3Rd brake light melt?

MeanMr.Mustard · Post by **MeanMr.Mustard** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:44 am

anyone else had this problem? i noticed the other night my third brake light wasnt workin, no big deal i figured id check the bulbs the next day. well when gasing up the truck the next day i notice the lense is crackd... so when i get to work i take it all apart and find this! looks like it got a lil hot in there! the truck isnt here right now or id check to make sure the right sized fuse is in place before i replace the bulbs and lense. if thats not the case..any other ideas?

updated:fuse is correct size and appears to be the same brand as the rest of them

barch97 · Post by **barch97** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:05 pm

Maybe I'm missing something but it doesn't look like anything "melted". It looks to me like some water (rain/carwash?) leaked through the cracked lens and dripped on the very hot bulb causing the glass to break and thus blow the bulb.

green02crew · Post by **green02crew** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:27 pm

I think he meant the bottom of the lens? Looks like there are two round spots there that have seen better days.

MeanMr.Mustard · Post by **MeanMr.Mustard** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:05 pm

the lens is def melted.. i thought maybe the cracks were because of the heat but its possible maybe it craked somehow in these two spots and then got hot? no sign of water inside.. it was sealed pretty good had to pry it off real careful like..

ima replace th lense once i find the extra one and put new bulbs in and see what happens i guess..

Jongo88 · Post by **Jongo88** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:18 pm

They all do it if your on the brakes alot. City driving.. I have seen alot of them like that.

MeanMr.Mustard · Post by **MeanMr.Mustard** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:36 pm

im def not a brake rider.. im th one that has to replace them! tho the previous owner very well could have been.

as long as th cab isnt gonna catch fire i feel alot better!

fallvitals · Post by **fallvitals** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:24 pm

My third brake light went out in my old s-10, I never bothered to replace it. it was out for probably 4 years. I got pulled over,, maybe 3 times in those years... (one speeding, no ticket, Shew!, Two no headlights on while rubber necking at a recent robbery in a well lit parking lot

, third sticker on my license plate was dead, had a new one for a month just never put it on, ticket, then dropped after I proved my taxes were paid and i infact had the sticker.) I wrote all that to say, during those three incidents, my third brake light was never mentioned

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:52 pm

They do have a bad habit of becoming brittle when trying to remove them.

barch97 · Post by **barch97** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:49 am

green02crew wrote:I think he meant the bottom of the lens? Looks like there are two round spots there that have seen better days.

AH HA!!! I knew I had to be missing sunt'n

MeanMr.Mustard · Post by **MeanMr.Mustard** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:22 pm

found my extra.. its also meltd but only slightly, no cracks yet. gonna throw it on there to keep the water out till it cracks or i come across one at the pickapart.

YellowCrewCabber · Post by **YellowCrewCabber** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:11 am

I was having problems with bulbs burning out to quickly. Tried a different bulb number and they have lasted alot longer but they are not much brighter than the tail lights. Anyone know of a bright bulb that doesn't get as hot as the OEM bulbs??
Jeff

s10 again · Post by **s10 again** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 7:45 am

I have not had mine off yet but the bulb looks kind of what some dome light bulbs look. Maybe you could find a LED dome bulb that will fit. There are some LED replacement 3rd brake lights on eBay for like 50 bucks.

*Edit found place that has LED bulbs like I was referring to.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/festoon.html[url]

Chris.

Post by **HenryJ** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 7:53 am

s10 again wrote:I have not had mine off yet but the bulb looks kind of what some dome light bulbs look. Maybe you could find a LED dome bulb that will fit. There are some LED replacement 3rd brake lights on eBay for like 50 bucks.

I'll be watching! Mine has been out since Reed pointed it out in Moab last year. I'd love to find a nice cool, lifetime replacement.
Lets see what you can find for replacements.
The Center High-mounted Stoplamp uses two 577 bulbs.
I am sure that I am not going to want to invest $100 in bulbs. There must be a more reasonable option.

s10 again · Post by **s10 again** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 8:24 am

I found on that link bulbs that would work although they are not listed in the interchange list. We would have to measure the contact points of a few of the other bulbs listed to find one with the same distance or real close. The 50$ ones on ebay replace the whole 3rd brake light assembly with an led one. You can get them in clear or smoked. I will post a link to one but just searching in ebay under s10 3rd brake light will pop up a few. I think I like the smoked one for my crew.

One big plus is we might just be able to replace blown LEDs for a buck or two.

long url

Chris.

s10 again · Post by **s10 again** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 8:43 am

Ok on this link (if I can get it to turn up right) there is a list of led bulbs and their measurements. You can also select color. They are listed under festoon bulbs towards the middle of the page. One of these might be the size needed or close enough to fit the sockets .

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/ ... 50#4410-x9
Chris.

Post by **HenryJ** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:29 am

I'm n ot sure the first lamp assembly you listed will work. Seems like ours is different?

#577 MINIATURE BULB DOUBLE END CAP BASE - 12.8 Volt 1.4 Amp T4-3/4 Double End Cap (SF6/6) Base Bulb, 21 MSCP C-8 Filament Design, 1,000 Average Rated Hours. 1.72" Maximum Overall Length.

The cross references I see list the 577 bulb as a 1.75" long rigid loop festoon.

s10 again · Post by **s10 again** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:41 am

HenryJ wrote: I'd love to find a nice cool, lifetime replacement.
Lets see what you can find for replacements.
The Center High-mounted Stoplamp uses two 577 bulbs.
I am sure that I am not going to want to invest $100 in bulbs. There must be a more reasonable option.

My 02 calls for two 211 bulbs did they change them? If not and the 577 bulbs fit they may be a higher wattage bulb. This could explain some of the melting.

Anyhow their is an LED replacement for the 211s. http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/ ... 50#4410-x9 Either the 4211 $1.95 4410 $2.49 look promising. If it would fit the 4410 has 9 LEDs. Not a bad upgrade for under or around 10$.

I would measure the contact points and make sure they would fit. Also the LED replacement might be directional if so point the bulbs the same way to keep brightness equal across the lens.

You might look at the bling and light bulb section of your local parts store. because LEDs are starting to become more common and with good reason for their advantages. As I stated before I think this same type bulb is used for dome lights so look at those.

Chris.

s10 again · Post by **s10 again** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:50 am

HenryJ wrote:I'm n ot sure the first lamp assembly you listed will work. Seems like ours is different?

#577 MINIATURE BULB DOUBLE END CAP BASE - 12.8 Volt 1.4 Amp T4-3/4 Double End Cap (SF6/6) Base Bulb, 21 MSCP C-8 Filament Design, 1,000 Average Rated Hours. 1.72" Maximum Overall Length.

The cross references I see list the 577 bulb as a 1.75" long rigid loop festoon.

Take a look at this one. eBay brake light

The other one is the same just has a black border throwing off how it looks. I had to take my lap top out to my truck to compare to this one and it looks to be the same as my 3rd brake light. Is yours different?

As for the LED bulbs as long as the clamp contacts will grab the contact points on the bulb they should work. Unless the 577 and 211 are that different of a bulb I have not checked that yet. I don't think the ridged loop part matters since we will be clamping into the caps and not hooking into the loops. You posted the 577 as being 1.75" and the 4410 is 1.732" looks close enough.

The only thing now is the cap diameter but our clamps look like they would be flexible enough to grab them.(I just took mine off so I could better tell what I'm talking about) And my lens is trying to melt as well. Maybe I'll grab some and be the guinea pig next week. Would be a good stop gap till I go for the LED unit on eBay.

Chris.

Post by **HenryJ** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 12:04 pm

#577
Light Output: 264 lumens
Energy Used: 18 watts
Average Lifetime: 1,000 hours
Volts: 12.8
Bulb Type: T4.75
Base Type: Double End Cap
Filament Type: C-8
Length: 1.72 inches
Width: 0.594 inches

#211
Light Output: 151 lumens
Energy Used: 12 watts
Average Lifetime: 1,000 hours
Volts: 12.8
Bulb Type: T3
Base Type: Miniature Cap
Filament Type: C-8
Length: 1.72 inches
Width: 0.375 inches

Looks like they are different in the width , I assume that refers to the bulb diameter. In the watts and lumens too.

I don't remember all the differences. The lenses are different though. There is the standard cab. extended cab, and Blazer. I don't remember which one matches ours. It has been discussed , so there should be a thread to tell us.

s10 again · Post by **s10 again** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:25 pm

The width may or may not be a problem because the bulb may be wider than the caps. But I wonder about the taper on the caps. Looking the LED bulbs length is measured from point to point and the 577 and 211 are from the end of the caps that are flat. But nothing little work with a sordering iron wouldn't fix.

This is just one of the first places I found I'm going to keep looking.

I did not know that our crews had different 3rd brake lights from other 10s but I did think they where different from blazers. Now I have to do some searching before I buy.

Chris.