The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay dim tail lights

i have just finished restoring my 65 gmc pickup. mt headlights work great but my taillights are very dim. does anyone know what my problem might be? sure would appreciate any help.

You may not be getting a good ground from the bed to the frame. If you have a voltmeter, check the voltage from the frame to the wires at the bulb socket.

54 5-window 3100,

My rear tail lights are also dim. Where and how do you "ground" them?

You can test for this condition by running a wire from the taillight bolt to a good clean place on the truck frame. They don't need to be perminent connections for the test, just good clean connections.

Just heard about an idea a fellow has reserched, using LED lights for his turn and tail lights, he gave us a demo and they were very bright

LED's will be brighter than conventional bulbs. However, that will not resolve a grounding problem.

Lucille, the tail lights are grounded through the sockets to the light brackets to the bolts and then finally to the body. If there is any rust along that path, then a good cleaning is in order. Paint can also act as an insulator.

54-5 window, above has the right idea.

That depends on the LED. I bought LEDs to replace the stock tail/brake lights on my '03 pickup and they were dimmer than the incandescent bulbs. I also bought EXPENSIVE 6v LEDs for my '38 and they were no brighter than stock bulbs.

I powder coated both the tail light buckets and the mounting brackets on my 49. I simply ran another wire which I soldered and screwed to the flat strip inside the bucket which holds the bulbs. I attached the other end to a clean spot on the chassis. Works like new.

As previous posts have stated, getting a good ground is essential. You might also want to ground motor to frame, and cab to frame. Pretty simple and inexpensive to do, and saves some headaches in the future.

olblu49 - I might try that.

You can also paint the interior of the buckets white. It will reflect a lot more light and make them look brighter.

When you are checking the ground, have a look at the bulbs, and make sure they are the proper CP. You never know what a previous owner was up to!

You can also use your Volt-Ohm-Meter to check the resistance for both the tail light ground, and tail light circuit too.

That's an excellent point. My '38 had a pair of #63 bulbs in it when I drug her home with a total of 6 whopping candle power as a brake light. She's good to go now though with 6cp tail light and 27cp brake light.

I sprayed the inside of the housing with some spray can chrome paint and it helped the 37.