electrical issue

S

safeguy150

Junior Member
I have a 1950 Business coupe, with added on aftermarket Turn Signals. Now I know this issue has been around forever and yes I am a complete idiot. The problem is that when I turn the headlights on my turn signals do not work. Everything that I have gleaned thus far is that there is a ground problem with the parking/turn signal sockets. I have taken both front and rear sockets apart and cleaned then and put in new bulbs, the manual shows that the "light" is the ground(the housing) not the bulb. This proves out and having cleaned all of these parts and checking for ground I still cannot figure it out, is it possible that either the headlight buckets and sockets or the headlight switch could be the culprit? Any help pointing this idiot in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.
 
Don't be so tough on yourself. Electrical issues frustrate most people.
Did the turn signals ever work correctly with the headlights on?
 
Not 100 % sure, can't remember driving it at night but I think it always acted this way. Had engine problems so car sat for about a year before I got the new engine.
 
Couple of ideas to try. Remove the parking lights and see if it works ok without them. If so, try installing them one at a time and see if both or just one is causing the issue.
 
Wondering if the turn signals are wired into the headlight switch correctly. I say that because the park lamps are supposed to go off when you pull the headlight switch all the way out for headlights. Might be related.

Mike
 
tried removing the P light bulbs and no luck, took the headlight units apart and cleaned all the contacts and fixed one "suspect" wire and still no luck. Will remove the HL switch tomorrow and test all connections to make sure they are where they should be, will replace the HL switch as a last option and if that doesn't work ?????? guess I just won't drive after sundown---------or find an electrical genius thanks again for the help
 
Keep at it. This "book" has helped me a couple of times recently. I'll see if I can post the main diagram that might help see how it all connects. You may also be able to grab the diagram itself off the internet. :)
Mike

2Q==
 

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I cannot see how the headlighht switch would have anything to do with your indicators not working. To establish if your park/indicator lamps have a ground just take a length of wire and clip one end to your bumper or the chassis and connect the other end to the metal bulbholder socket with the blinker turned ON. If it starts flashing then you know the ground is bad. Does the park light work OK? Do the rear lights flash and are the rear stop lights used as flashers or are separate lamps? Regards, Kevin.
 
We have found that the parking / turn signal housing has a ground issue. It seems that
the bulb socket is swagged or pressed into the housing. The only protection is the rubber
boot which by now deteriorated getting a direct blast of water from the tire. A thorough
cleaning and mig weld / braze or solder. Next problem is the two little springs on the
wires are corroded stuck imposible to remove without destroying the plastic. The fix is
a new socket in which a cut off wheel and cut off the end of the socket off. Next is to
fit new socket into housing a tight fit a rat tail file will do. Now as 'above' solder braze
or mig it. In fact just did one yesterday on a 1950. I haven't found found any rubber
boots on line other than a bicycle inner tube maybe..
 
Park lights work, rear turn signals work, (1157) bulbs tail lights work, will try the wire and see what happens---Thank you for the suggestion
 
Probably a ground problem, I put a wire from the frame directly to the back of the light socket, fixed my wonky turn signal, that was in 1964.
 
I would think removing the front parking/turn signal lights would have removed that issue. Any idea on the wiring of the turn signal in general? As in who wired it up.? Might go through it and see if you can double check it is wired correctly. Is it a Ford unit or an aftermarket?
 
The wiring of the Turn Signals was done by the previous owner, and it is aftermarket Signal Stat. I believe the wiring is correct to all of the points on the Signal Stat wiring diagram, I traced them down and they seem to check out OK. I ordered new Sockets from Shoebox and in the mean time I am going to try and recheck all of the wires under the dash. I do have a new Turn Signal kit also and a new HL switch as last options. Thanks again
 
Not sure about Signal Stat, but on most of these setups about the only connects to the original wiring is the brake light switch. Sometimes the Green bake light wire is used to wire to the tail light filament for the now brake/turn signal. The other connection would be a power connection to the blinker canister. Nothing should connect to the HL switch.

OK, I stand corrected. The light in the signal itself does connect to the HL switch in some installations. If yours is wired like the second diagram have you tried removing that connection for the HL switch just to see what happens?
 

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