side marker fix

[wooferdog]

I've been having a devil of a time getting my left driver's sidemarker to work. It was the last non-working light on my 1970 D200 and it was giving me fits. Anyone with these style housings has probably gone through this.

The terminals inside had of course rusted and corroded somewhat and I wasn't getting any juice to the positive side lamp terminal prongs. If i clipped my circuit tester to the ground terminals of the socket and touched the probe to the little rivet that comes through the housing on the positive side, I'd get current. Move it even 1mm to the positive prongs and nothing. I thought about jumping the short with a little solder. Also thought about driving a small self tapping screw into the rivet hoping somehow to bring the positive terminal into contact with the lead that comes through the housing.

Long story short, a machinist at work told me to clean the corroded bits with acid, namely white vinegar. I took my whole housing out and gave it the full pentecostal immersion in a some vinegar overnight, did a little filing and scraping till i saw some good metal and it worked. Try it.

Update - A little shot of dielectric grease helps preserve the properties of this job

[Daddiojoe]

Halleluia. I like that full Pentecostal immersion bit. I went to sealed LED marker lights a while back. Thanks for the tips, though.

Joe