Tail Lights Replacemet

Just removed the tail light lens assy (not an easy job) because I have several bulbs that are burned out. I found 2 of the bulbs broken with the glass bulb hanging from the metal base. Every bulb is rusted into the socket and I am not able to twist and remove. Has any one run into this problem and if so do you have a suggestion,,, I used a needle nose pliers and bit by bit removed the bulb base from one of the broken units and found the base of the socket rusted away. No wonder it was not working!

I've never heard of them rusting like that. The seal on the taillight assembly must be really bad and needs to be repaired. That's a job that needs to be done in hot weather so it comes apart easier without breaking the plastic. Easiest thing to do on the sockets that are rusted away is to replace them with new ones. They are available in the Reatta Store:

ACDelco LS253 Stop Tail and Turn Signal Lamp Connector

Has anyone replaced the standard 194 bulb with a 168 for their taillights? The 168 bulbs are a bit brighter and may look very good as a replacement bulb.

Don't forget to put in some dielectric grease when putting the bulbs back in. This will help retard rust from forming at the connections / base.

You need to use caution when "upgrading" to brighter bulbs. All of the housings are plastic and brighter = hotter with incandescent bulbs.

Some Reatta owners have had a problem doing that with their fog lamps.

I just received a pair of LED bulbs for the fog lamps but have not had a chance to install and compare.

Will be anxious to hear your results on the LED bulbs for the Fogs, I wouldn't mind doing that to the driver Reatta.

I've put LED fog lights in all four of mine. They are much brighter than stock, without the deleterious effect of more heat to damage the housings. I tried two different types from different ebay sellers. One type uses Samsung SMT LED'S, the other uses Cree LED's. They are 881 form factor lamps with the correct plug type, though the fit to the vehicle side connectorwas unusually tight.

Surprisingly, the Samsung units look slightly brighter despite Cree being the industry leader in LED technology. My only gripe is that they are all towards the bluish end of the light spectrum (cool white) where I prefer rhe more yellow look of incandescent lamps. Warm whites will probably be available eventually but I wanted the better light output now.

As far as the tail lamp mess in the OP, that is highly unusual for the sockets to have rusted that badly. Was this car in a high salt/humidity environment for all or part of it's life? Will concur that replacement of all sockets is the proper approach here. Might try to find a complete tail lamp harness from a parts car rather than doing them individually; that's a lot of splicing which will cause it's own problems eventually.

KDirk

I think I have an extra harness. PM me if you are interested in buying it.

Try a russet potatoe (I put the 'E' in potato for Dan Quayle fans). Get a small russet and insert into the housing. You may have to bake the potato first for a couple minutes to slightly soften it. But it should fit into the grooves of the base and then turn. Preferably, I would stay with the needle nose pliers and be patient. But if the darn thing is that rusted, replace it. They are readily available and not too expensive ($6.00/unit but that was a few years ago).

Does anyone know about led tail light replacements? I haven't found a definitive thread on it.

around 6 years ago, i replaced all the exterior (except headlights) and interior with LED's in my 99 Corvette. i had to put in resistors (i think that's what they were called), for the turn signals - so they wouldn't flash too quickly. worked great!

but i think there are led's now that don't need those. others more up to date with electronics could probably tell you more.

I concur with the others that you should simply find a good used tail light harness from Dave or Marck or Jim F, rather than trying to splice in a bunch of sockets to the old harness.

There was a thread about a year ago, started by drtidmore, on LED tail lights. Note that for a '90 or '91, no loading resistors should be needed. Just replace the flasher under the dash with an electronic one. (It is hidden above the steering column, alongside the emergency flasher.)

To a fellow Reatta Convertible and plane owner: I have a very good harness with good bulbs I'll ship you no charge. PM me.

I put LED's in the instrument cluster in my 1983 Hurst/Olds, HUGE improvement! All the older cars with poorly light instrument clusters would benefit greatly from this upgrade. Not applicable to the Reatta cluster as it's perfect but for other older model cars....