taillight bulb illumination combination

[ez73]

I went on a zclub cruise yesterday to the Petersen museum, and noticed the differences in which bulbs were lit up on 3 different 240's for braking and tail lights. looking from rear,bulbs on light assembly left to right top to bottom--1,2,3,4. Car#1 lights, bulbs1,2---brakes 1,2,3 car#2 lights, bulb 1,2---brakes 1,3 car#3 (my car) lights bulbs1,2---brakes 3only.My question is which is factory. Ithink #2 put in euro tl assembly. should my car light up like #1? With his headlights off all 3 lights came on for braking. with my headlights off only bulb #3 comes on. did he modify his? richard (can/t use nickname) funk

[TomoHawk]

The FSM covers which bulbs are for what.

[sblake01]

Yours sounds 'correct' and the others are modified. People did that to have more light showing when you apply the brakes.

[sblake01]

The FSM covers which bulbs are for what.

'Nice' response.

[e_racer1999]

IIRC my car lights all 3 bulbs upon braking and the top two bulbs when tails are on. to my knowledge my car's wiring is stock

[TomoHawk]

I don't know which page it's on, Stephen. :cheeky:

[Arne]

Car #1 is correct for US and Canadian Series 1 (1970 production) cars, car #2 is correct for all other 240Zs in the US and Canada. I have one of each car and can confirm this. I strongly suspect car #3 has a pair of bad bulbs in position 1. (Cars for the rest of the world were different, obviously.)

Here are links to a couple of pictures that show this.

Series 1 (Note vents in hatch) - http://classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14692&d=1161633558

Later Z (in this case a '73, but I can confirm my late '71 is the same as this one) - http://classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14712&d=1161635105

I know I've seen a copy of the factory document to dealers that pointed out all the differences starting in 1/71 in which this was listed, but can't find that right now.

[sblake01]

That's why I put the word correct in quotes. My illustration seems to validate how Richard's brake lights work. Either the picture from the manual is wrong, or all three configuration were used because I've seen 240Z's that light either one, two, or all three lights as brake lights.

[EScanlon]

Hey Arne!

NICE response!!!

E

[ez73]

thanks all for the quick reply. Stephen I checked out your attached illustration ,my t.l. assbly doesn't look like that .Ihave a stock 73. Arne your suggestion might bear merit.In order for the top 2 bulbs to perform double duty ,they have to have the 2 filament bulbs ,I am almost positive they don't.Iwill check it out. richard(----) funk

[sblake01]

Then you must have these. The one I posted was for a 260Z(sorry). According to the fiche, the top two are dual filament and the bottom two are single. Couple that with what Arne posted.

[Arne]

Then you must have these. The one I posted was for a 260Z(sorry). According to the fiche, the top two are dual filament and the bottom two are single. Couple that with what Arne posted.

Stephen's on the right track. I attached a picture of the left taillight harness from a 4/71 240Z (same one used from 1/71 until the lights changed for the 260Z).

Note that all bulbs have a black ground wire. The upper outer bulb is the only one with two hot leads - plain green for brake/turn sig, and green/white for tail. The lower outer has a single green for brake/turn, and the upper inner has a single green/white for tail only.

But here's the interesting part. While the upper inner has only one hot lead, the socket is still the same as the other upper one, and the bulb IS a dual filament bulb, even though only the dim filament is used. So Stephen's post from the fiche is correct, though the fiche could be misleading if you don't look at the rest of the wiring.

My Series 1 car (10/70) has the same bulbs, but the upper inner has an additional plain green lead for brake/turn and so uses both filaments. The early taillight harness has a 4 pin connector with full-size blades. The later cars use a 4 pin connector with mini-blades instead.