1951 Roadmaster signal gremlins (video)

K

krinkov58

Active Member
Got a vicious directional gremlin goofing up my right turn signal...here's the deal: The park lights work, but a little brighter on the right side. Left directional--no complaints. Right directional--the dash indicator will flash only once, with one click from the flasher...then, nothing. But the front and rear right directional lights will still flash, a bit fast, even though the flasher ain't clicking and the directional indicator on the dash isn't flashing. The right front directional is way dim when it flashes. If the park lights are on, the right directional doesn't work or else it's flashing too dim too see next to the adjacent filament. Bulb is tested and working, all wires checked and grounds cleaned up with a new terminal strip on the right side. Here's a video of the phenomenon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zqoh4z2a70

I tested the signal bulb's wire connection on the terminal strip when the flasher was engaged on the right side, and the voltage and drop was basically identical to that read off of the left terminal strip while that directional was functioning happily.
 
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Okay...so while I was watching the video I posted, I had kind of a moment of clarity. Especially looking at the right park light and how bright it was compared to the left, and also how dim the front signal lamp was when it flashed. Which obviously is the reverse of the intended function...the brighter filament in the bulb is supposed to get juice from the signal current, and the dimmer filament gets power when the park lights are switched on. So what I did was reverse the signal and park light wire (3rd & 4th from the top) at the headlamp terminal. Duh! Problem solved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7qmjuzNOeA

Moral of the story: Check that your $%@#$ wiring is correct before spending 2 hours tracing wire for shorts...although the time I spent cleaning grounds wasn't exactly wasted, either.
 
You get points for actually troubleshooting, rather than just throwing parts at the problem like too many others here. :thumbsup:

Ray
 
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