Replaced broken brake lights...cheaply!
So the old 88 Seville, isn't going anywhere...what with being permanantly moored and all, but when we bought her, she had 5 broken brake lights...four in the back and one on the right side. I could stand the ugly of the broken lights, but the possibility of leakage around the carcasses of the old lights bothered me considerable!
While strolling down the aisle in Harbor Freight the other day, as is my wont, I spotted brake lights, two in a pack, for 4.99. I figured that was a cheap as I could get a cosmetic facelift for the camper, so I bought 3 packs of the lights.
Installing them wasn't difficult. I did bore another hole in the back plate of each light ( before I climbed up the ladder ) to allow the two white wires to get inside the light in the space between the lens and the back plate. I soldered a wire onto the tab ( again, prior to taking the light up the ladder) which rests against the tip at the end of the bulb(s) {This light is rigged for two bulbs, instead of the one in the original, but if you solder it to connect at the tab of one bulb, the other bulb will operate as well, because the way it is rigged inside, either tab connecting to the tip of one bulb is the same electrical point as the tip of the other bulb.} Anyway...solder this wire on and twist the three wires together..the two white ones from the camper and the one you soldered on...and tape the ends of twisted bundle( soldering them before taping them is better than just twisting them, but I was in a hurry!)
As for the two green wires, they connect to the base of the bulb( not the tip, but the base, the brass or metal barrell before the glass bulb), I just used the hole that is in the backplate already through which a black wire exits out of the back of the backplate of the light when you pull the light out of the package.This wire is attached with a slip-on connector to the base of the bulbs. I pulled that black wire back inside the backplate, cut a little bit of it off, and twisted it and the two green wires from the camper to it, and taped them up as well. You'll need to tuck those two wire bundles safely out of the way of the bulbs inside the lens.
Now you'll need to scrape off the old dried up sealant that was behind the original light and place your favorite sealant behind the backplate of the new light for a watertight seal. Then screw in the two screws that fasten the light to the camper. The screw holes lined up perfectly! Finally snap on the lens, and you' re done.
I'm enclosing two photos of the finished job.
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'88 T3200
Permanently situated in Charlotte County VA
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