cwiert

on my display panel, i have the "tail light" warning light on, but all my lights work...even the side markers and the license plate lights. Everything appears to be working as it should...so why do I have this tail light warning light?
My only guess is that maybe there are wrong wattage bulbs in there. I checked all the bulbs, but some don't have the watts listed on the bulb, so my next step is to replace all the bulbs with the correct wattage bulbs. But I can't seem to find a definitive chart or list with the correct wattage bulbs for the 6 or so bulbs in each tail light unit and side marker.

Mrmerlin

if you remove the rear light housings you will see the buld wattage stamped next to the respective bulb locations usually Autozone or advance has bulbs that are also wattage rated just make sure to match the front to rear turn and park bulbs as well as the side to side bulbs and dont forget to take the 3rd brake light bulb out and clean it this in fact could be the problem as reseating original bulbs after cleaning the ends with an eraser restores service a small dab of moly grease or dielectric grease should keep down corrosion

jmrjames

Excuse me if I am way off base. I am not trying to be a smart a$$ just wishing to become smarter.

I believe that the definition of a dielectric is an electrical insulator where electric charges do not flow through the material, as in a conductor.

Why would you place this sort of material on a conductive surface ?

syoo8

jmrjames: I had the same question a couple of years ago. Dielectric grease is most definitely an insulator (even though most Autozone staffers will tell you otherwise.) The theory is that, after tightening a bolt or another type of electrical connection, the dielectric is pushed out of the connection and protects the surrounding area.

I use something called "Stabilant 22" which is an electrical connection enhancer. It works very well in my limited experience, but is also very very expensive, about $75 for a Visine-sized bottle.

borland

Make sure you buy euro bulbs and replace them in pairs. This fitment guide will help identifying the bulb model numbers..

http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...de/default.htm

Dielectric grease is common solution for preventing corrosion of bulb socket contacts. The actual electrical contact is essentially mechanical (metal to metal), so the grease does not act as a conductive insulator.

Mrmerlin

if you use some grease on the bulb sockets then it helps prevent water from corroding the contacts, once you put the bulb into the socket it will work , this means the circuit is complete as the grease isnt insulating the bulb from making contact but it will reduce the possibility of water corroding the contacts

jmrjames

It seems to me that one may want to use two types of grease for the job.

1) A conductive or more conductive grease for the actual metal to metal conductive contact areas, like maybe lithium or something more specific for the job.

2) The dielectric grease for the exposed non conductive metal areas our entry points to prevent water from entering the actual contacts and prevent stray current.

It also seems that if you coat two metal surfaces that are then mechanically connected that some of the coating will remain between the surfaces. In the olden days, I recall that Vaseline was often employed for this purpose.

borland

Your thinking is flawed. Dielectric grease , like other insulators, can actually conductor electricity. The resistance across a ultra thin layer is so small it has no measurable effect on the performance of the bulb's illumination. So essentially, the bulb's contacts are metal to metal.

cwiert

really, euro bulbs, huh? do you think that can cause the original problem of the tail light warning light going on?

Mrmerlin

yes this can be caused by differing bulbs.
If you look at the different bulb selections ther are typical american bulbs and then the Euro type bulbs that are usually barrel shaped instead of bulb shaped usually for the smaller wattage installations

jmrjames

I had no intention of hijacking this thread and maybe this should be in another one entitled "Slippy Business" or the nonmusical version of "Grease".

Maybe I am being too argumentative here. I certainly would not be a finalist on the "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" show.

I think we both understand that all conductors and insulators are not created equal. Some insulators conduct better than other insulators. Some conductors insulate better than other conductors.

Why accept 90% when you could reach 98% ?

In other words, why accept a resistance because of it's small size instead of applying an enhanced product like "Stabilant 22" that will resist so much less or not at all ?

Mrmerlin

James if you do use the dielex grease I will guarantee that all of the lights will work on your car and if they should fail it wont be from a corrosion failure.

jmrjames

I wish to thank you for your responses. I love this forum because I am much smarter now then when I joined because of you all.

I hope that anything that I said or asked indicated that I disagree with the need for corrosion protection.

Mrmerlin

once the tail lamps in your car melt over the brake lamp bulbs then water will be a part of your tail lamps, this can also be reduced by fitting the 1/4 inch closed cell foam around the periphery of the housings.
For an OB style of light housing they all leak unless they are new due to the sun melting the lenses.
So corrosion protection SB a part of PM, also it can be used for the 2 white connectors that run along the rear lower edge of the hatch for the side marker bulbs, water like to get in and cause corrosion to these connectors as well

Franks928s

Merlin - what is 1/4 inch closed cell foam? where do you get it?