rear light - bulb housing

[johns3]

hi folks, anyone got any idea what model of car shares the same rear light bulb housing (the grey plastic bit the bulbs go into) as the S3C? i think i can see a ford logo on it. Reason being - on passenger side my brake light and reverse light dont work. ive changed the bulbs and checked the fuses but no luck. That leaves a possible dodgy connection in the bulb housing or a wiring problem. If anyone has a part number that coul also be useful.

Thanks

[tvrgit]

Ford Escort Mk 4 - the mid-80s one

[sotonS2]

Part No. 6067419 @ £6.87 plus VAT each.

That much last August, anyway.

[GreenV8S]

The Escort light fittings are notorious for poor contacts caused by corrosion of the copper strips. Take it off and give it a good clean, especially the contacts for the wiring loom connectors, hopefully this will cure the problem.

[nawarne]

I was told by my local motor factor that Ford do a repair kit for them as they had a reputation for corrosion on the contacts.
If you look at the set up, its bl**dy hard to re-crimp the femail 'plug' in order for the plug to grip harder on the male contact (oooh-er missus).
What I did, was to get insulated 'speaker' (2 amp?) connectors and attach those to the individual wires on the loom.
I felt that at least with these, you could 'nip' them with a pliers to get a tight grip on the male contact in the future.
So far this remedy has worked very well.
Nick.

[Podie]

I chopped the connector off on mine and soldered them.... no more contact problems!

[KentishS2]

I messed about trying to get mine working and eventually bought new ones as they're pretty cheap and readily available from Ford.

Smear new ones with vaseline before fitting to ensure long lasting trouble free connections.

[S1 paul]

If you buy new bulb carriers from Ford they also do a complete new plug and terminals so you can overhaul the the whole thing for 11 quid a side - no more light shows for the BiB to pull you up for!!

[johns3]

Thanks for all the feedback! i took the housing off, cleaned all the contacts a bit. Now got the 2nd reverse light working but still lacking a 2nd brake light. I will have to take it off and clean the contacts some more. I have picked up a new fault thought! When my lights are on, indicating left with the brake peddle on all the lights flash. Must be a dodgy earth connection. Probably knocked off a wire somewhere? i will have to take a look, didnt see an earth grounded anywhere.

[SotonS2]

The plastic keyways for the bulbs are very weak and can shear easily if a bulb is 'forced' home'.

Worst case, if the combined brake light / rear light bulb key is sheared, the bulb can twist in the holder and a short can occur across these circuits. Result = headlights flash when brakes are pushed

Check that the staggered lugs on the brake / rear light bulbs are correctly oriented and that the bulb cannot twist in its holder.