Re: 56 Caribbean Convertible Rejuvenation

Posted by Marty or Marston On 2021/10/21 17:30:16

I chased an issue with my '55 with the brake or turn signal not working the right side. However, the the tail light would work. On the left side everything worked perfect.

Since the tail light worked on the on the right I figured that ground wasn't an issue. After several hours of hair pulling I revisited the ground as a possible issue. This did indeed turn out to be the cause. The current draw for the tail light was much less then brake or turn. Once it was well grounded everything work.

The cause was self inflicted. I had removed both tail lights in order to get the little "V's" gold plated. The inside of the trunk had been completely painted during the restore. Just out of pure luck, when reinstalling them the one of the bolts must have made good contact on the left side. However, on the right side the ground contact was very weak and allowed the tail light to shine bright, but not the brake/signal on the right.

I would recommend verifying the bulbs are good. With the bulb fixture out of the tail light, ground the socket and try the brakes, turn signal, and tail light. As mentioned above, the 1157 bulb has two filaments