Tail light problem

[Barracudadan]

I just started to check all the lights/turnsignals on my car to make sure everything works.Here is my problem the left rear taillight is way too bright compared to the other side at first I thought the r/h side was too dim but it seems ok.The left hand bulb is bright white when lit and is almost too hot to touch.I bought all brand new bulbs today used bulb grease and cleaned the bulb sockets with a small wire wheel on my dremel tool to clean the corrosion out of bulb sockets.After seeing the problem I replaced the new bulb with an old one thinking the new bulb might be bad,when I did this the old bulb immediatly smoked up on the inside.I didn`t see any wires shorted together or any other obvious signs of trouble.All the bulbs are correct I even refered to the bulb chart in the archives section to make sure I bought the right ones.Any ideas or suggestions on what the problem could be are appreciated?

Also the backup lights arent working but I havent really dug into that yet as I was trying to figure out this problem first.

[Bullitt-]

A 12V bulb left on for any length of time will be to hot to touch.... I'll hazard a guess, the two filament bulb has one lower intensity for tail lights & one higher intensity for brake lights, if the wiring were switched to where the brake filament were getting power rather than the tail light filament it would explain the difference. The old bulb burning out may have been a coincidence.

[Barracudadan]

I can`t even remember if that bulb even flashed when I had the turn signal on.Also the contacts for the bulb pushed out of the socket when I was cleaning them I didn`t pay any attention I just shoved them back in maybe they are backwards.I`ll check my wires thanks Bulitt!

[ShelbyDogg]

On all of my tailight sockets I solder a ground wire then ground it on one end.  This way all of the tail lights share the same wire and still flash when they get knocked out or have a bad connection, which is common on 70 Challengers.

Backup lights use the purple wire whch can be checked with a test light at the driver's side kick panel. This wire gets it's power from the 4 pin bulhead connector, right under the wiper motor connector.

[Jesus H Chrysler]

I believe Bullitt is right on.  There is a small round piece of PC board like material at the bottom of the round light socket.  It should have 1 (backup light) or 2 (Stop-turn-tail) round copper rivets through it connected to the wires.  On the STT light if you pop the PC board up sometimes you can spin it 180 degrees which would reverse the contacts for the stop lights and tail lights.  The bulb only fits in one way.  If you have super bright taillights, and dim brake lights the board got spun. 

[Barracudadan]

Yes that was the problem the round piece from inside the bulb socket got turned around.Nice easy fix when someone can explain the problem.Thanks everyone!