light issues continued, new issues

[dixiedog]

I have some light issues, dome , dash and auto shifter lights don't work (new bulbs).  Brake lights work but 3 are dim and 1 bright also when you apply the brakes the park and side marker lights come on.  1970 Challey 440 auto.  Any suuggestions/advice.  thanks, Danny

[72rtchallenger]

I have some light issues, dome , dash and auto shifter lights don't work (new bulbs).  Brake lights work but 3 are dim and 1 bright also when you apply the brakes the park and side marker lights come on.  1970 Challey 440 auto.  Any suuggestions/advice.  thanks, Danny

check the socket areas for proper ground on those brake lights,,dash and other lights are another story..need to check the switch first and make sure it has power in and power coming out when turned on,,the headlight switch and the dimmer switch,,does it have a raylle or non raylle dash setup

[dixiedog]

non ralley

[MEK-Dangerfield]

The problem with your interior lights is probably a bad dimmer switch.

[dixiedog]

okay, what about the park and marker lights comi ng on when appling the brakes?  One more question Mike where does the tail lights ground?  I am not an electrical guy.  I had to learn and go thru a lot, getting the engine right but I did it.  Another mechanic had it messed up..  Thanks, you have helped me several times.   Danny

[barracuda7199]

the taillights ground thru the housing where the sockets push into the tailight housing needs to be clean. it sounds like your turn signal switch might need replacing the brake lights run thru it since the also serve as the turn signals.

[Moparal]

dash panel has to be grounded, the switch panel has 1 screw that has a metal tab on it for that ground when installed. The dimmer lights have to get a good ground from the dash fram it's mounted on. The headlight body ground is up front by the battery on the rad core, the tail light wire plu has to be cleaned and inspected down by the parking brake. also the door jam wires, if not the right ones, will make things light up in odd places. And check the column harness connection to see if it is melted. A?C cars melt at that connector, and it can give you hell

[MEK-Dangerfield]

okay, what about the park and marker lights comi ng on when appling the brakes?  One more question Mike where does the tail lights ground?

The tail lights get their ground connection from those buckets they are inserted into. Make sure the buckets have a clean connection to the tail panel of the car. Has it been recently painted?

[dixiedog]

Thanks guys will check all listed and get back.  Thanks again, Danny

[dixiedog]

Okay guys I cleaned all of my tail lights and got a nice ground and they brightened up.  Now I have a new problem, my brake lights won't work now.  while I was cleaning for a good ground I placed a block on the brake to keep the brake lights on.  Every thing was fine until I started to put the last bulb/socket back in the housing. All of a sudden they went out.  I checked the fuse, brake switch.  Now when I turn the park lights on the left signal light blinks funky kind of sequencial the right not at all now.  when I turn the park lights off the left works fine but the right still doesn't.  Before the brake lights went out they all worked.  I am getting a little crazy trying to figure this out.  Any suggestions?  Really need help.  Thanks, Danny

[the_engineers]

Didn't simply burn out from being for too long, did it?

[dixiedog]

None of the brake lights work....tail lights work.

[bigblue73]

Didn't simply burn out from being for too long, did it?

When you pull and insert the sockets to and from the housings you may have had feedback to the bulbs and burned them out.

[dixiedog]

Would this cause all of them to burn out?  Thanks, Danny

[7Dcuda]

None of the brake lights work....tail lights work.

If the tail lights work that tells you that you dont have a ground problem because the tail/brake light bulb is a dual element bulb and both the tail light element and the brake light element get their ground from the bulb case to socket to body ground.  So therefore, assuming that both bulbs are good, you're problem is in the power/12V side.  If you confirmed you have 12V being switched thru the brake light switch already the problem is in the turn signal switch circuit (i.e. 12V to the brake lights out of the brake light switch is routed thru the turn signal switch before getting back to the bulbs)  You can check this by bypassing/jumpering the turn signal switch out of the circuit.  The 12V going in to the steering column connector will be on the white wire.  The 12V brake light wires coming out of the turn signal switch back to the brake light bulbs bulbs will be brown and dark green and should be right next to the white wire.  So to test, with the brake pedal depressed, you should have 12V on the white wire on the steering column connector.  Take a piece of wire and jumper the 12V white wire to the brown wire and then to the dark green wire and this should make a brake light come on each time.  If so, this confirms the problem is the turn signal switch since it was bypassed by doing this procedure.  Hope this helps and hope you get it fixed.