Working on a 1997 Camaro z28 project car, old tail light housings were cracked and broken to pieces. Bought used ones off eBay and went to stick the new ones in but found this. The innermost (to the car) bulb on the harness appears to be missing and the connector is damaged? Has the identical appearance on the other side as well. I've been unable to find a decent picture online so I am unsure of what is broken here. Does anyone happen to have a picture of what this should appear as or what the issue is? A new rear tail light harness may be called for, but if there is a way to repair this it would definitely save time. Thank you

 

It's hard to tell from your picture, but it looks like the glass globe has broken from the brass bulb base and the base is still in the socket. Was this what it looked like when you took the socket from from the tail light housing? Notice the rust colored stain on only one side of the socket. That's from either heat or water and if it was heat, you think the stain would be fairly equal around the socket.

 

I agree, you should be able to grab the inner metal piece with plyers, push down slightly and twist. In a worst case, hit up a local yard and cut that socket off the harness and replace the whole thing.

 

That would explain it peterpar, I wanted to consult someone that was a bit more familiar before I started digging into it with a pair of needle nose pliers. I'll do that tomorrow and will report back.

 

Wasn’t the taillight configuration changed from 96 to 97 model years? Might that explain any mismatch? Being a Firebird owner, I'm not up-to-date on the fine points of Camaro taillights, but I remembered this from the 4th Gen FAQ:

4_1

 

Yes, 93-96 had the red/white taillights, where 97-2002 had the amber addition.

 

I was able to get both of the destroyed bulbs out of their respective sockets this morning. I cleaned them out with electrical cleaner and sanded the terminals just a bit. Unfortunately, I have an issue that may warrant another thread being created. When I lock the car, both of the brake lights (outer two on both sides) will illuminate, but only the left side brake light and third brake light will come on when I press the brake inside the car. I would assume this is not a fuse issue considering they will all illuminate under certain circumstances (When using the hazards they work fine on both sides). Is a possible bad ground or faulty multi-function switch the cause of this? I'll check the fuses just in case. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to respond to all my noobish posts, this site is an invaluable resource to say the least.
-Grant

Here is a picture of the remaining bulb that was left in the socket

 

The wiring used to energize the brake and hazard lights are the same from the turn signal switch back to the light sockets. If one function operates the lights, the ground or the wiring back to the lights should not be the problem. Does the right turn signal work?

 

I've never traced the wiring myself, but according to what I'm reading in the service manual, the alarm system activates the tail lights and not the brake lights. Are all the tail lights working correctly?

 

To answer both of your questions I'll begin by restating the problem, my previous explanation was very poor. When the car is off (key not in ignition) the outer two bulbs on both the left and right (red portion of tailight) will illuminate properly when I lock/unlock the car with the fob. However, when I have the key in the ignition and I press the brake pedal both the left and right inner brake light will illuminate, the odd thing is that the right is consistently more dim (I swapped bulbs to verify this). To add to this, only the right turn signal will work. When I use the turn-signal stock and I press it down to go left, the left signal light on the dash will stay illuminated and not blink. The right blinks properly as it should. Neither of my reverse lights will illuminate when the car is placed in reverse either. I checked all the fuses to verify that none were blow. Is this some kind of odd ground issue occurring? I'm open to any ideas on where to start.

Thanks a million, Grant

 

If any of the front or rear turn signal bulbs are burnt out, the thermo contact in the turn signal flasher will no longer work because the circuit doesn't create enough amperage draw to make the flasher operate. Since you said the rear brake lights work, check the left front turn signal to see if it works. Chances are, you're going to find a bad bulb or socket on the left front.

As for the reverse lights, check the bulbs first and also check the backup light fuse (#2 I/P fuse block). If they're OK, you're going to need a test light or meter to start testing for voltage. With the ignition in the "ON" position, engine "OFF", the green wire at the backup light should have 12V to a body ground with the transmission in "Reverse". If no voltage is found, you're going to have check the backup light switch for operation. The black wire should be hot when the ignition is "ON" and the green wire should be hot if the car is in "Reverse".

The brake lights on the right side being dim could be a poor ground. How well did you get the socket clean?

 

I'll start by checking the front left turn signal bulb to see if it is burnt out, the socket is quite clean to my belief. I blew it out with compressed air and then sprayed CRC electrical cleaner in the socket, blew in it to remove excess cleaner and let it air dry for a minute or so.

 

Update, peterpar you were correct on the front left turn signal bulb. I was able to re-seat the bulb in the socket and it popped in just that extra 1/32". I had previously pulled the bulb to verify that it was not burnt out and with the tight space behind the bumper I must have been mistaken when I believed the bulb was fully seated. I used my automotive multi-meter to verify that the reverse bulbs were receiving voltage with the car sitting in reverse. I have 13.8v on both sides using the body ground located just behind the interior fabric by the taillights, yet neither bulb is ever lighting up. I assumed that the socket was not properly cleaned so I sanded the metal just a bit more and cleaned the sockets once again. No dice unfortunately, I even had someone hold the car in reverse while I shimmied the bulbs around in their respective sockets. I will attach pictures of the socket condition and the bulb as well. My only thought at this point is that the socket is simply too damaged from the previous trauma or that the bulb may be incorrect (O Reilly's system showed this as the replacement). Thank you once again, -Grant

 

According to the service, the backup light bulb is an 1141. Have you checked to see if you have a ground at the socket? You can take your meter and check for voltage between the center contact and the outer wall of the socket. You could also set your meter on "OHMs" and check for continuity between the outer socket wall and a body ground. This would tell you if both polarities are available at the socket and a loose fitting bulb may be causing the problem.

 

The backup light is in-fact the correct one then. Checking for voltage between the center contact and the outer wall yields a measurement of 14.18v on both sides. However, the resistance between the outer wall socket and the body ground exceeds 1.552 M (Mega) ohms on the right and is 116.2 K (kilo) ohms on the left side. The right side bulbs fits decently snug but the left side does not. This was likely due to previous damage or damage I caused with the needle nose pliers when removing the old bulb assembly from the socket. -Grant