Rear Brake Light Problems

[Renegade Flex]

2005 Renegade-

Drivers side brake light went out about 2 weeks ago, so I went to AutoZone and picked up a $6 pack that includes 2 bulbs.

I looked online at how to change it and was able to do it this last weekend, and it worked...for a day. So I open the cover back up and the bulb had shattered and melted the clear lens cover inside the brake light housing. (yikes!)

It looked like the lens had gotten loose and was laying against the hot bulb... so not sure how the heck that happened but I was able to get the lens back upright and secure (i think) and I replaced the bulb this past monday.

A day later its out again... so before I do anything that is going to cost any more $$ you guys got any suggestions? Do I have a short somewhere?


Also to note: the original factory bulb that I 1st replaced last week was blackened and cracked in half, and the base where it gets plugged into was black as well like it had shorted/blown.... ughhhhhh

 

[JeepJeepster]

Ive heard about the inside coming apart like that before.

If its still falling on the bulb when I would probably just buy a new housing off ebay. If the socket is corroded then clean it out.

 

[Marlon_JB2]

This happened to my sister's Jeep, passenger side.

SOMEHOW I was able to shove it back in there and it's snug now.

 

[Renegade Flex]

This happened to my sister's Jeep, passenger side.

SOMEHOW I was able to shove it back in there and it's snug now.

yea i will have to check if it came loose but i think i got it snugged up.

im just worried about wasting another set of bulbs/$$ on this problem if it's an electrical problem. How do I diagnos this to see if its the bulb or wiring hmmm

 

[Marlon_JB2]

yea i will have to check if it came loose but i think i got it snugged up.

im just worried about wasting another set of bulbs/$$ on this problem if it's an electrical problem. How do I diagnos this to see if its the bulb or wiring hmmm

Well it's been almost a year since it happened to her and it's still stuck in there.

 

[Renegade Flex]

So after numerous attempts at trying to fix the loose tail light lens myself I've given up and will take it to a repair shop this weekend.

Hope to have a new tail light fixture installed, and if this one has any problems im going to most likely go insane lol...

Does anyone know if the rock guard that comes with the Renegade model come off or is it part of the tail light fixture?

 

[VTNomad]

Lens

Happened to me too when I swapped out tail lights for the 05+ version. I ended up cutting out the clear lens. The easiest way I found to do it was to use a soldering iron to melt the lens into pieces that are small enough to pull through the socket hole with a pair of needle nosed pliers.

Be careful not to melt anything you don't want to, and do it in a well ventilated area, this creates a ton of bad smelling fumes.

Is your Rockguard plastic? Is it a stock part? If so, it's just stuck on there with double sided tape.

I used a long narrow soldering iron similar to this one:

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[JeepJeepster]

why not just buy one off ebay and save tons of money?

Yes, those renny guards just stick on.

 

[Marlon_JB2]

I spoke too soon about my sister's tail light.

It blew a few weeks ago, same reason, the flappy lens thing fell on the bulb again.

Luckily the glass on part of the last bulb and the plastic decided to become one. So I cracked some of it took the base of the old bulb out, installed new bulb which fits snugly against the glass from the old bulb.

No issues in the last few weeks...

VTNomad's solution sounds great, I never thought of that before. If this happens again, I'll have to certainly give it a try.