Brake Light Out

Ranger · July 4, 2008

Well, found an annoying safety feature today...Had my turn signal on and noticed it was cycling rapidly. At first I thought it was a fluke so when I got to where I was going, I put on the right blinker again, and it was still cycling rapidly, tried left and it didn't do it. So I put on the flashers, looked at the back of the truck, and my right rear lower brake light is out...Damnit, why does this happen on every GM truck I get? My Colorado did it, my HD blew the harness to one side, and now the NBS is out one and my dealer won't reopen til monday.

Did an oil change today, Mobil 1...Needed one bad, the stuff that came out was pretty ripe and I felt quite a bit of shavings in it.

July 4, 2008

cant just change the bulb yourself?

all you need is a phillips screwdriver

Ranger · July 4, 2008

Last one I tried to change on a new truck, the damn tabs broke right off and the whole harness fried itself, they had to replace it from the split back. And the truck's under warranty, so I shouldn't have to pay for this little crap haha...

I did change it on the Colorado though...I think the HD's got fried from a little water interaction.

July 4, 2008

are you serious?

There are two screws..... i take them out on a daily basis multiple times... ive never broke anything...

when you take the 2 screws out, you pull on the light straight back towards the back of the truck and it will pop out... dont be a sally about it some pull out kinda hard, and it pops out 2 rubber tab things....

and a bulb is prolly like $0.25 so i guess if you wanted to wait until monday, your call

Ranger · July 4, 2008

The bulb's about 4 bucks at my local autozone...Oh well, I've been wanting to be more hands on with my maintenace anyways, I've started with the oil changes (first time I ever did it on a new vehicle). Next I'll be changing out the alternator haha...AZ is probably closed tomorrow also...

Ranger · July 4, 2008

I do need to take it in for other issues though, mainly the tailgate bezel that THEY broke and my passenger window lockout isn't working, plus the truck needs an alignment.

July 4, 2008

its easy... trust me when you get the 2 screws out the light kinda moves away form the truck and you can get your fingers in there with one hand and pull out and use your other hand on the side of the light to pull

putting it in is 10x easier than even taking it out lol

Ranger · July 4, 2008

Getting the assembly off isn't hard, it's the "getting the bulb out of the socket without breaking the tabs"...Haven't tried it on a 900 series yet but my 800 2500HD had a weird tab setup and I broke one side of it when I was prying the bulb out.

Funny thing is I've installed add a leafs, shocks, XM radio, and I've done air intakes and stuff, but the damn bulbs are a pain in the ass for me.

SoCalChris · July 4, 2008

Blinkers have flashed fast when burned out for a long time. I know they did on my 1973 Mercedes, and I'm pretty sure they did on my 1957 Ford. They do that on purpose so you know that one needs to be changed.

redsled2007 · July 4, 2008

Did an oil change today, Mobil 1...Needed one bad, the stuff that came out was pretty ripe and I felt quite a bit of shavings in it.

And the burnt out bulb concerned you more? In my opinion, shavings in the oil indicates a problem some where in the engine. But then again, that's just my opinion.

j.roffel · July 4, 2008

Getting the assembly off isn't hard, it's the "getting the bulb out of the socket without breaking the tabs"...Haven't tried it on a 900 series yet but my 800 2500HD had a weird tab setup and I broke one side of it when I was prying the bulb out.

Funny thing is I've installed add a leafs, shocks, XM radio, and I've done air intakes and stuff, but the damn bulbs are a pain in the ass for me.

You hav eto push in those tabs then turn it...

BigJayDogg3 · July 4, 2008

Did an oil change today, Mobil 1...Needed one bad, the stuff that came out was pretty ripe and I felt quite a bit of shavings in it.

And the burnt out bulb concerned you more? In my opinion, shavings in the oil indicates a problem some where in the engine. But then again, that's just my opinion.

It's a new truck. That's why you change the oil sooner than normal. It is a normal thing.

07 CC Sierra · July 4, 2008

Is a light bulb and alignment even covered under warranty?

redsled2007 · July 4, 2008

Did an oil change today, Mobil 1...Needed one bad, the stuff that came out was pretty ripe and I felt quite a bit of shavings in it.

And the burnt out bulb concerned you more? In my opinion, shavings in the oil indicates a problem some where in the engine. But then again, that's just my opinion.

It's a new truck. That's why you change the oil sooner than normal. It is a normal thing.

NORMAL? I've NEVER found shavings of any kind in in an engine that was working normally, new or old!

Now granted I don't know what ranger conciders "shavings", but what I think of when I read it was metal particals usually from metal scoring.

BigJayDogg3 · July 4, 2008

Did an oil change today, Mobil 1...Needed one bad, the stuff that came out was pretty ripe and I felt quite a bit of shavings in it.

And the burnt out bulb concerned you more? In my opinion, shavings in the oil indicates a problem some where in the engine. But then again, that's just my opinion.

It's a new truck. That's why you change the oil sooner than normal. It is a normal thing.

NORMAL? I've NEVER found shavings of any kind in in an engine that was working normally, new or old!

Now granted I don't know what ranger conciders "shavings", but what I think of when I read it was metal particals usually from metal scoring.

Ok guys 'm not starting any wars just looking for some advise. My truck has 804 miles and 91% oil life. When I got the truck it had 22 miles on it. When does everyone do there FIRST oil change? Sorry but this is my first new truck in 10 years. By the way it's a 5.3L.

You could change it now, but don't go past 1,000 miles. If you've never had a new vehicle/engine before, you will be surprised at the amount of metal in the drain oil. But don't worry, that's perfectly normal, and is the reason for doing the first oil change so early.

Change the filter. Use the same filter or another high quality element. The first few miles generate a lot of debris. Just change it, that way there is no chance that debris can escape in the built in bypass stream, that the filter has as a starvation prevention safeguard.

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/index.php?...irst+oil+change

I purchased a 400mile 2006 5.3L for an engine swap. I drained the oil, and was shocked when I looked at the magnetic drain plug. I had fuzzy little shavings and one or two small splinter sized shavings on the magnet!! <img src="style_emoticons/default/uhoh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="uhoh.gif" /> Is this normal for these engines? Somebody please calm me down!! I'll be pulling the oil pan this evening to put a custom oil pan in....so hopefully I won't see more! BTW--Does anyone know the proper torque for the oil pan bolts? Thanks!!

The process of running in any new item, engine, differential, etc., will likely produce some fine powdery looking metal particles. The slivers of metal may be left over from the machining process. You PROBABLY don't have anything to be concerned about. As far as torque for the bolts, I can't get that for you now, sorry.