License plate bulb melting

The bulb itself or the plastic cover?

I'm guessing the bulb is wrong and its melting the plastic cover

It's sounding like a wiring issue. Either exposed wires, a corroded connection, or a loose connection. Inspect the socket and the wiring for corrosion or a short. I'd recommend snipping the wires close to the bulb socket, and installing a new socket with heat-shrink (or otherwise waterproof) connectors.

Kylebg94 said:

ok, so I have a 1995 k1500. And I've noticed the driver side bulb. Will overheat and melt. Any idea what could be causing this?

Click to expand...

RichLo said:

The bulb itself or the plastic cover?

I'm guessing the bulb is wrong and its melting the plastic cover

Click to expand...

Building on RichLo's reply, it's physically possible to plug in a bulb that draws more
current/wattage into the 194 socket. (That's the bulb # specified in the '96 FSM for
the license plate illumination -- see attached.)

Sometimes this higher current/wattage bulb is substituted on purpose to brighten
things up. Most of the time the substitution is accidental, or driven by the PO's need
to get the vehicle to pass inspection and this was all they had in the garage...and it fit,
so it must be right?

Here's a snap of a quick google search that shows the wattage differences:



****

The takeaway from all this?

1) Verify that the correct bulb is installed, and if you can't find any ID on it, replace it.

2) IF you do have the correct bulb already installed and there's still too much heat,
then look for a bad socket creating excessive resistance/heat. If you have any doubt,
follow the guidance by others & replace the socket.

The root cause could be either, or even both of the above. Let us know what you
discover. Bonus points for a sharp photo of what went wrong, so that others can
glean what to look for when researching a similar issue on their rig.

Best of luck with the hunt --

LEDs run cooler.

Kylebg94 said:

ok, so I have a 1995 k1500. And I've noticed the driver side bulb. Will overheat and melt. Any idea what could be causing this?

Click to expand...

What you need is a “T10 miniature wedge” bulb. They come in many varieties (#168, #194, #2825 to name a few) some brighter (“hotter”) than others.

Find one that’s proper for your application (owner’s manual) or search for one that’s got lower power usage so it doesn’t overheat the fixture.

Many bulbs have the same base, socket plug. And many will replace a bulb with a higher wattage , meaning more watts = brighter but also hotter. Over years I have seen many small plastic housings with heat damage from wrong size bulbs. " Here hold this lit bulb while I get a cold one ". Incadecant bulbs make light with heat. Think branding iron hit.
Bulbs used to have the size, and wattage stamped or printed on the base.

I figured it may be the reason. But I didn't know for sure. Thanks for the information

1998_K1500_Sub said:

What you need is a “T10 miniature wedge” bulb. They come in many varieties (#168, #194, #2825 to name a few) some brighter (“hotter”) than others.

Find one that’s proper for your application (owner’s manual) or search for one that’s got lower power usage so it doesn’t overheat the fixture.

Click to expand...

The factory license light bulb is a #194. 2 candlepower, and what the factory also used in the market lights. There's a couple of other "bean" bulbs that are dimensionally the same, with the same base, and will plug into the places that the #194 goes. There is a #161 that has 1 candlepower, so half as bright, and theoretically only gets half as warm. These are used for warning lights in the cluster on older GM, also in some gauges. Then there is also a #168, that one is 3 candlepower, so half again as bright, and probably gets a bit warmer too. These are a common "upgrade" for truck lighting, but if the housing or lens doesn't have any way for the heat to dissipate, it might get melty like what happened to you.