SOLVED 85 Pickup Tail Light Illuminating Reverse Reflector Mystery
 

Hey guys,

Since I bought my 1985 DLX Longbed pickup, I noticed that when my passenger side tail light is lit, the light from the tail bulb bleeds through and also illuminates the white reverse reflector as you can see in the images below.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...c78764f03d.jpg
The issue does not seem to affect the driverside which look likes it has been replaced. When I take the reflector cover off it looks like the internal reflectors are very different between the driver and passenger side. Does anyone know which of these is the correct OEM tail light? Does anyone else have the problem of having the reverse light appear to be "on" while only the tail light bulb is lit?

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...ab6d83fd0f.jpg
Passenger side with tail light bleeding through into white reverse reflector
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...19fcd03d96.jpg
Passenger side with tail light bleeding through into white reverse reflector
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...e02db97b3e.jpg
Driver side. When the tail light is lit, no bleed through into reverse reflector
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...715f174fa6.jpg
Driver side. When the tail light is lit, no bleed through into reverse reflector
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...e2a0db56bf.jpg
Passenger side internal
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...e197c278b4.jpg
Driver side internal

If it’s like my 91 I have a piece of plastic that attaches to the lens in the middle that isolates the bulbs, possible you are missing that piece, driver side may be aftermarket and they extended the reflector to butt against the lens instead of having the separate piece. If that makes sense:)

Interesting.... when I bought this from my great grandpa last year, there were some tail light bulbs in the glove box along with a red rectangular reflector. Do you know if the piece of plastic in yours was a semi-transparent red reflector material?

The piece I think was gray at some point in its life but it’s kinda brownish grey probably from the heat of the bulbs and 30 years later. It is solid and not transparent. Here is an image I pulled from eBay to give you an idea of the piece I’m talking about. Pay no attention to the part number on this pic not sure if it’s correct for your year, just showing you the piece I have, it’s the part in the middle of the pic.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...30b1d71a05.png

But to get that piece by itself will be a task, decent full replacements aren’t bad on eBay, I also see some full units that are OEM but they want the covered in gold price, heck if you wanted to keep it simple you could almost customize some sort of material to separate the reflector….

Here is a used one at a sweet price too:) you can see the divider in the listing.

https://ebay.us/m/yuFDvh

Just the housings with dividers:

https://ebay.us/m/wiMQCE

Thanks guys! I was able to find the taillight shade's on eBay. Turns out the 6th gear garage guy from YouTube is selling some.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...f9e05bb428.png
Once I get it in hand I will have to take some measurements. Might be a good piece to develop a model to 3d print.

Excellent, glad you found them:)