I have a backdraft #1185 and I had several of my front signal and rear lights go on the fritz. I traced the problem down to the 1157 bulb not seating well in the plastic sockets and over a very short time and it wouldn't take long for them to unseat again. Plastic sockets were a royal pain in that they didn't retain the bulb well; there are 2 notches of different depths to accommodate the tabs on the bulbs so the bright filament (brake or turning flash) and semi-bright filament (or parking light) would be properly set to the 2 pins.
Jay @ Vintage did his best by quickly sending me replacement sockets but they didn't last since the plastic was susceptible to the heat of the bulbs and softened to the point where the bulb just didn't sit right.
Being the electrical engineer I decided to modify the existing socket after a search for metal 1157 2-wire sockets + ground prong:
1) cut the plastic retaining socket off
2) insert the new metal socket
3) Re splice and solder the original socket wiring
All in, a total of 30 min per socket. The pictures show a before and after and thother is the 2 kinds of metal sockets I got : 1157 2 wire + ground prong and 1156 1 wire + ground.
Help 85860 Unv W/Grnd Tab Socket : Amazon.com : Automotive
Pico 5444pt Sngl Contact Bk-Up Skt 1-1/8h : Amazon.com : Automotive
So I'm not claiming you have a socket problem - All I'm saying is I had 3 that went bad and couldn't "hold" the bulb in position. I had folks drive up and say " Nice car, but your brake light is out."
