[punisher7]

I have been having an interesting day with my '63 Catalina.. I started out with a driver side tail lamp that was on until I hit the brake. Everything else wa fine. Then I went to the issue of having no rear lights. I thought I had that fixed and now I have brake lights and turn signals, but no tail lights. I checked the fuse and it looks to be good. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!

[punisher7]

I am at the point now that I have brake lights and rear turn signals. I still do not have tail lamps or a registration plate light. I am of the impression that it wouldnt be an open ground since the brake lights work. I also swapped out bulbs to make sure I didn't have 2 burned bulbs.

[LPete]

The quickest way to solve this is to take a 12V test light and start at one end or the other -- at the rear lights or the headlight switch and see where you have power and where you don't. A quick way to check for a bad ground is to provide a substitute ground straight from the lamp socket to a known good ground.

Fuses can look fine and still be bad -- check for power on both sides of the fuse.

You can use a voltmeter, but it's easy to get fooled if the circuit isn't complete. With a test lamp you're actually proving that the circuit can supply some current, whereas a voltmeter doesn't draw enough current to load the circuit properly.

[dnitro1]

hey there!....its me.....the new owner of the catty ... it seems to be issue w/ ground (being grounded thru body..and that trunk paint) and the light sockets themselves are pretty loose, contacts on bottom have no "spring" in them...also...theres only one ground strap from engine to firewall connected....i think there should be 2...and i see the other 2 (fender to frame?) are broke. i hope when i get those connected...it will brighten things up....oh the new voltage reg...not sure if it works...or what...never messed w/ one....its always @ batt voltage....never changes @ any rpm....if i push the single contact side closed...it goes up to 13 + volts to batt....to it starts to smoke!...i think i go w/ new internal alt...never did that either...

[rickysgto]

Most of the pontiacs are grounded by the frame where the bumper meets the frame.I made new ground conections for each pos wire.I no longer have any problems with ground issues.just an idea.