Touchy Clearance Light Bulbs March 24, 2010, 09:05:27 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111274I'm having a problem with the rectangular, red clearance light mounted on the side of my '04 MB just forward of the left rear bumper. The two bulbs illuminate intermittently, which I think is caused by oxidation of the contacts inside the sockets. Other owners have suggested I use a file to clean the contacts but the opening is very small. Does anyone have a suggestion of what the best tool or device is to clean these contacts?Thanks, Paul
Re: Touchy Clearance Light Bulbs Reply #1 – March 24, 2010, 10:04:21 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111277Paul I find spray silicon works pretty well. Spray the sockets good and then insert and remove the bulbs several times. If ts the little ones with the two folded wires sometimes turning the bulb over so the contacts are reversed helps. never overr look the fact that the filiments can be broken and jiggle in and out of contact inside the bulb. I am not sure what clearance lamps you have but many styles of new ones are less than $5.00 each and some styles are very easy to replace. I just had to repair an intermittent on the front clearance lamps of my other brand RV and it was a lose ground under the material and wppd over the drivers door and toook a while to find and make room to repair. After I got the working the leftmost still had problems s uch as you are describing and it was the contscts and the silicon fixed it up. There are special contact cleaners available. Craig's DeOXit is one such brand..Good Luck Garry
Re: Touchy Clearance Light Bulbs Reply #2 – March 24, 2010, 10:15:20 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111278Quote "Does anyone have a suggestion of what the best tool or device is to clean these contacts?"Thanks, Paul I just walked out and popped the cover from mine, an '04 30'IB. My bulbs are the type with the contact wires that slide into the socket. You need to pull the bulbs out and burnish the wires to remove any oxidation. A fine grade of emery cloth should do it!Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Re: Touchy Clearance Light Bulbs Reply #3 – March 24, 2010, 11:02:15 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111280From: irishmist20 Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 6:03 PM To: lifewithalazydazerv@yahoogroups.com Subject: [LD] Touchy Clearance Light BulbsI'm having a problem with the rectangular, red clearance light mounted on the side of my '04 MB just forward of the left rear bumper. The two bulbs illuminate intermittently, which I think is caused by oxidation of the contacts inside the sockets. Other owners have suggested I use a file to clean the contacts but the opening is very small. Does anyone have a suggestion of what the best tool or device is to clean these contacts?Thanks, PaulPaul, There's been some good responses so far. Mine's slightly different. For cleaning the contact surfaces, Scotch-Brite is ideal. It will remove oxidation or corrosion and little else. You might already have some in the kitchen. If you have an old scissors, you can cut a strip of Scotch-Brite material that will be handy. A needle-nose pliers, tweezers etc can be used to extend your reach if need be. Once the contact surfaces are clean, you can coat them with a small dab of silicone grease and that will prevent future problems - it does this by essentially providing a gas-tight connection at the contacts. Silicone spray will work too, but may not last a long.all the best,bumper Yonder Minden, NV[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: Touchy Clearance Light Bulbs Reply #4 – March 25, 2010, 11:50:41 am Yahoo Message Number: 111293"Does anyone have a suggestion of what the best tool or device is to clean these contacts?" For the bulb, a pencil eraser will usually do a good job unless the corrosion is severe. For the socket, which has a very narrow opening, one good strategy is to take a thin piece of card stock and wrap a strip of fine (320 grit) sandpaper or emery cloth around it, so that it can be inserted in place of the bulb. A thin layer of silicone lubricant or bulb grease applied afterward will help retard future corrosion. If you have Caig Laboratories' DeOxIt on hand, that's probably the best treatment of all. Just as an aside... has anyone else noticed that home audio and video connectors, which are used in a benign environment, are almost universally gold-plated to prevent corrosion... while automotive connectors and bulbs, which are used in an extremely hostile environment, never are? Seems kinda stupid, doesn't it?Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Touchy Clearance Light Bulbs Reply #5 – March 25, 2010, 12:53:19 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111296Andy, aside from the cost, gold diffuses rapidly under high current conditions but is great for signal level currents. Also its very soft and doesn't do well under vibration. Jack
Re: Touchy Clearance Light Bulbs Reply #6 – March 25, 2010, 08:21:37 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111308Excellent suggestions, folks. I'm sure one or more will solve my problem. Sincere thanks!Paul
Re: Touchy Clearance Light Bulbs Reply #7 – April 05, 2010, 01:07:00 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111597I finally got a chance to visit my rig to work on that intermittent, red, side clearance light. I borrowed a pair of (cuticle, I think) scissors from my wife, which are 3 3/4 inches long, with a curved, sharp end. They fit nicely into the socket where I gently scraped the inside contacts. I then opened the scissors and gently scraped the bulb contacts with 1/2 of the open blade. I had to repeat the operation on one of the bulbs but when I tested them with several vigorous finger-flicks they remained steadily illuminated and I have great hope that the fix is permanent.Paul.
Topic: Touchy Clearance Light Bulbs (Read 11 times)
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Topic: Touchy Clearance Light Bulbs (Read 11 times)
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