| Author | Message | ||
     99savage |
The tail lights in my son's Mazda decided to overheat and cook the tail light lenses (expensive). * Sockets cooked * Lenses melted (note red plastic on bulbs) * BULBS OK?? * Tail lights on both sides have this issue * Original factory bulbs Can't explain, this old man assumes an electrical overload would blow the bulbs or a fuse on the way to cooking the plastic. Could not think of anything else to say so suggested he put in-line fuses on the pig tails.   Suggestions?!? (Message edited by 99Savage on December 11, 2012) | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
loose connections cause heat | ||
| Thumper74 |
I can't imagine that much heat without popping a fuse... | ||
| Fast1075 |
Check the operating system voltage. | ||
| Preybird1 |
I have seen this a lot in cars here at my work. I have seen some strange things in sockets??? Weird goo?? Dielectric grease. bulb grease?? I have also seen where the bulb gets crazy hot expands to a weird larger shape and burns the inside so the bulb looks chrome outside. It's probably got the wrong watt bulb in it. Some of the older systems ran on far UN-superior bulbs. Some new bulbs put out far more light and heat than the old bulbs did. Try a lower watt bulb. They could also be getting too much juice. Some systems make more power on one side than the other. depending on how long the wires are in the circuit?/ I think?? (Message edited by preybird1 on December 10, 2012) | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I have two odd anecdotes to share. 1: Working in UPS unloading a brownie (as was the custom of my people) I noticed the light in the back of one truck was sickly. They used standard single filament back-up light bulbs. The filament was pale orange. I thought that it must have been loose in the socket so I attempted to wiggle it to seat it better. It burnt my thumb so bad that it smelled like MEAT. 2: My ironhead kept killing its front brake light switch. I replaced it three times before finally giving up and getting a genuine H-D $$$$ part. It worked for a good amount of time. After the tail light bulb burnt out, I examined the dead bulb to find that the brake filament was actually TWO filaments crimped in there. Flawed from factory in China. | ||
| Thumper74 |
Natel... I thought you were talking about using the bathroom until I realized that UPS trucks are brown and need unloaded... | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Pooping within the trucks is frowned upon. Even if they are a relaxing brown color. | ||
| Azxb9r |
The common causes of this type thing are- Using the wrong wattage bulb Brake lights on all the time Bad connections Keep in mind that a bad connection will cause excessive heat, but low amperage draw, so you can melt sockets without blowing fuses. The bulb to socket interface on that type of bulb is prone to problems, using dielectric grease on the socket can help. | ||
| Sleez |
bad ground can cause this too. the grounds in the rear of the car can degrade due to corrosion (usually) causing the circuit to overheat. but as Azxb9r says, the increased resistance will cause excessive heat, without popping a fuse. |
