Strange electrical problem

B-52 · Guru

Strange electrical problem

Lefty · Uber Guru

this problem just creeped up.

when i signal a right turn, both left and right rear (and front right) lights signal,

when i signal a left turn just the left one (and front) signal.

tried new flasher and tail lights but no effect.

thanks

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

recently restored car biggrin maybe a ground??

beaucarlo · Guru

sounds like the right tail light has a poor ground

Lefty · Uber Guru

will give it a try but don't think it is a ground issue, i can remove the socket and the bulb from the
right side and the left bulb still flashes i will have to follow the harness all the way back to the
fuse block, the thing that stumps me is that the front signals work fine

B-52 · Guru

Your front lights and back lights are not wired together so your front would work fine still. The fronts only do signal and park lamps, while the rear does signal, park lamps and brake lamps. If they were wired together your front lamps would come on when you press your brakes. When I unplug say the right taillight from the housing but leave the bulb in, the circuit searches for ground and feeds back into the left bulb and because of the feed back it will turn the left light on as well. I hope I explained that good enough.

Lefty · Uber Guru

makes sense, i will look into it further tommorow , i even tried it with the socket completely removed
so
that all i have is bare wires and the right bulb out of the circuit, and the left one still blinks,'
i know that grounds do very strange things it is just it has been working fine for the last 2 years
I noticed it when i was signaling right and when i put my brake on the signal would stay on steady.
but signaling left and braking signal still blinks

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Also check for the possibility that the 2 filaments within the 1157 bulb are touching each other. I had some real weird stuff happening one day, and that was the cause.

Lefty · Uber Guru

changed the bulbs out as well as the flash unit.
removed the right bulb was using LED bulbs, changed back to standard 1157
will try again later today

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

about the only other thing I can think of is a deffective signal switch.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

LED bulbs can cause problems as they don't pull enough current to operate mechanical flashers. This could be contributing to your problem.

ARCADIAN · Poncho Master!

Trailer hitch???? Might be wiring?

Lefty · Uber Guru

Canadian Poncho wrote:
LED bulbs can cause problems as they don't pull enough current to operate mechanical flashers. This could be contributing to your problem.

I was hoping that was it but i put the old 1157's in still same problem,

im going to plug an old signal sw that does still work (canceling cam broken)

that will tell me if it is the turn signal sw.

B-52 · Guru

Oh Dan, I'm sure that you are doing this but make sure that you plug your lights back into the taillight housing if you don't the lights wont have a ground, as they ground through the socket and cars body

1157 skt-sm.jpg

Lefty · Uber Guru

Faulty Switch theory worked
plugged a spare one in that was 3/4 working (would not auto cancel)
and everything works fine
$70 for a new one will be here in two weeks

B-52 · Guru

Glad to hear that you figured it out pretty quick.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

glad to help.

Lefty · Uber Guru

going to pull the other one out of the column and put this other one in tomorrow and see if i can see what was causing it.