Peter:
I had a similar experience, with a different root cause. The
bulb in question is
a dual filament bulb, and the socket has two connections instead of one.
If you get the two wires swapped to the socket, you end up with a dim
and a bright
tail light. Swapping the two wires at the socket corrected my problem.
As for a spare reflector, you will probably need to replace the
entire frame at
least as I don't believe the reflector is serviced separately. If you
think that you want to
go this route, British Auto Works (www.britishautoworks.com) has used
ones.
Painting seems like a good idea though. There are bright chrome
finish paints available
for a few dollars. Just check to make sure that it is recommended for
plastics, and degrease
the reflector thoroughly before painting. I can't imagine that the
reflector will get too
hot. It is, after all, merely plastic and would have melted long ago if
the temperatures
were anything to worry about.
Interesting little problem. Keep us posted on the results.
Cheers,
Vance
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-6pack@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-6pack@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Peter Zaborski
Sent: August 01, 2005 9:38 PM
To: 6 Pack (E-mail)
Subject: rear light housings / chrome paint
Hi Listers,
I recently noticed that one of my taillights is dimmer than the other
one
(left one is dimmer). Only the rear park light and brake light are
dimmer,
the rest of the lights are evenly bright. So I did the usual diagnostic
process, swap left and right bulbs, swap left and right bulb holders,
measure voltage, etc. No apparent faults, it's always the left light
that's
dimmer, voltage is the same at each light.
Digging deeper, I eventually disassembled the light housings thinking
perhaps the left side lens was more dirty or full of dust. Well it turns
out
that none of these are the problem. Rather, the left side reflector for
the
park/brake light is missing its chrome paint.
<snip>
Ideally I'd like to find a spare reflector but I suspect the chances of
that
are close to 0. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.
Oh, and could someone who subscribes to the big triumphs list possibly
post
this there in case someone from that list has crossed this path already.
Peter Zaborski -- CF58310 UO
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