brake light problems
I have a 2001 chevy express van. When you turn on the headlights the brake lights won't work. Does anyone know what would cause this
Hi there Asil My name is Shandro from Bonaire in the Caribean . I had the same problem with my chevy express 3500 year 2001. After i did search and use my meter i find out that the problem was in the socket from the bulb and the ground or (-negative) was not working properly or better yet it wasn`t passing - negative to the bulb. After i did replace the socket for a good one the problem when away and the braking lights are working perfect now. Maybe you can have the same problem. what i found was that the socket had a burn sign at the side and when i by pass it with a wire from the side of the bulb to the chassi it work perfect so the problem was in the socket. So you can check your socket for this problem. Thanks and hope to be helpfull please reply and let me know if problem has been resolve. shandrosusana@hotmail.com
Hi Shandro, Thank you for your information. I had a guy look at my bulb sockets and that was the problem. There was a short in the sockets. He fixed them and my lights work like they should. Thank you very much for your suggestion. I'm sorry it has taken me so long to let you know it worked. He repaired them over the Thanksgiving holiday. Thank you again, Asil
@ Chevy7121 Thanks a million! That is exactly what my problem was. Suggestion to anyone with the same issue with Chevy Express try this first. I cut off an 8 inch piece of wire stripped both ends leaving an inch of bare wire on each side. Wrap one end around the bottom bolt where the tail light housing bolts on and screw the nut on tight to ensure good connection. Pull the bulb out and put the other end of the wire between the bulb and socket and twist the bulb to lock it in place. The wire should be tightly secured between the brass at the bottom of bulb and socket. Have your buddy hit the brake and if you get the bright filament lit, you are good and of course test with head lights on as well. Solution is to purchase new Tail Light Harness.Thanks again.
The problem is dissimilar metal corrosion where the socket ring connector stem (which is made of steel) connects to the ground wire. You can fix the bulb socket by removing a small amount of plastic from the socket housing 1/2" to 3/4" back from where the ground wire enters the socket. Then, using silver solder & silver solder flux, you can silver braze the wire to the socket ring. It takes some patience as the plastic is quite tough to cut away. Take your time so you want damage the wire and socket ring stem inside. It will be obvious once you've remove just enough of the plastic housing. Scrape away any corrosion as best you can. Drip on the flux, fire up your HOT soldering tool (I use a butane), make a good shiny joint. Your fixed for good.
I was able to take the ground wire out of my wire harness at the bulb socket, clean it up, and reinstall it and have the lights work properly. The ground wires for both sides had gotten dirty/corroded and failed.
I just had to replace both brake light bulb sockets for the same problem. For a safety issue like this, you would think Chevrolet would be required to do a recall. $35 per bulb at the local auto-parts store.
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