turn signal help

[nickelfritz9]

i have an 88 chevy silverado with a 350 and i just replaced the driver side rear turn signal after it burned out worked for like 2 years or some thing like that just time for it to go it worked for about 2 weeks and then it burned out again did it about an hour after i went throuh a car wash thought maybe some water got in and shorted it out took me about 4 days to finnaly get around to replaceing it again and it didnt rain after replaceing it again i drove for about 2 hours and it burned out again what could be causeing it to burn bulbs out so fast? aslo when i take the old or burned out one out of the socket it doesnt look bad little filliments still look in tacked? help lol

Topic

[BigC]

Hi nickelfritz9,

A couple quick comments to help us going forward.

1. Is the bulb actually burned out? Your last comment indicates that the bulb filament is still good. I would suggest placing the suspected “burned out” bulb in the passenger side rear turn signal and see if the bulb still works.

2. Verify the correct turn signal bulb is being used. The owner’s manual should provide this info.

3. How do the connections look (both bulb and more importantly, the socket). Check for corrosion at the terminals. Corrosion in the socket will provide high resistance and prevent the bulb from properly working all the time (if at all).

Keep us posted on what you find.

[scottie35]

Have you tried leaving turn signal on and moving the wires around. Checking for loose conection or short?

[dreamer2355]

Hi and welcome!

Another consideration point is making sure you do not tuch the glass of the bulbs with your fingers as that will shorten the life of the bulb.

[Matt]

those trucks are notorious for the actual turn signal bulb connector plate (can’t think of a better word) going bad. When I had an 89 Chevy truck, the first thing I did was run to Autozone and buy the replacements from the ‘Help’ section for about 10 bucks each if I remember right. That’s how common they go bad, they keep them on the shelf in the store, not even behind the counter. They crack and leak water in, and short, etc..
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/ … 5353_2826_
that’s the part right there. 30 bucks for both sides.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Quoted From dreamer2355:

Hi and welcome!

Another consideration point is making sure you do not tuch the glass of the bulbs with your fingers as that will shorten the life of the bulb.

That’s only halogen headlight bulbs you need to worry about.

I like the suggestions so far, I think trying the bulb in the oppisite socket is a good idea just to make sure the bulb IS burned out, you may have a connection issue or the socket may be faulty so look for that corrosion, if you find any you might consider electrical contact cleaner or penetrating oil to help get rid of the corrosion. I also like wiggeling the bulb around in the socket to see if that makes a connection, you might also smack the tail light assembly to see if it flickers on then also, if you get any results here it would indicate a loose connection of some sort. Good luck.

[nickelfritz9]

Quoted From EricTheCarGuy:

That’s only halogen headlight bulbs you need to worry about.

I like the suggestions so far, I think trying the bulb in the oppisite socket is a good idea just to make sure the bulb IS burned out, you may have a connection issue or the socket may be faulty so look for that corrosion, if you find any you might consider electrical contact cleaner or penetrating oil to help get rid of the corrosion. I also like wiggeling the bulb around in the socket to see if that makes a connection, you might also smack the tail light assembly to see if it flickers on then also, if you get any results here it would indicate a loose connection of some sort. Good luck.

[nickelfritz9]

thanks everyone ill try putting the bulb in the other side and see if it works or not but every time i put in a new bulb it works at lest the last two times i dont get it the fillimant always looks good still like i said ill try puting the bulb in the other side and see what happens cant hurt to try ill keep you updated

[nickelfritz9]

Quoted From nickelfritz9:

thanks everyone ill try putting the bulb in the other side and see if it works or not but every time i put in a new bulb it works at lest the last two times i dont get it the fillimant always looks good still like i said ill try puting the bulb in the other side and see what happens cant hurt to try ill keep you updated

[nickelfritz9]

it was the circut board in the tail light replaced both sides and it workes great the contacts rusted out causing high resistance in the circut

[twiggy]

nickelfritz9, Congrats on your succesful repair. Thanks for letting know the final result.

[EricTheCarGuy]

I suspected something like that and that’s kind of what I was referring to when I said that it was having trouble finding a ground, if the circuit can’t find it’s own ground it will look for another with tail lights it seems and they tend to behave similar to what you describe, I usually find a rusted out socket or bad board like you did in a situation like that. Thanks very much for posting your fix it really helps to know what the solution was.

[Author]

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