I noticed at weekend that I'd lost my left indicator. When I took the assembly apart to change the blown bulb, it turned out that the whole assembly was covered with a light film of aluminium corrosion. The new bulb isnt making great contact and will soon stop working again unless I clean the assembly somehow.
It's a pretty intricate pressed-metal affair, and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations/potions/lotions that will clean away the worst of the corrosion. My first instinct was to soak it in vinegar... it used to work on 2p coins in science class!
For the worst of the corrosion hot water should do. After that on the points of contact, lemon juice should do. remember to rinse. Failing that the wife's emery board.
------------- “Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend”
take out the rail and remove all bulbs pour boiling water over it a couple of times to remove excess.wire brush all over.after this use a fine file on the inside of the holes where the bulb's fit,not to much just enough to get to bear metal.don't forget to file the earthing points to.if no fine file use some wet and dry wrapped round a pencil.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
Firstly the copper contacts that the bulb pushes on to. Then the bulb nipples. Thirdly the hole edges which make contact with the sides of the bulb.
Once they are clean test them to ensure they work o.k.
If they do remove the bulbs and apply electrical contact grease to all three contacts (vaseline will probably do but most electrical auto motor factors will keep the proper stuff).
I always do this with every caravan I get and never suffer bulb failure (I kept my last caravan for 15 years). Use the grease on the towing plugs and sockets too (clean them first though).
All year round I plug in, check the lights and off I go. Never fails.
thwack has got it spot on, that,s the way we do it, never had any prob,s.
------------- its easy enough to be pleasant when the world rolls along like a song.but a man is worth while if he can smile when every thing goes f------ wrong.
Thwack & Lion - beat me to it. Cut my teeth with that sort of thing with an old Escort hatchback I had - the rear light plates loosely called bulb holders go the same way. The electrical grease from auto electrical factors is great (Durite is one, Holts NoCrode [not sure of the spelling - not seen it for years] is another)- I have applied some on every contact that I have dealt with and never had a problem. Deffo worth applying it to the 'van to car connections, even the SS 13-pin ones. And how many people have suffered with the Escort van rear lights? Horrible contacts that fail frequently - those you are following where one rear light goes out when the brakes go on and the other brake light comes on - earth contact in the offending holder. Yuk.
On my old sprite i used some female spade terminals over the central contact.
Much better connection. The bulb maked contact with the back of the spade terminal and the terminal makes much more contact with the original bulb socket.
Thanks for the advice everyone. As the plate is galvanised I was reluctant to use a wire brush, or any harsh abrasives, as this would likely leave the plate open to further corrosion.
I decided to try on old-wives-tale remedy..... 1 cup vinegar, 1 cup salt, 1 pint warm/hot water. I stripped down the assembly and immersed the whole lot in the solution for about 2 hours, scrubbed all over with a nail brush, and then rinsed very very well with water. The whole assembly came up like new, with little sign of the corrosion, and there was a pile of cr*p left behind the the solution! I did the same with the spade connectors on the van, with the same result. Wherever there was residual corrosion I used fine wet and dry to remove it.
After drying everything really really well, I re-fitted the assembly (with a full set of new bulbs for good measure) and having given it a good coat of ACF-50 corrosion inhibitor and some contact grease. I have to say that it looks brand new and works a treat!
I'm off to treat the car-van connectors, as that's one bit I hadn't thought of doing.
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Topic: Cleaning Corroded Indicator Terminals
