Hi
The rear turn/stop bulb was out so I changed it. I noticed the old bulb and socket had what appeared to be hardened corrosion on it. How can I clean the socket?


2002 Cavalier

you can try some sand paper...Also when ever installing new bulbs go and buy some dielectric grease,that will stop the bulbs from corrosion,And I use it on all light bulbs and connections on the car,You can buy it from any autoparts store.

Depending on how bad the corrosion is, you may not be able to fix via cleaning. It will crawl into the wires themselves and increase resistance where you can't get to. If you notice a dim bulb, this may be the case.

Just wanted to add to the above.

Oh, and wire brushes are very handy on corrosion of surfaces that need not be completely flat, such as bulb contacts.

The stuff shes talking about isn't actual corrosion, per-say, its the crap GM uses in the sockets to stop corrosion, and after many many many years of never being cleaned out, can turn into a dried up putty. Its the brown-ish type stuff. Just clean it out and u should be fine, also I have pulled the tabs out a little bit to just make sure they make contact with the bulb since that stuff can cause them to push away farther and can cause lighting issues in the future. The stuff thats in there is like GM's old version of Die-electric grease. It just turns to crap after many years.

How should I clean the light socket? What would fit into the socket to clean it?


2002 Cavalier

you can pick up a cheapy set of picks from a parts store, some small pieces of sand paper, and you can also pick up some Electronics Cleaner. That does help break that crap up a little bit, and the pick can be used to scrap the rest of the stuff out. Then if need be, a small piece of sand paper in there to clean the terminals.

simply sollution and probably just as cheap, buy replacement socket.clip old,install new..10 minutes(if that) done.