Tail Lights Keep Shorting Out

[Andrew Finney <afinney@tamsconsultants.com>]

From: Huw Powell <human@nh.ultranet.com>
Subject: Re: Tail Lights Keep Shorting Out

Andrew Finney wrote:
> As a possibly related note, cruise control, which grounds
> through the brake lights, is great, but every-once-in-a-while
> (like every 2 hours of continous driving) it goes bananas and
> lets up on the pedal and then down on the pedal. Could there
> be a bizzare intermittant tailight ground problem? Anyone
have
> a BTDT.
> 
> I used to have a problem with the tailights shutting off the
> cruise control and blinking dimly. This was caused by black
> dots on the MAS connector that were actually carbon traces
> right through the spade terminal, negating proper
connections.

On a related theme, the main trouble I have with my (82 coupe)
cc
nowadays is my brake lights connections going south - and,
as you say,
the cc module is dependent on a circuit running to the hot side
of the
brake lights - why, who knows.  Why should the cruise not
work if both
your brake lights are out?

I too have seen those little black dots, any idead as to how to
cure
that problem, besides buying new socket/connector
assemblies?  I don't
really want to reengineer the whole mess and build my own
connectors to
the tail light assemblies... but I will if I have to.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The cruise grounds through the brake lights as an extra safety
measure. If the brake lights go on and the vacuum vent valve is
not working properly, the brain will still shut off the cruise
control.

To fix the "black dot" problem, I drilled each dot out with a
really small drill bit and filled the holes w/ solder. I then filed
the spade terminals flat again, and bingo it works. Good luck.

Andrew Finney
1983 UrQ
P.S. Where can I find Surflex?