T/A Turnsignal Problems Fix!!!

[slow]

As many of you know, the daytime running lights, and turn signals, on the Trans Am's are not the best designed lights. The heat likes to damage the sockets, and the paper thin lense is easily cracked by road debris. With the lamp socket at the bottom of the housing, to collect the water that enters.

Many people end up with turn signal issues due to these lights, and the sockets going bad.

Well, i had such an issue this week, and decided now was the time to replace the socket, (since i have many extras from a taillight wiring harness in the garage)

The parts needed are a 3 wire lamp holder, the stock one is a PED piece, with the numbers PED FL 2914 used in many GM cars and trucks. The back taillights use 4 of these sockets, so i was able to get one from there, you can get them from the dealer, or junk yard im sure, price unknown.

First thing you will notice is the heat damage on this socket.




To remove the inside from the outside gray housing, push on the 2 tabs, and pull with needle nose pliers. One of the tabs are shown in this pic from my spare housings.



you want to push those, pull the inside connector out, and then slide the 3 wires out, then you are left with your new socket for installation onto the car.

Next step, go to car:

After taking the bottom access cover bolts out, i got a pair of needle nose pliers, and tried to remove the inside from the housing, by pushing the 2 tabs, and pulling the inside out.. with the damage that was done, this was not able to pull out, like on the new sockets i had.

So, i just broke it until the inside would come out, as shown here.



after removing the inside socket assembly, the 3 wires pull right out.

the pinouts on my 98 TA are: A blue B Brown, and G Black. Im fairly sure all of the 98-02 share this color code.

Once the connector slides off, you are left with this



taking some sandpaper, clean up the connections, if you have any electrical contact cleaner, now would be a good time to use it.

When you done, it should at least look like this, or cleaner



After you clean the connectors, it is now time to reseal the cable seals in dielectric grease, and slide into the connector, (remember the order, and colors from above)

When your done, it should look like this:



after you get to this step, slide in the inside portion, to secure the wires into the connector. When done, it should look stock, and new, like this:



When you done, install lamp, and reinstall into the housing, test with both the turnsignals, and the hazards, lights on, and off, to ensure proper operation.

Hope this helps

Ryan.

[1BADFIREHAWK]

Very good write up. I will sticky it. Is their anything to seal the bulb so more water can't destroy it like the last one. I know I have a small crack in my light that lets water in. I have heard of silicone or something.

[slow]

Originally posted by Weezz
There is a slit manufactured in the housing face.
You have to seal it up if you wish to keep the water out.
Examine the front of your housing carefully-you will see the vertical slit in the center of the face. The slit extends to within approx. 1/4" of both the top and bottom of the lense face.

Originally posted by Weezz
They don't get a hair line crack-they are manufactured with that slit. I also thought one of mine was cracked after my bulb blew because of rain entering the housing.
I removed the housing and examined it closely, that slit was designed into the housing. I've examined approx. 10-12 other Firebirds and every one has that approx. 0.20" slit in the face of the lense. Why this is designed this way-only GM knows.

Best thing to do is get some clear silicone or some model airplane glue and reaching in thru the bulb mouting access hole (with a long q-tip or swab) spread it evenly over the slit. This way it will be fixed and unseen from the outside of the lense.

Great info from Weezz

Ryan.

[killer01ws6]

Glad you took me up on my offer.

Nice Write up again
Ryan.

[zombie5011]

I used some clear silicone around the bulbs to keep the water out. It has worked for about 3 months now. (before the bulbs would last about a week)

[NBWS6TA]

I took the lens out and siliconed the crack and around the seam, so far so good! New lenses are $25 on gmpartsdirect, I'll stick with my quick fix.

[Toolish Hawk]

Thanks alot for this. Ive been having real problems with my drivers side signal

Pretty much anytime it rains hard and im out on the road, it goes out.

Didnt really bother me, but its getting to be kinda expensice to keep buying new lights.

[RareBird WS6]

Great info. I wish i was handy with tools to do the work myself. I've had both my right and left yellow turnsignal housings replaced in the 4 years i've owned my WS6.

Hi, I had the same problem with my turn signal sockets. Both of them had to be replaced. The 3 dealers that I called wanted $58 for each socket!?!?!?! I found somebody on ebay who sells an after market socket for $25 each . I bought 2 sockets from them & replaced both of my front sockets for less than the dealer wanted for 1! Here is a current link for the sockets~
Here is the item #2478183825. Just copy this # into the Ebay search page & It will take you right to it.


Good Luck!

TRANS AMber

[slow]

ouch, you can get them from part stores for $12 or so, at least locally.

I can get then in quantity from the manufacture for less than $2 a socket, but need to order 700 of them..

[Beastly TA]

Sucks that the pictures dont work anymore, I have been going through this problem too for a few months and I wanted to see what he was talking about, oh well nice writeup though.

[slow]

i'll rehost the pics somewhere else.

Ryan.

[Null Sett]

that's a good idea.. you could also just buy LED's from ledtronics.com (or auto zone) and not have the heat issues or problems anymore too.

Granted, if your lenses or sockets are that bad off, you'll need to replace them, but if you replace the bulbs with led's, you'll never need to replace them again and you won't have problems with heat messing things up.

[slow]

you can't use standard LED setups,. as they are made for rear mount holders.

These housings are bottom mount, so standard led's will put all
the light to the top of the housings.

if anybody finds led's that have dispersion 180 degrees, then it would work, but i have never seen them (well,less than $40 each)

Ryan

[Null Sett]

slow.. i have led's in my firebird for the front DRL's. they do disperse light like you say - 180 degrees... but they were like 45 bucks a pop. lifetime warranty too, though.

[slow]

yeah, $90 buys a lot of 3157 lamps,

if anybody ever comes up with the cheap $10-15 led's that work right, let us know

Ryan

[x3ro]

on my t/a, i never had issues w/ bulbs blowing unless i didn't cover the base w/ dielectric grease before i inserted them.....it was a 98 too..

[UnleashedBeast]

I found the replacements sockets at autozone for 6.99 each. They were on the isle racks with the replacement headlight sockets. The company who builds them is "Conduct Tite" part number 85881.

No way I'm paying www.gmpartsdirect.com 25 bucks per socket.

[UnleashedBeast]

Here is a picture of the socket I found at autozone. I put the old socket in the picture too. Looks bad doesn't it.

[6']['9]

That was a great write up.

[zombie5011]

I actually solved this problem.

I had to replace one of my sockets.

But I took the housings off the car. Drilled 3 holes in the botton of each so that water could drain out if it got in there. Then I took some 3M stripe caulk and put it inside the housing between where the bulb would be and where the 3 holes were. This made sure that if any water got past the holes there is no way that it could enter the new socket.

Has worked for about 4 months now

[eboggs_jkvl]

Ryan,

I copied the picture files to the LS2 server and changed the links. You do not have to worry about hosting the pictures as they will stay as long as our server is operating.

I hope that is ok with you?

E

[slow]

Feel free to use any pics I post on this site.

Ryan

[casino187]

I'm having the same problem, again. The first time the dealer fix it under warranty and now they won't. I noticed that my lense is cracked and would like to go ahead and replace it as well. Does anyone know where to get a new lens for cheap?

[UnleashedBeast]

Originally posted by casino187
I'm having the same problem, again. The first time the dealer fix it under warranty and now they won't. I noticed that my lense is cracked and would like to go ahead and replace it as well. Does anyone know where to get a new lens for cheap?

www.gmpartsdirect.com

I can't remember the part numbers off hand, but you might have a friend in a parts dept. somewhere at a GM dealer you could call for them. That's the cheapest place to buy replacement OEM parts for our cars.

I had to replace mine last summer as well. Cracks, water damage to the sockets. I had to replace everything.

[UnleashedBeast]

The replacement housing part numbers from gmpartsdirect. They are right and left part numbers.

10301405
10301404

I recommend replacing the housings when you see cracks in the clear face. Water easily enters during rain and car washing and will corrode/rot the new sockets you install. Also, when you get the new housings, seal the perimeter gap around the lens with silicone to stop any water from getting inside.

[TAJOECOOL]

IF I WOULD HAVE KNOW ABOUT SEALING THE LENSES I WOULD HAVE SAVED MYSELF ALOT OF AGGRAVATION!!! EXCELLENT WRITEUP I REPLACED BOTH SOCKETS, AND SEALED BOTH LENSES. NOW NO WATER GETS IN AND FOR A VENT I REMOVED A LITTLE BLACK RUBBER PLUG ON THE BACK F THE LENSE TO HELP KEEP THE HEAT DOWN BUT I HAVE ENOUGH DAMAGE ON THE TOP OF MY LENSES I WILL EVENTUALLY HAVE TO GET NEW ONES.

[Dodger13]

Dielectric grease does wonders for this type of problem if you get to it before the corrosion starts, also helps with heat issues. Be nice to have a well designed socket, but hell I'm all for using the Dielectric silicone grease once every year or so instead of replacing parts. Nice write up though! Good info for when ya DO have to replace stuff.

[Why2Kone WS6]

Great writeup... just had to replace both of my Turnsignal sockets..... it took me 4 auto part stores to get the 2 sockets....

[TA Tom]

Originally posted by UnleashedBeast
Here is a picture of the socket I found at autozone. I put the old socket in the picture too. Looks bad doesn't it.

I take it you clipped the socket out and crimped the new socket's wires to the remaining wiring from the auto?

[TA Tom]

Originally posted by UnleashedBeast
The replacement housing part numbers from gmpartsdirect. They are right and left part numbers.

10301405
10301404

I recommend replacing the housings when you see cracks in the clear face. Water easily enters during rain and car washing and will corrode/rot the new sockets you install. Also, when you get the new housings, seal the perimeter gap around the lens with silicone to stop any water from getting inside.

Even cheaper here. And they provide pictures so one is a little more reasonably sure what part you are getting.

http://www.wheelsrims.net/pontiac-lights_lamps.html

[TA Tom]

Originally posted by Null Sett
slow.. i have led's in my firebird for the front DRL's. they do disperse light like you say - 180 degrees... but they were like 45 bucks a pop. lifetime warranty too, though.

http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/aut3157/

Does seem the LEDs would project to the top of the DRL/Turn Signal housing, since the socket is at the base/pointing up of the housing.

[slow]

update from 4 years later.

Still works great, I haven't had to replace a single lamp on the front turn signals.

[qwk93ta]

I just finished doing this to my 00 WS6 about an hour ago.....it worked. I hope it work for a long time. Thanks for the information!!!!

[Miller High Life]

Going to attempt this over the weekend. I noticed that the protective flap on one side is missing! Any ideas on how to go about replacing? Will prob just ghetto rig it.