Signal question

[66 GWN]

Hey guys.... quick question. I just finished installingredients an American autowire classic update. Have tried everything and looks and works well.... except... the turn signals. The rear works fine but the front amber lights don't blink. Is this as designed? And shouldn't blink?

Thanks 66 gwn

[ray_mcavoy]

No, the front ones should be blinking too.

The first thing to check would be the grounds. The front turn signals ground via the metal "fingers" on the bulb socket making contact with the metal light housings. And those housings in turn ground via contact with the hood metal. A little bit of surface rust or paint could be preventing them from having a good ground.

[66 GWN]

Thanks Ray.

I'll have a look tomorrow morning.

[ray_mcavoy]

You're welcome!

A quick way to check for bad bulb grounds is to run a temporary ground wire from the negative battery post to the metal shell of the non-working bulb. If that makes it work correctly, you know you're dealing with a bad ground.

In most cases, simply removing the lens will give you enough access to the bulb for this test. The bulb's metal shell often extends up out of the socket a little bit, allowing you to touch it with the temporary ground wire.

[66 GWN]

thanks Ray.

just to be clear. the parking lamps are working in the front they just wont blink. Ill check the grounds as you suggested..

66 gwn

[ray_mcavoy]

Okay, in that case it's possible that you might have other issues aside from the grounds. It's still worth checking the grounds though because the dual filament 1157 bulbs can backfeed from one filament through the other when the shell is not grounded.

By the way, do the turn signal indicators on the dash operate correctly? Those are generally wired to the same circuits as the front turn signals and can therefore give some clues as to the problem.

[66 GWN]

Yes. The cluster blinks as well as the rear indicators

[ray_mcavoy]

The indicators on the cluster blinking are a good sign. That means your turn signal switch and the wiring connections to it are most likely okay.

So if it doesn't end up being the grounds, the next thing to double check would be the light & dark blue turn signal wires. Both where they connect to the bulb sockets and at the 3-wire plug where the parking / turn signal harness plugs into the connector on the driver side of the firewall.

[66 GWN]

Ray...

it worked thank you. I ended up running a new ground wire from each light holder to the hood.. Yeah! Signals...

66 GWN

[ray_mcavoy]

You're welcome! I'm glad to hear adding some ground wires did the trick!