third brake light
 

hi everybody- new member here!
my 18 year old son just bought his first car in January of this year (2007)- a 1990 Protege sedan.

One issue that's been bugging me has to do with the third brake light.
Apparently the previous owner had a problem, too, according to receipts left in the glove box.
The light bulb burns out really fast- like in only a couple weeks.
Replaced the thing in January, then let it stay burned out for a while,
replaced it again in March, it's burned out again...

When you look at the fixture itself you can see that the thing has been getting so hot, it's actually melting and warping in spots.

When I looked in the owner's manual it listed one bulb number and described it as a round "turn and push" bulb- but the socket we've got is desgned to accept the flat kind that just slides right in.

I'm wondering if somebody replaced the socket with something not compatible somewhere along the way,
or if there's a wiring problem and it's just running too hot,
or if this is a chronic problem on this model or what.

Can anybody describe for me the "real" light bulb style and what the socket is supposed to look like?