First of all,l new to the site, looking forward to being a member, thanks for having me! I have an issue on my 78 F100 that boggles me. When I bought my truck it had a tiny aftermarket steering wheel, tossed that and replaced with a 79 Bronco factory tri bar wheel that a friend gave me. When removing the old wheel, having forgotten to pull the battery cable, I sparked one of the horn wires to my wrench, I then pulled the battery cable, keep that in mind. So after installing the factory wheel, I now have the following issues: Signal light indicators on the dash won't work, and the only signal light that works is my passenger rear. Hazards indicators work on the dash, front hazards work, rear hazards don't. I have no brake lights. Headlights, high beams, tail lights, sidemarker lights, interior lights, dash lights all work. What the hell did I do? Is it possible that I pinched a wire on the signal light switch inside the wheel when installing the wheel? Or could something have happened when I sparked the horn wire with the wrench?

 

i'd start by checking all the fuses.

 

I will do that, I want to start with the easiest places first, and that's fairly easy. I'm just not sure if a fuse or fuses would allow bulbs to work in some applications and not in other, such as my front flasher work but not the signal lights, and only one signal light works which is the passenger rear, but none of the others work nor do the indicators on the dash....what a mess.

 

Just for peace of mind I would pull the steering wheel and look over the wiring on the turn signal switch, it sure seems to me your problems are stemming from the switch.

 

Thanks, that is more in line with what I was going to try today when I get home from work. To me that seems to be the focal point. Never had any problem with the lights until I installed the wheel. Thank you!

 

Do you still have the aftermarket wheel? I was looking for a replacement for my stocker if i cant fix the plastic center

 

One thing you never mention is whether all this stuff worked BEFORE you accidentally grounded that wire. Now generally if you ground that horn wire, the worst you do is blow a fuse. So I kinda doubt all this came from that. I would suggest that old trucks like these often have grounding gremlins, and it is not unusual for a bad ground at the front to cause the rear light on the same side to function oddly. Think if it were me I would first take all the lenses loose and then use a test light to make sure you have power going to all those sockets when it should. Second, I would clean and polish the grounds (they are all four corners, as well as check the ground continuity through the sockets (again, it is not uncommon to have a good ground where the wire hits the sheet metal but due to a bad solder joint or whatever, have no ground in the socket. I would also check each bulb as it is removed to make sure it works. Note there are two flashers, one for hazards, one for turn signals, both under the dash. It's also possible on a truck this old that you may have no bulbs or bad contacts in the dash itself. Look up instructions on how to remove the cluster and polish the printed circuit contacts, there are multiple posts on each. This should address every problem you mentioned unless you have a bad switch - for instance if the correct filaments on the rear bulbs are burned out, there go your rear signals and brake lights both. Try all this and let us know?

 

Dave look at his post #5 he said it all worked before this happened.
Dave ----

 

Fuzzface - missed that, coulda saved a lot of writing!

 

Thanks everyone for helping, suggesting, and caring! I found the issue, it is the turn signal assembly inside the wheel. Apparently when I took off the old wheel it pulled up just a bit. I took the new wheel off, saw the issue and resolved it, now all signals and brake lights are working. But after looking at what appears to be the original turn signal switch, I'll be replacing that within a week or two. Thank you all again, I really appreciate the input. Oh, and ndBrody, I already gave the aftermarket wheel to a friend, sorry!