New ground prob in brake lights

[chicago240z]

Hello All, went and got a laser alignment the other day on my 73 240z got my car back and since they need to suppress the brakes, the fuse over heated and melted a hole in the fuse area on the hot side, I took off the rear panel to look at the brake lights which were all just replaced on the right(passeneger) light are notes jotted on housing looking to be good grng bad ground

my question is do each of the brake lights have there own ground? would tying into ground and regrounding to frame help? would grounding the fuse panel more help? I didnt have this problem till after I had the alignment or maybe I did but it revealed itself after that I have another perect fuse panel and another ste of brake lights to put in but dont want the same thing to happen to it ,if it is a problem.going to go buy a voltage tester today

Thanks Andy

Edited October 8, 2010 by chicago240z

[Zs-ondabrain]

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/SRC19

New fusebox's are found here.

There is one ground in the rear. It should be bolted to the center rear section, between the taillights. You can tap the ground wires at each taillight and ground them right there near the tap if you want. Might be better than the stock single ground.

You can also run a 12 gauge fused power wire to the rear of the car, attach a relay to the rear panel and follow these steps.....

power wire to the #30 terminal

Cut the brake wire before the right taillight and attach it to the #86 terminal on the relay

run a ground wire from the #85 terminal to a good ground.

Then attach a wire to #87 and attach it to the cut brake wire that goes to the taillights.

This will give you Solid power to the brake lights, increase the brightness of the brakes, and severely reduce the amperage that normally goes thru the fusebox, brake switch and wires. The relay only needs a 12 volt, 0.25 amp signal to connect the battery power to the brake lights.

Yes, you will likely hear the relay click everytime you touch the brake pedal but think of how much better the brakes are and how much safer the whole brake circuit will be. Make sure to run a fuse of the same amperage that is shown in the fusebox for the brakes, put the fuse between the battery and the firewall before the wire goes thru it.

Dave

[palosfv3]

Something doesnt sound right . Check the brake lamp switch at the pedal . It could be sticking on and causing things to overheat. A hot wire shorted to ground will usually blow the fuse ,not overheat it , unless its grounding on the power side of the fuse. Also check your bulbs make sure there are no 1156 s stuck into the 1157 style sockets.

[Zs-ondabrain]

Old resistance will cause it to overheat without blowing. That kinda explains the melting without blowing the fuse.

But definately check the brake switch and associated grounds, like Larry suggested.

[chicago240z]

I have your parking light kit to get brighter running lights and dash lights would this help, yeah I know I still havent installed it, , electrcal isnt my strong point David

I have a guy coming over who knows how to check with the amperage tool/grounding so far i cleaned out the light terminals they were crusty inside, the spare set of lights dont mesh with the 73 240 they were a 70-71 I will go check for that wire you mentioned

Larry I will check it, funny I just took one of those out of a parts car larry are the bulbs the same size?

Thanks guys

Edited October 8, 2010 by chicago240z

[chicago240z]

Larry should all the lights be 1157 for the 2 pronged ones what are the single ones? I had a 1156 on one of the sides do the 1157 replace the 1073 the book says to use?

[chicago240z]

like I said Dave Im not the electrician it was the parking lights not the brake but the brake solinoid thing felt bad so it was replaced, i'll be running grounds to the brakes anyways there is no ground there. since a couple were 1156, would the extra load cause the overheating in the lights? do I need to change/check all the running lights as well?

[Zs-ondabrain]

Parking lights and brake lights are 2 different circuits. Go ahead and ground the black ground wires back there. That will help. As for which bulb goes where. 1156 bulbs should go into a single wire holder ( 1 black side wire and 1 wire coming out the middle of the bottom) Also look inside the socket to see if it's a single or double button.

I've actually found double button sockets with only 1 wire coming out the bottom.

The Parking light harness will allow or free-up extra power to the fusebox for the other circuits because the PLH gets it's power directly from the battery. But the brake circuit is still using old wires that have a lot of resistance.

So again, clean the sockets, make sure the correct bulbs are in the correct sockets, ground the ground wires in the rear. But for the best results in the brake light circuit, do the relay upgrade from post #2. Godd new power wire all the way to the rear, new relay, new ground and a short run from the relay to the brake lights will seriously increase the power to the lights, reduce the amperage thru the rest of the circuit and keep everything cool. You don't need to be an expert to do this either.

Just go get an inline fuseholder with a 10 or 15 amp fuse, about 15 feet of 12 gauge power wire, (15' just to make sure it gets thru all the twists and turns, over the passenger side wheel well, thru the inner quarter panel and over to the middle of the rear) Relays are about $5 at the auto parts store, (4-pin is fine) 1) 12 guage butt connector (yellow or blue) 4) female connectors for the relay, 1) small ring terminal and 1) red butt connector to attach the new wire from the relay to the brake wire going to the brakes.

Dave

[chicago240z]

Thanks David, the side markers had wrong watts also p.o. was more of an idiot than me getting new lights in a few and putting new fuse panel in not the msa upgrade though have to get it fixed this a.m. going to widespread panic next two nights ill also regroung the fuse panel

Thanks again,

Andy