Intermittent brake lights

[John Dunlop & Nancy Hadad]

I don't know if the rear cluster wiring is the same BUT:

In my 85 coupe I had a similar problem that was a PITA to find. Turned out
this: In the plastic piece that all the tail bulbs plug in to there are a
number of aluminum (I think) tracks ( like on a PC board) held in place by
sections of the plastic that have, to use the technical term, been smushed
down under some kind of heat/weld process. Over time, and lots of braking
the tracks had heated up sufficently to slowly melt the plastic and create
enough flex for the contact between track and socket to become intermittent.
And this happened on both lights within a short time.

Solution was to drill a small hole and use a small screw to hold the track
in place versus the plastic welds.


I noticed last night when I got home and backed in against a wall that
my brake lights weren't working.  I immediately pressed the horn (they
are on the same fuse) and was quite surprised to hear the horn sound.
OK, so it's not the fuse (I visually checked just to be sure) could both
brake lights have burnt out at the same time?  Nope and here is where it
gets strange.  I left it overnight (too dark/late to work on it) and
figured I would do some checking this morning.  Hop in, turn on the key,
press the brake pedal and .... we have both brake light's working.
WTF?!?!?  Absolutely nothing changed from last night.  I didn't move the
car or fiddle with anything between the time when the lights weren't
working and when they were.  From experience I know that this kind of
intermittent problem is a real PITA to hunt down so I am hoping a lister
had a similar prob and found a likely suspect.....

I haven't had a chance to look at anything yet and figured while I am at
work I may as well throw this out to the masses.....

Any suggestions, anyone?

Regards



Stephane Livolsi