When the running lights or headlights are on, one of the two filaments in the bulb (top bulb) are lit, though not as bright as the passenger side. when I depress the brake pedal, my driver side brake light goes out. When the running lights or head lights are off and the brake pedal is depressed, it comes on (again, not as bright). I ruled out the bulb. can this be the bulb socket, fuse, or am I missing something else? Funny, was behind another DII a couple months ago with the same problem.

 

First switch that bulb with the pass side to confirm that it is not the bulb.
Then go to www.roverlandparts.com and buy a new tail light assembly.
For some odd ball reason this is a relatively common problem with DII's, water gets inside the tail light and corrodes the whole thing, eventually it will short out your wiring in the truck and you wont have any lights at all.
It is always the drivers side. I dont know why, but it is.
Let us know how you make out.

 

Thanks Spike, switched out the bulb with the other side, same problem so not a bulb issue. Then I swapped the whole light assembly. Bingo!! So it's a bad connection in the light assembly. Probably a socket, but I think I'm just going to replace the whole assembly. It collects H2O anyway. Roverland parts is just a couple of miles from my in-laws, which is where we're headed tomorrow, so I will stop in Mon.

 

I'm having the same issue, but this also impacts my top brake light. I suppose that could be the bulb, but has anyone experienced this with the top brake in addition to the driver's side? Thanks for the tip, guys.

 

Is there any preventative maintenance that can be done to prevent this problem from occurring? This is one of the few problems I don't have and I'd like to keep it that way.

 

I took the light assembly out and removed all the sockets and wiring. I diagrammed the wiring and disconnected all the spliced connections. I then reconnected the wiring (I think it was the blue and brown wires). Plugged it into the truck and it worked. More than likely the problem is the connection of the ground (brown) wire.

 

In the future, just spray the sockets with electrical contact cleaner, this has been a well known issue with our lights.
Also whenever checking or replacing lights, replace any that are turning black and replace in pairs to keep equal brightness on both sides.

 

No, not much you can do, the seal leaks and then the sockets and wiring corrodes, seems to only only happen on earlier model DII's.

 

FYI, just to be sure, I pulled all the bulbs and replaced them. Sure enough, they were either burned out or in pretty bad shape. I replaced them all and (fingers crossed) they are stable. So check before buying the tail light assembly.