Good point. Forgot about that possibility. Sounds like the socket now.
Since there are separate lights for the turn signal lights this may mean that the emergency flashers may be tied them also instead of the brake lights, I don’t know for sure, but I would check the emergency flashers anyways to see if they work in the back and are tied into the brake lights circuit. If they are tied to the brake lights then the brake lights themselves are okay and the trouble is up front.
If you need a new socket, you can buy them with a pig tail on line, and maybe in an auto parts store. I needed to replace one about a year ago, and it was on display at Pep Boys. You cut the old one off near the socket. This leaves enough wire to splice the new one in. Strip the wires, put shrink tubing on one side, then solder the wire. Pull the shrink tube over the joint and heat shrink it. Repeat until the job is done. Very easy. You can cover the splice with electrical tape if you don’t want to buy shrink tubing.
You will need a volt meter or a VOM to continue. If you don’t have one, then you will need to take it to a shop.
You can get a perfectly adequate VOM at Harbor Freight for under $10. You don’t need a $600 Fluke for this. You can even use a 12V trouble light from AutoZone that sells for just a couple of bucks. Put the black lead to the outside of the socket. It helps if you have some kind of clip or clamp to hold it there.
If you are using a VOM, make sure you are in DCV of 20 volts or higher. If it is a digital VOM, it may be auto ranging so you only. need to select DCV. Make sure the red lead is in the correct socket on the meter, they are labeled. The test light is easier, no selections, leads are fixed and the light comes on when 12VDC is detected.
Now you can probe the two contacts in the bottom of the socket. One will have 12V when the headlights are turned on, the other will have 12V when the brakes are applied. We know the tail lights are working so ground should be good, but if the brake light contact doesn’t work, put the black lead to a bare metal part of the car and test again.
If you do get 12V when testing to a metal part of the vehicle, then the ground is bad. If the turn signals do work, then in most cases, the ground wire goes from the brake light to the turn signal then to ground so it would be the wire between the brake/tail light socket and the turn signal socket. If the wire looks solid, the break (open circuit) will be inside the socket so just replace it per @jtsanders.
If you are not getting 12V on the contact, then peel back the insulation on the wire to that contact and test for 12V there. If you get it, replace the socket. If not, then you have to trace the wire point to point until you find the 12V. BTW, the first place to check will be the brake/tail light socket on the right side as often the brake lights are daisy chained. If you see two wires at each contact on the right side, one of them will be bad internally, You will have to replace the right side socket.
My stores don’t sell them for some reason. Strangely the ones I find easily don’t take the same bulbs, and the ones that do wouldn’t lock into place the same way the old one does so I’ll probably need more bulbs as well.
Thank you for explaining how to swap it!
Thank you for telling me how to check it, a lot of this is new to me.
Order from rock auto. But just about any autocrats store should have this socket in their help section. It was universally used for many many years. That looks like the common 1157 bulb that was used on just about every car from the 30’s through the late 90’s, early 2000’s.
You may need to just go to a dealer unless you are sure what you need. If you google it, it shows more of a wiring harness for $30-40 that will just plug in. Rockauto has single ones but you’d have to make sure which one fits into the insert for the bulb. I have gotten a head light one at NAPA. If it were me I’d probably just snip the socket off to take it in to NAPA or some place to match it. Pretty common bulb but it has to snap into the hole.
If you order it on line, there is no shipping cost if you order it from the interweb site for a local auto parts store.
Yeah 1157 is the one in it, but the socket shapes won’t fit in the trunk without breaking plastics. The socket shape that works is a different bulb type but I’m assuming it would still work?
Just go to NAPA or the dealer and get the right one. It’ll be practice for when the right side goes.
Look inside the socket and look at the contacts in the bottom of it. Do you see a single contact in the center of the socket or are there two contacts? If there is a single contact (and I suspect there is) then you need to get the bulb that has a single filament inside the bulb, like the 1156 type bulb. They have a different bayonet pin design. The pins will be on the same plane instead of offset, like the 1157 bulb is. If the 1157 is the correct bulb then you need to make sure that it is installed correctly to match the pin slots in the socket and not reversed. The two filaments have a different power requirement and the brake light is brighter since it requires more power than the running light does.
The problem seems to be fitting the socket into the hole in the tail light.
After reading the posts again I see what you mean @bing. Thanks for the clarification.
One way you can see if you need to replace the socket is to stick a pin into the wire used for the brake light filament. Then run a jumper wire from the positive battery post or preferably from another fused source of power. Touch the power wire to the pin to see if the brake light(s) light up. If the socket is okay that light should turn on. If the other brake lights don’t work then the fault is further back in the wiring that comes from the brake switch. There is a brake in the connection. The ground side of the light socket should be okay as you stated that the running light works and it shares the same ground wire.
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Have you told us what year Outback you have? That could make a difference.
It was a 2002 way back but looking for a new socket now.
IIRC, the tabs on the socket are two different sizes or not symmetrical . If it doesn’t fit, keep rotating the socket until it does.
Have you tried hooking the tabs and bending them up a bit like I mentioned a week ago?
While working for Subaru (and even running into this on my own Subarus) bending the tangs and replacing the bulbs always fixed the problem assuming there was no lack of power issue. I’ve never had to replace a socket.
I realize! But the sockets I can find that take 1157 bulbs don’t even have tabs. They looks completely different than the socket I have.
Do you mean the bits inside the socket itself?