Was pulled over today for a broken 3rd brake light. Went home, unscrewed and saw this.

What are my choices?
1. I can try searching my local pick/pull for a 92-96 F150 and replace the whole thing.
2. If they don't, can I just cut the wires and replace it with something? Are those housings things still available at a local store? Looks kinda proprietary.
3. I removed it and is home in the kitchen, I can try sanding, cleaning contacts to see if it works with new bulb. And take my chances.

What do you guys think caused this burning? I don't recall my brakes being ON for a long time and it burned it.

 

Not unusual for our year trucks...even some of the newer models are subject to this. Dirt, moisture and heat will cause the corrosion and subsequent failure of the socket. Look for a leak or gap in the lens to base gasket of the light, something is letting weather in to that - you want it to stay as clean and dry as possible.

1. pull apart may be the easiest, but make sure it is clean, and sound electrically, ie clean contacts and solid connections to the socket.

2. next, would be, cut this one out and replace with a new unit, the local parts place will have a suitable replacement.

3. not worth repairing this one, as it would be nigh impossible to do so

 

Just go to the wreckers and buy a better one. 10 - 15 $

 

saw the same thing when I pulled mine apart, and the plastic housing of the third brake light itself looked like it had been on fire at some point. I believe that this was most likely a common problem with those bulbs getting too hot and melting the housings. The harnesses still worked so I replaced the bulbs with LED bulbs, since they're not supposed to get as hot, wrapped the harnesses with electrical tape, and put it back in, and so far after 3 months it's still working fine, took it apart the other day to check on them and they weren't burnt or charred at all so it seems that most of the problem is simply the bulbs getting too hot.

 

Thank you guys!!! I cleaned it with some sandpaper and a pick. Got a new bulb and it works. I've been changing things to LED lately but not that one. I should get LED for that one since the housing/pigtail is still working.

It's a 921 bulb. Anything special I should look for in an LED type bulb?

 

I ordered a 10 pack of some cheap T10 type LED bulbs from Amazon for $10, and they work just fine in the third brake light. I think they sell 2-packs of them at autozone and Walmart, though they are like $9 just for 2. I'd just take one of those old bulbs in and find an LED bulb with a base that's the same general size (the bases are slightly larger than the incandescent bulbs and fit a little more tightly, but they do work)

 

Great info. That is good to know. I know my brake lights are different. I changed them to LED but doesn't work on the blinky side, but it works when brakes are on. So I changed them back to regular bulbs.

I'll change to LED for now and keep an eye out on the bulb housing/pigtail section. I see they sell them at the store but for 194 bulbs. So they probably have them for 921 type bulbs.

Eventually need to go to yard to find a front bumper so I'll put the whole unit as an item to look out for.

thanks!!

 

Just an FYI you can pick up bulbs for dirt cheap at rockauto - I think I ordered 10-20 packs of every bulb in the truck a few months ago for $30-$40 shipped.

 

also an FYI, I'm fairly certain for your brake lights, to change them to LED you need a dummy load resistor. These older trucks' systems are set up to run incandescent bulbs, which draw a lot of power, and act as a resistor when they are on. When you switch directly to LED, it doesn't work correctly because they consume so little power, and act as a diode, not a load resistor. You basically "trick" the flasher module into thinking there are regular incandescent bulbs in the truck. I think you can get those load resistors at autozone or Walmart, should be around the automotive bulbs and stuff, and they aren't just overly expensive, probably about as much as the bulbs cost.

 

I think I remember seeing this at one of the LED bulbs online website. So many, I forgot which one. I'll have to re-visit this information.

I'll search for "load resistor" +LED and see what I get.