license plate light question

**slideitsidewayz** · 12-28-2008 03:54 PM

alright so i was at the gas station last night and the attendent told me that my license plate lights were out....both of them. so i bought new lights today and replaced them and they still dont work. i checked all the fuses to see if there was a burnt out fuse or something...and nothing, i figured if there was a burnt out fuse that it would probably effect some more rear lights right? anyway after checking the fuses i took the covering off of the hatch and checked all the wires and they are all in good condition. i also clean the contact points where the light bulbs touch and still nothing.

Im pretty stumped right now and i really dont want to get a ticket for something small and stupid like this. Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong? thanks for the help guys

**97YellowA4** · 12-28-2008 04:25 PM

I have the same problem in mine. I heard the connectors for the rear plate bulbs are usually pretty worn. So try giving those a try.

**djwimbo** · 12-28-2008 04:36 PM

If you have a voltmeter/multimeter you can check the connector to see if you have power and ground. Otherwise it's a fitment issue with that socket and the receiving pad/connector.

My right plate light has been out for >1yr and the more I mess with it the less I care.
Personally I'm going to wait until spring and hard wire in some LED's to eliminate that poor design for the bulb holders/connector issue.

I've replaced a couple customer's bulb holders and still had to adjust the connector tabs to get them to work.

It's 10x more frustrating when when you get the bulbs to work, then when you put the screw in to hold it, it turns off. Even after numerous attempts at adjusting it.

**le91688** · 12-28-2008 04:45 PM

the LED mod looks sick anyway.. Be sure to make a good write up if there already isnt one DJwimbo, i need to do this mod too.

**djwimbo** · 12-28-2008 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by le91688

the LED mod looks sick anyway.. Be sure to make a good write up if there already isnt one DJwimbo, i need to do this mod too.

Yesterday would have been a good day to do that, but in order to afford the mod I had to work on a Ford. So my day was spent doing that and it was dark by the time I got cleaned up.

Now it's back down below 30*F and I'm not heating my garage.

**Silverstreak98** · 12-28-2008 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by djwimbo

If you have a voltmeter/multimeter you can check the connector to see if you have power and ground. Otherwise it's a fitment issue with that socket and the receiving pad/connector.

My right plate light has been out for >1yr and the more I mess with it the less I care.
Personally I'm going to wait until spring and hard wire in some LED's to eliminate that poor design for the bulb holders/connector issue.

I've replaced a couple customer's bulb holders and still had to adjust the connector tabs to get them to work.

It's 10x more frustrating when when you get the bulbs to work, then when you put the screw in to hold it, it turns off. Even after numerous attempts at adjusting it.

A BIG x2!!!

My LED license plate bulbs do the same thing, it takes so long to get them to both stay light for any long period of time.

Anyways I would recommend cleaning the connections with rubbing alcohol, since they are probably corroded. This helped me quite a bit.

**djwimbo** · 12-28-2008 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by Silverstreak98

Anyways I would recommend cleaning the connections with rubbing alcohol, since they are probably corroded. This helped me quite a bit.

I cleaned them with "contact cleaner", sand paper and a damn sand blaster. The right one still doesn't work, and I tested everything with my multimeter twice. My "givadam" broke and needs servicing with something other than beer and >10% unemployment rates

**le91688** · 12-28-2008 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by Silverstreak98

A BIG x2!!!

My LED license plate bulbs do the same thing, it takes so long to get them to both stay light for any long period of time.

Anyways I would recommend cleaning the connections with rubbing alcohol, since they are probably corroded. This helped me quite a bit.

your LED's dont even work?

**slideitsidewayz** · 12-28-2008 06:49 PM

FIXED!

i started playing with the connecters and bent them in order to make better contact. once i got them both in the fuse burnt out...so i replaced the fuse with another for now since i dont have one and ill replace the fuse i replaced the bad fuse with tomorrow.

Both work now...thank god something went right for me today lol!

thanks for the help guys!