Stupid little thing has tripped the "light" on the dash at least 4-5 times. 1st 2 times the bulb was burnt. Fine. Changed it. But at least 3 times, the bulb is just loose. It's a fast/easy thing to fix, but it's annoying to do it every 3 months. Have you guys found a solution? I don't see a good way to keep the bulb in there tighter.

 

I think you are referring to the warning indicator in the dash. The 3rd brake/tail light is generally used to reffer to the center mounted tail light. This became mandatory after some study was done.

Back to your predicament...
Are you using non-oem bulbs. The physical size tolerance may be out of spec and you are bulbs that phyiscally rock.
The next question is, is there corrosion/oxidation on the socket? or the socket physically deformed.

I would suggest replacing the socket if corrosion is present. You can squeeze or fix the deformity and even wedge things in ... but they are all kludgy fixes. Once the protective coating is gone, sandpaper will not help as the corrosion will keep coming back.

My suggestion would be to replace the socket if the problem persists after ensuring you have the righ bulb.

I would not put off the loose connection as a minor irritant as eventaully the bad connection will over heat and make the matter worse.

Salim

 

3rd brake light is making the dash indicator light go on. And no corossion at all. Nice and clean. I used bulbs from the autostore. I fail to see how the manu tolerance could be that out of whack to cause these problems.

 

So the problem arose after you replaced the high-mounted-tail-brake bulb. I misunderstood your earlier post.

If the bulb is of the right wattage and connections are tight then the current sense circuit should not light up the indicator. We are still on the tact that the current sense circuit is working correctly. The physical size of the bulb-base is important to make a snug connection. Try another bulb next time you have it opened up.

Salim

 

I had the same problem. Solved it by spreading the 2 wires on the end of the bulb. It doesn't take much. There is one wire on each side of the bulb.

 

doh! I'll have to try that wire spreading thing. Thanks guys