I've got an issue with my left brake and signal light as of last night, but I've got a weird glitch. My drivers side signal/stop/tail lights all work fine. My passenger tail/parking light works fine. But last night when I pulled into my parking spot in front of our house (which is on a hill, nose down), I got out and my brake pedal stuck in the down position as it sometimes does due to a badly cut hole in the repair kick board metal by a PO. It almost always releases when I close the door, or manually 'toe it up'. But before I closed my door, I decided to go back and check the lights to see if all was good. My passenger brake light was not on. I reached in the cab and turned on that signal light, but it was dead too. (Didn't check the running lights, since it was cold and dark, but they were ok today when I put the meter on them. Anyway, I tested the lines today, figuring I had a loose or corroded ground. I had power to the tail lamp, but not the brake and signal bulb. When I checked the wiring at the back axle area, I found one iffy connection on the wire feeding the problem bulb. I had forgotten to put a crimper and shrink tube on (still had a wire nut and tape), from when I had a ground problem last spring. I replaced the whole housing and added a flex chrome wire carrier at that time- before I figured out I had a bad ground!
After installing the new connection fitting today, I tested hot for both signal AND brake at the bulb seat. Great!!, I said. Then I put what appeared to be the good bulb back in, and tried the signal light. Zilch. Then I applied my patent-pending delayed-reaction-brake's Wonder Pedal and it didn't work either, after just getting good readings on both actions. At this point I thought to myself, "at least I won't be out in an ice storm trying to put a new fitting on that wire that I didn't finish!", and proceeded to get a new bulb out of the glove compartment. BTW, my brake and signal bulbs in back are 23w 12v. The signal light is working fine, but the brake light is not coming on. Now I'm puzzled. It was working fine just a day or so ago when my wife was behind me, and it's been good since last spring. What the heck could be going on here? These are single contact receptacles, they're clean, I can't find any bare spots in the circuit, and this is a 6 moth old housing (and the ground is good, not corroded) What's everybody think about this? What am I missing here? Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long story. Lee Butcher
