In the last few weeks, I've put a decent ammount of time into getting the old lady road ready again. The last piece of the puzzle is figuring out the turn signals...

Before I changed all the bulbs, turn signals worked fine, but after swapping them, they no longer respond. So here is the nitty gritty...

- All lights (tail, headlights, corner lenses) burn when the headlights are turned on, but the driver's side is slightly dimmer.

- All turn signals blink when the hazard lights are on

- Neither left or right respond to the switch

My thoughts are that the switch is bad, but I don't know how to test that, and that I have a bad ground somewhere causing the dimming but I don't know enough electrical to know how to find it. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

You can start by opening the TS switch up and cleaning it with electrical cleaner spray.

Corrosion on electrical contacts can cause all sorts of problems.

It may save you a hundred $$ .

 

I've never heard of such a thing. I will definitely give it a try. As I've never seen it, is that something the autopart store carries? Brand Name?

 

any electronics store will have it

 

Alrighty...I'll swing through the radio shack and see what I can find.

 

 

other than the grounds behind the turn lenses on the rear, and the ones by the headlights, are there any other grounds in that system that may be the culprit?

 

ive been through the same thing on my 77, first invest in a new blinker see if thats the problem next your gonna want to check the connections on your turn signal switch there are 2 contacts on the top and two on the bottom clean em up with some fine sandpaper or emery paper sometimes you can bend the cam slightly to achieve a better contact however mine was just too worn out the replacement is like 80 bucks I think. Its a fairly straightforward job to swap em out the hardest thing is snaking the wires down the steering collumn. dont forget to check the lights themselves and clean out all the contacts I like to use dielectric grease anywhere I can to prevent corrosion good luck.

 

Yeah, I've gone ahead and ordered the part from napa, but I can't help but think there's more to it. This truck had such frankensteinian wiring when I bought it, I find new cuts, splices, etc. every time I pull a panel.

 

Just a thought, when you replaced all the bulbs in front& rear park lights. Did you put 1157 bulbs in or 1156 ? 1156 bulbs(single filament) would cause this problem. Bulbs need to be 1157 (double filament). Hope that helps.

 

Proper Trouble-shooting involves looking at everything possible before replacing items ***** nilly

Handing out $$$ when not necessary is ludicrous

 

yeah, I did get the double filament (not at first, I noticed that after I got all the way back home > )

 

Yes, it is, however, having come to the end of my electrical prowess (changing bulbs and splicing in new wire at frays/cuts/etc.) I am not left with many options, hence this thread. I have not bought the switch just yet, just asked that NAPA get the part here should I need it.