In my 89' 240 most of my tail lights don't work except the right turn signal. The circuit boards are not in great shape and according to the dealer they do not sell them anymore. We researched using trailer lights to replace my tail lights instead of ordering replacements, but decided it would be a better option to solder each connector instead. I have seen a lot of discussions about tail lights but most of them are focused on individual lights going out and not most of them like in my case. I would appreciate knowing what people have done in this situation and whether there will be problems soldering.

The replacement tail lights I have seen don't come with a circuit board and I am concerned that an older circuit board could have the same problem as mine with tearing etc., so that is why we are opting for soldering.

 

hmm? the replacement lights I installed on our 240 sedan had the circuit board, and came complete with the lamp sockets.

budget aftermarket replacements:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/vol...45-chrome-trim
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/vol...45-chrome-trim

 

The replacement tail lights usually come with a circuit board, however, if the problem is the circuit board and the tail light itself is good, then you have choices. I don't remember who it was, but someone sells only the circuit board. Try FCP Euro first, because I thought it was them. There is a left and right board.

The other thing that you could do if you are handy with a soldering iron is to get a 6 pin connector for each tail light and solder wires to either the circuit board or what I saw someone do is to solder the wires right to the bulb holder.

What I found on my 240 sedan is that the circuit board is vulnerable to wearing through at the connector. The connector is a series of "U" shaped copper pieces that engage into the folded over circuit board. The "U" can open up over time and the copper on the board can wear away from repeated insertions, vibration and wiggling. On mine, I soldered wires right to the circuit board. It is working much better, however, occasionally, I have to wiggle a bulb holder.

One nice thing about this car is that it has the bulb out indicator, so I know when to check the lights.

 

I have had so many corrosion issues with my 89 wagon that I soldered jumper wires from the strip to the bulb sockets. Leave enough length so the bulbs can be changed.

 

I'm about to take the plunge of hard wiring the tail lights in my 1983 242. Currently only about 2 lights back there work, total.

The white, plastic connector piece on each side has some areas that obviously burned, and I just wanted to know if there is any danger to hard wiring.

Was the burning in the connector a safety feature? I know the wires will still have a fuse that can blow if necessary, but if there is some short that caused this burning in the connector, then will bypassing the connector cause any sort of horror story?

Here's what the burned parts look like. Obviously, not a huge fire, but I just don't know enough about things to know how this would've happened.

https://goo.gl/photos/njCWx5wNFkuyLx2g6

https://goo.gl/photos/pCteL8cNWfWVZ76SA

 

that looks to be the ground line (fat pin), and offhand, I'd suspect something shorted to it right there on the exposed conductors on the back of the lamp assembly.. grounds aren't fused, power sources are.

your pics inline:

 

Thank you for that info. So, either I figure out what could've caused that, or maybe hard wiring could be safer, since the wires are exposed enough to cause this problem...

 

the other thing that can cause a melted/burned connector is build up of resistance from oxidation... amps*(ohms^2) == watts, and watts is heat. it tends to be an exponential thing, a little resistance makes a little heat which slightly burns things which makes more resistance, which makes more heat which... and, then you get connectors that look like those.. the ground pin could have burned because it has the most current (all the lights that are on combined... 2-3 amps per lamp, so if 3 are on, thats 6-9 amps...)

 

Ok, that makes sense. The trunk lid (I know lid isn't the right word...) is either the wrong size or the hinges aren't done right, because it doesn't seal right, so probably there's more moisture than there should be back there. Which would lead to more oxidation....

This seems like another reason the hard wiring sounds like the best idea. Just read the kjet article about it, which is helpful.