Tail Light Troubles...

My left tail light is very dim, when I engage the turn signal it goes completely out, when I press the brakes it also goes out, when I engage the right turn signal, it goes out again. The right tail light socket has been replaced. Any ideas as to what could be causing this before I replace the socket? Thanks.

 

the bulb could be bad, the ground could be bad. the socket could be bad.
swap the bulbs from each side to see if the problem moves or stays.
take the ground wire off of its grounding screw. clean the metal where the ground wire touches with some sand paper and reattach with the screw.
look in the socket for corrosion. if any is found, scrap it clean.
its a good idea to put some dielectric grease in all light sockets to prevent corrosion from leaking.

 

If it doesn't work after doing all the above check you turn signal switch!!!!

 

Bryant is probably correct, ground. I actually run an extra ground wire to the tail light assembly and the lights are much brighter. Attach a temp ground wire to the tail light housing in the trunk and see if that helps. Did I mention ground!!!!!!

 

Thanks for all the input, it turned out to be a bad socket. I got a new one in and now it's working great.

 

Andrew,

Where did you get the new sockets. I need them as well. Do you have a part#.

Thanks!

 

I found them at Oreilly's, just hanging in the aisle nothing special. I'm not sure if I got the Ford one or not because mine took a little modification to fit into the socket, the teeth didn't line up.