Left rear signal

[Mouse96]

I sure hope someone can help me. I have a 96 Cavalier. The left brake light / turn signal is out. I replaced the bulb, and it still didn't work. Suddenly it was working, was fine for a few days, then quit again. Then it worked and then it quit. That's where I am with it now. The front signal blinks, but it blinks rapidly now. I assume to let me know that the rear one is out. (??) All of my other lighting is fine.

Could this be the wiring?

I saw some wires when I pulled the carpet down to replace the bulb. Could I have loosened a wire or two? And...If something is loose, how will I know. I am not very car savvy at all. And my husband is worse.

BTW, the wires I saw in there just had electrical tape and wire nuts on them. Is that how it normally is?

Thanks!! Mouse96

[big dude1]

before you go tearing out ure wiring check to see if the socket is bad... on my 83 cougar the lights would work for a while then stop... what happened was that metal tab thing that the bulb contacts was pushed all the way in so it only contacted the bulb part of the time... so check if its the socket before you check all the wires...

[Mouse96]

You just reminded me... When I changed the bulb there was this weird crust in the socket. It looked like dried up wood filler or tan putty. I scraped a lot of it out but not all of it. What could cause a funky build up like that in a tail light socket??

[ttweakk27]

The factory puts it on the to prevent corrosion. its called bulb grease. its really messy stuff, but its keeps the corroion away.

[big dude1]

lol i dont have any gunk in my sockets and i dont have corroded sockets either... just see if scraping the gunk out might help... ? u never know with cars these days...

[brucedana]

It sounds like a bad ground wire.But what I would do is check all your bulbs.Front and Rear.Sometimes one bad bulb can cause this problem.Does that putty look like peanutbutter? If so thats what the factory puts in the socket to keep water out of the conection.

[Mouse96]

Hi Guys.. Thanks for the responses so far. I posted a different thread, but I can try it here too.

I pulled the bulb out of the socket, looked it over and found the problem.. The socket melted the metal conductor strip into the plastic base of the bulb. I replaced the bulb and it's working for now, but I know I need to get a new socket. How the hell do I go about taking out an old one and putting a new one in??!!

Anyway, Thanks again. Mouse

[Cava_Z]

Originally Posted by Mouse96

Hi Guys.. Thanks for the responses so far. I posted a different thread, but I can try it here too.

I pulled the bulb out of the socket, looked it over and found the problem.. The socket melted the metal conductor strip into the plastic base of the bulb. I replaced the bulb and it's working for now, but I know I need to get a new socket. How the hell do I go about taking out an old one and putting a new one in??!!

Anyway, Thanks again. Mouse

I had the exact same problem and it was a bad socket, the only solution is to replace the bulb socket. It's very easy, it takes about 3 min. to change. All you have to do is unplug the the socket from wire and plug in a new one, in my case I just went to a pull it yourself yard and got one and I haven't had a problem since (a year ago).

[Classicrocjunkie]

holy shit back from the dead batman..lol...

[gonzales7727]

Go to the dealer, cost ya about $10.00, comes with the pea light already on it and it will take about thirty seconds to change the whole thing out, theres a quick disconnect on the back of the harness.