONG TREK TO FIND THE SAME PROBLEM, and GC CADDY WHO MADE ME A BELIEVER. This site is great cause we all don't have deep pockets to visit the DREADED CADDY SERVICE DEPARTMENT!!!!!!! @$95. an hour CHRIS 1994 STS 118,000 miles and still running strong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northstar Posted October 26, 2004 Report Share Posted October 26, 2004 how much were the sockets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHRISCON Posted October 26, 2004 Report Share Posted October 26, 2004 Original GM Sockets were $17 bucks each......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northstar Posted October 26, 2004 Report Share Posted October 26, 2004 do they take a push in style bulb? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHRISCON Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 NO, the sockets I changed were for the 1157 dual filiment twist and lock in. My additional single filiment running light was a push in - but that is the much smaller type push in bulb. If you click on the link for pictures from LOGAN'S first reply you will see two versions of rear sockets. Mine was the one on the right and the socket on the left looks like a push in to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckgann Posted November 3, 2004 Report Share Posted November 3, 2004 I am 95% sure I have this exact same problem and have ordered the new sockets as well. My problem is worse when my headlights are on. Anyway, yesterday I got two codes: P106 (stop lamp switch input circuit problem), and t067 (brake light switch fault). That was last night on way home with headlights on. This AM I cleared both codes and drove to work without headlights (it was light!). The codes did not return. Is it possible that the codes were set due to the burned sockets I have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckgann Posted November 3, 2004 Report Share Posted November 3, 2004 If anyone has an opinion on my previous post, I would really appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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