Early Car Turnsignal Gremlin

FA-18C · 08-29-2003, 04:09 PM

Help! I am scratching my head on this one.... when I hit my brakes, the right front turnsignal lights light up. I have also noticed that they are brighter than the drivers side. Additionally, when I signal to turn right, the arrows on my gauges both flash after one or two cycles. I went through the fuse panel up front and did not see any bare wires etc, and the front looked OK although I haven't dug in too deep. Hoping some guru can point me in the right direction (be very clear, EE kicked my ass in school...)

thanks!

jim72911t · 08-29-2003, 06:49 PM

My '72T did the same sort of thing, although the details are a bit different. (Who says cars don't have personality?) What I did was to clean EVERY contact point I could get to, including fuses and their recepticals, light sockets, turn signal contacts, etc. I even went as far as removing all of my light housings and cleaning them, as well as replacing all bulbs. I used an assortment of wire brushes in conjunction with some Radio Shack tuner cleaner. I'm not quite there yet, as some gremlins occasionally rear their ugly heads, but I'm close.

Good Luck,
Jim

TimT · 08-29-2003, 07:05 PM

check all the GROUNDS for the turn signal assemblies... make sure the brown wire is not corroded and you have a good path between the housing and the tub

Todd Simpson · 08-29-2003, 08:11 PM

I'll second the grounds recommendation. The housings are made of pot metal and if they're anything like mine, they're partially rotted away, ruining the path for the ground from the bulbs back to the ground wire. I've repaired 2 of the 4 on my T with PC-7 epoxy to seal up the holes, then ran an additional external ground wire back to the chassis.

Grounds!

targa911S · 08-29-2003, 08:16 PM

I'll bet you have a bad bulb in the turn signal. if not that i'll go with contacts and ground. My money is on bulb.

Early_S_Man · 08-30-2003, 05:14 AM

Chris,

A 'sneak' path for current is the reason for your mysterious flasher relay behavior!

A good starting point is to remove both rear lamp [all four wouldn't hurt] assemblies and clean lamp sockets and wiring harnesses. Check all grounds for corrosion and rectify as needed. On the rear assemblies ... the vinyl tubing through which the wiring bundle runs can get mud/water inside which sits and can deteriorate the wiring ... and ultimately cause shorts in some cases. Any evidence of mud entry into the wiring bundle may be cause to rewire the assembly by cutting and splicing ...

FA-18C · 08-30-2003, 05:17 AM

OK, so I am happy that everyone thinks this should be a simple grounding issue. Now, I just need to get some time to sor it out....

thanks, I'll hopefully not have to come back for more. The strange one is the front right light coming on with my brakes......but we'll see.

joehahn · joehahn's Garage

chris, that one FOR SURE is ground. i had the same thing (faint lighting up front when hit brake). i had smeared that dialectic (sp?) grease on my bulbs in back to try to figure out my turn signal problem. i had put too much on and the brake light bulbs as you'll recall have two parts or contacts, brake one and lights on one. the grease was forming a connection between the contacts on the bulb. therefore, i would hit brake, juice would flow thru the appropriate contact and also, thru grease to "lights on" contact causing a faint glow in the headlight and/or park light in the front. i am not saying this is your exact problem, just example of how that damn electricity doesn't seem to behave if given opportunity to stray.

joe 68 L