Tail Lamp not operating

[Mark H]

Just changing bulbs in rear lamp holders, all goes well changing bulbs, so I thought I would check voltage at bulb holder. Using multimeter touched the centre contact and then caught one of the tracks on the bulb holder. Heard a crack and saw a little flash.
Check all bulbs for operation there ok, fuses are ok, only thing not working is near side tail light. Stop lamp Indicator, reversing light all works. So voltage must be getting to Bulb holder assembly, do you think I could have blown a track on the tail light bulb connection ??

What should I check / try ??

Any thoughts ??

Mark

[DannyH]

If you're gonna be over this way anytime soon i'm pretty sure i've got a spare board you can try.

[Mark H]

Cheers Danny for the offer, very rarely got over your way now.

[james butler]

please dont take this the wrong way but never put metal objects into areas such as the bulb holder as innevitably you will short the two together.
best way to test a holder or the bulb is to fit a working bulb into the holder, if the bulb doesnt light then the fault could be with the holder, to test the holder disconnect the wiring to the back of the lamp unit and with the bulb in place do a continuity test to check the bulb holder and if needs be a resistance check for corrosion. if that doesnt prove whats wrong then do a continuity test to earth on the loom and check you have 12v feed with the lights on and go from there.

[Mark H]

James, please ignore my ignorance but could you walk me through how to test holder. Tried an operating bulb from the offside, still no joy. If I dis connect the wiring to the bulb holder and then place the bulb holder on the bench what do I do next ?

Mark

[james butler]

trace back the bulb holders positive track and the common earth then put a multimeter onto each track to do a continuity test, if it fails continuity then try wiggling the bulb and cleaning the contacts and try again.

[james butler]

you can also do a resistance check the same way to see how much resistance there is in the circuit, if theres a lot then you have a corrosion issue and need to give the holder a real good clean or renew it.

[Mark H]

Cheers mate

[james butler]

out of curiosity i think there may be two fuses for the tail lamps, one for the left and one for the right.
it may be worth having a look.
where the bunch plug connects to the rear light you could put your multimeter positive terminal onto the live wire going to the tail light track and put your negative multimeter terminal to ground and see if you get 12v.
if you dont get 12v with the lights on its highly likely you have blown the fuse, which is easy to replace.

[james butler]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/ ... boxaz4.jpg
according to this picture the fuses you may need to check are 7 or 8.
i cant find my bloomin haynes manual!

[Blueshark]

Here is a link to which fuse is for what and so on.

http://www.a2resource.com/electrical/CE1.html

Joost

[james butler]

thanks joost

[james butler]

thanks joost

that will come in useful when i splice my abf loom into my dx one.

[Mark H]

Joost / James, all sorted thanks. We now have full illumination at the light holder. FYI replaced fuse 7 again and cleaned the contacts at the fuse box and went over the tracks on the bulb holder.
Thanks to both of you for pointing me in the right direction. Owe you a drink..
See you at the Nats meet..

Mark