Tail light keeps burning out... thoughts?
 

Not on my truck but I have a friend whos truck keeps burning out brake lights. The tail light filament is just fine but it eats through brake lights. Any thoughts on what could be causing it?

check for a short

Check to see how much voltage at the connector when brakes applied. Try long life bulbs...such as an 1157LL

he doesn't drive two footed does he?

I had a friend who complained about all of his vehicles ate brake pads......

then I realised he drove with his left foot resting on the brake pedal.

No other thoughts on this? Man I miss Griggs...

its a short in the system..... where is the true ?

Short.
Bad ground.
bad connector to the bulb.
Condensation forming inside the taillight housing.

I know there was another one that I had in my head, but after typing those 4, I can't remember.

Short should blow the fuse, no?

Bad ground would cause the light to just be out, not burn out filaments on the brake side. (dual filament)

Bad connector is possible, but it's still burning them out, not just a wiggle it and it's fixed scenario.

Housing is clear of condensation.

This is why this has me stumped, all of the typical easy fix solutions are fine. My only thought is that the truck is some how over powering the brake light circuit, but why then only the right side and not left too?

The short, bad ground, and bad connector COULD cause the wires to overwork and create more heat. I had fixed my parent's conversion van blower motor because the power connector was almost completely corroded. Somehow that made the connector REALLY hot and melt and the fuses to blow.

I spliced in a new connector and everything was fixed.

a short wont always blow a fuse.... depends where it is in the system. bad ground would cause it to not work...

also, dont touch the bulb with your bare fingers when installing it, the oil from your fingers will cause it to burn out prematurely....

Did you check voltage at the connector??

Corrosion creates resistance, resistance creates heat, that's how it melted, more the likely letting the terminals of the connector touch and blow the fuse.