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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Brake lights

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Brake lights -- page: 1 2     silverchief 05-15-2012 @ 6:40 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 526 Joined: Oct 2009 My 46 coupe has tail lights, turn signals, but just noticed the brake lights are not working. I don't know if the fluid is silicone. Where should I start? Plan on getting under the car tomorrow to inspect connection at stop switch. How do I test it? If I buy a new one is it simply a matter of scr*w*ng the old one out and new one in? Thanks for suggestions. UPDATE - TRIED THEM IN TOTALLY DARK GARAGE JUST TO BE SURE AND DISCOVERED THEY ARE WORKING BUT SO DIM I COULD NOT DETECT IT IN DAYLIGHT. I PUT FLASHLIGHT REFLECTORS AROUND BOTH BULBS EARLIER BUT IT DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE HELPED MUCH. THINKING ABOUT INSTALLING A THIRD STOP LIGHT IN REAR WINDOW. This message was edited by silverchief on 5-15-12 @ 6:51 PM trjford8 05-15-2012 @ 8:26 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 4243 Joined: Oct 2009 This is a common problem with the 42-48 cars. It's a poor ground on the tailamp housing. I have run an eztra ground wire from a tailamp mounting stud to the frame. See if that helps. Also double check your wires to the lights to make sure they are connected correctly. Old Henry 05-15-2012 @ 9:00 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 738 Joined: Apr 2010 To make sure it's not a problem with the brake light switch bypass it. Unplug the wires from the switch and short or jumper them together and see how bright your lights are. If that or the improved ground suggested doesn't help and your tail light filaments work OK, your brake light filaments may be burned out and you're just seeing current shorting through the tail light filaments in the dark. I find the easiest test is to put a new bulb in and see if it works better. Just might. It's an easy fix too if that's all the problem is. If you don't have an extra bulb, take the bulb out, lay the metal part on one battery terminal and jump to the other two terminals to make sure the bulb is working. Easy test. Easy fix. I'd start there. Old Henry (The older I get, the better old looks.) TomO 05-16-2012 @ 7:25 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7281 Joined: Oct 2009 Are you sure that you have the correct bulbs in your stop lights? Are they installed properly? If the prongs on the bulb are aligned, you should have an 1158 bulb and it should have the word "TOP" on the base. If you have the offset prongs, the bulb should be an 1154 and it cannot be installed incorrectly. The turn signals should be wired into the stop light filaments. If they work, then I would look for a voltage drop at the brake light switch or the turn signal switch. The flash light reflectors only help when you are getting the full 6 volts to the bulbs. At 5.5 volts to the bulbs they only increased light output to less than you would get with 6 volts. A .3 volt drop in voltage reduced light out put 27% in my tests with a light meter. Tom supereal 05-16-2012 @ 8:28 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 The biggest problem with the 46-47-48 tail/stoplights is that the glass lenses absorb most of the light, regardless of the bulb type, painting housings, etc. Their small size in today's era of huge, bright taillights makes them unsafe, in any case. I mounted an LED light bar atop my rear license plate, and it makes a huge difference, particularly in traffic. silverchief 05-16-2012 @ 11:22 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 526 Joined: Oct 2009 Thanks for all the helpful advice guys - you have given me plenty to work with. I have a mercury switch activated LED light mounted on my rear plate (for motorcycles)but I think you have to stop pretty abruptly to make it work. I'm going to look at all the other stuff. I have "blue dots" and of course that doesn't help. Steves46 05-16-2012 @ 11:39 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 167 Joined: Oct 2009 Besides the 3rd brakelight (which will certainly help), I purchased a pair of 6-volt "super bright" bulbs from Sacramento Vintage Ford and this too made a big difference on my 46 coupe. Old Henry 05-16-2012 @ 1:12 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 738 Joined: Apr 2010 Check out this tread on the Ford Barn: http://fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67558&highlight=brake+light I used the super brights from Sacramento Vintage with my blue dots and they work great. Old Henry (The older I get, the better old looks.) This message was edited by Old Henry on 5-16-12 @ 1:15 PM silverchief 05-16-2012 @ 2:26 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 526 Joined: Oct 2009 Tom, The bulbs in my tail lights are marked GE 1154 6-8 V. I took the lights apart and the previous owner had put a sealant between the bulb housing and car body apparently to keep out water. It also would prevent a good ground between the two. It dried hard so I removed it with a powered wire brush and then burnished everything with emery paper. Also used plenty of Dilectric grease at all points of contact. End result was a slight improvement but nothing spectacular. The directionals working through my front parking lights are very bright. I ordered new lens (without the blue dots) and bulbs from C&G today. silverchief 05-17-2012 @ 12:33 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 526 Joined: Oct 2009 Thanks very much. I jumped the wires at the switch and brake lights came on. Assuming the switch was bad I was ready to buy a new one when I recalled your suggestion to check if the wires were connected correctly. Sure enough, ONE of the things wrong was the last mechanic to bleed the brakes hooked them up in reverse. Little by little I'm getting things corrected.

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