Here's one I picked up living in upstate NY and forgot about after moving back to Kansas. Picked up this 97 Bonneville about a year ago. One of the backup lamps recently burned out and I went to replace it. Well, shades of NY State (and some other places I imagine), guess I'm not immune.
As this was an aftermarket socket, the problem isn't uncommon. What was uncommon was the cheapest new socket I could find was $27, some wanting $52. Good ol junk yard came to the rescue. 5 bucks ea so I bought both, the other one was getting junked up to.
All I do is put a thin coating of antiseize on the brass base, be careful not to get any on the ceramic or the contact point on the bottom of the bulb. The stuff is a conductor and will short out the circuit

The di-electric grease used on lamp bases is not a conductor and will not short out the lamps. If you're using a conductive grease/lubricant you're using the wrong thing.

Posted By Racer on 08-12-2010 07:02 AM
The di-electric grease used on lamp bases is not a conductor and will not short out the lamps. If you're using a conductive grease/lubricant you're using the wrong thing.

Hi Racer - the problem with using a non-conductive grease on an automotive lamp base is that is where the lamp gets it's electrical return. The advantage to anti-seize is that it is conductive but extremely temperature resistant so it doesn't move very far from where it is applied.

Just because dielectric grease is not a conductor, that does not mean it will block electricity. Remember, this is grease. It will move out of the way to let the conductors touch. Also, dielectric grease is specially formulated for exactly this purpose. In many auto parts stores, you will find it in a $1 packet at the checkout. In order to prevent confusion, they typically call it "Light Bulb Grease". I have personally never had any problems smearing this grease around the entire bulb base and then installing it.