Hello.
I have a 2001 Pontiac Montana. It appears that the plug that connects the wiring harness to the lighting circuit board is under-engineered.
There are four bulbs with five elements in the tail light fixture.
The plug has six connectors on it. one of the connectors is not used. Four of them feed current to the four different lighting types (light x 2, brake, turn signal and backup). The last connector (conveniently placed in the middle of one row, which is the worst place to put it) carries current away from the fixture.
So, there are four bulbs, one of them has two elements in them. I'm a little unclear on the dual element bulb. It is listed as 26.88/6.72 watts. I'm not sure if that means it takes 26.88 watts max and 6.72 min, or 26.88 all the time, and 6.72 more when both elements are lit. If we assume that it maxxes at 26.88, then we have four bulbs, each pulling 26.88 watts. At 12 volts, that means I have 107.52 wats going back on the one return connector.
That middle receptacle has melted the plastic around it three times now. (Once on the passenger side and twice on the driver's side.) Since the return connector is in the middle, it has the possibility to short into all of the other pins in the connector. This causes all kinds of problems with the car. Multiple bulbs come on for different events (dimmer), the service traction control light comes on, the turn signal lights on the dash light when the brakes are hit.
The plugs at the dealer are $65 each. Online, I can find them in the $35 dollar range.
I can tell that the return wire is of a little higher guage than the feeder wires, (although I didn't measure to see if it was at least 21 guage to handle the 9 amps of current that would be passing through it) but it appears that the plug was not designed to have that much current on one pin.
It's not really practical to instruct my wife not to back up with the turn signal on at night, and to use the brake as little as possible when backing up at night, so I was looking for alternatives.
It looks like this fixture has three 3156 bulbs and one 3057. Are there versions of these bulbs that are slightly lower wattage? (Especially for the backup light...)
Does anyone have any other suggestions on how I can prevent these plugs from melting?
Thanks for any advice!
-Todd
I have a 2001 Pontiac Montana. It appears that the plug that connects the wiring harness to the lighting circuit board is under-engineered.
There are four bulbs with five elements in the tail light fixture.
The plug has six connectors on it. one of the connectors is not used. Four of them feed current to the four different lighting types (light x 2, brake, turn signal and backup). The last connector (conveniently placed in the middle of one row, which is the worst place to put it) carries current away from the fixture.
So, there are four bulbs, one of them has two elements in them. I'm a little unclear on the dual element bulb. It is listed as 26.88/6.72 watts. I'm not sure if that means it takes 26.88 watts max and 6.72 min, or 26.88 all the time, and 6.72 more when both elements are lit. If we assume that it maxxes at 26.88, then we have four bulbs, each pulling 26.88 watts. At 12 volts, that means I have 107.52 wats going back on the one return connector.
That middle receptacle has melted the plastic around it three times now. (Once on the passenger side and twice on the driver's side.) Since the return connector is in the middle, it has the possibility to short into all of the other pins in the connector. This causes all kinds of problems with the car. Multiple bulbs come on for different events (dimmer), the service traction control light comes on, the turn signal lights on the dash light when the brakes are hit.
The plugs at the dealer are $65 each. Online, I can find them in the $35 dollar range.
I can tell that the return wire is of a little higher guage than the feeder wires, (although I didn't measure to see if it was at least 21 guage to handle the 9 amps of current that would be passing through it) but it appears that the plug was not designed to have that much current on one pin.
It's not really practical to instruct my wife not to back up with the turn signal on at night, and to use the brake as little as possible when backing up at night, so I was looking for alternatives.
It looks like this fixture has three 3156 bulbs and one 3057. Are there versions of these bulbs that are slightly lower wattage? (Especially for the backup light...)
Does anyone have any other suggestions on how I can prevent these plugs from melting?
Thanks for any advice!
-Todd
