The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Turn Signals quit working

I installed a new 6 volt wiring harness from Classic Parts and aftermarket turn signals a couple of years ago and have not had any problems although I have not driven it more than about a hundred miles After a short drive recently I thought I would check the signal lights and the rear lights were blinking very slowly but the front was normal.. After checking the fuse and looking around, they completely stopped working. Could it be a faulty flasher or ignition switch? Steve

I would replace the flasher can just for a check. Be sure to use a 6 volt can of the right type. Six volt LED cans are available as I have them. Unsure of your problem as the left front and rear, and right front and rear lights are in parallel. Nothing I can think of short of a RC circuit (resistor/capacitor) which would delay the 'bleed off' of the 6 volts through the bulb would cause them to blink at a different rate. Maybe one is brighter than the other due to high resistance to ground but not blink rate. One set or both could not be LEDs could they? If you have LEDs somewhere, get back to us as that could change the game.

I'm going to get another flasher today. To answer your question, no I do not have LED's anywhere on the truck. Thanks for your reply. Hope to hear from others for suggestions. Steve

Check your grounds as well.

Rusty, Trying to educate myself about these trucks and need some learning. We all should know how important good grounds are. My question is, if there is a bad ground in the signal light area and the lights are in parallel. How could that make one lamps flash faster than the other? Since electrons or current, like water, follows the path of least resistance I would think the the current would 'bleed off' through the lamp with the good ground, making it brighter than the other. Thanks.

I don't know why the turn signals work like they do but someone is surely going to tell us eventually (I know they have told us before).

Personally, through all of my training and experience I understand how electricity is supposed to work. But, I've also seen many examples of it not doing what science tells us is supposed to happen. Could it be gremlins or magic? Probably not, but I feel that the differences between materials in the light housings, brackets, bulb housings, sheet metal and the wire harness combined with weathering and corrosion cause the electricity to do strange things.

When my Marines would come into my office after spending many fruitless hours troubleshooting a strange electrical problem I would ask two questions. #1 Did you check the grounds, no? go check them. More often than not the problem was solved. #2 (typically an engine in a non-start situation) Are all the switches and circuit breakers in the proper position and did you check that the shifter is in Park? No? go check them. One particular case, the vehicle was in the shop for a PM and would not start. The entire shop spent two weeks messing with it trying to figure out what was wrong. They finally came to me and asked if I would use my F'ing Magic to fix the vic. OK.... I put on my trusty coveralls, checked that the fluids were at the correct level, checked the circuit breakers, moved the shifter from Park to reverse and back to park, turned on the master electrical switch and started the vic. The legend grew stronger that day.

Truth being told, I spend six years in the electronic research and development group, Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering Dept. at the University of Tennessee. One of the things we did was study electrical phenomena. I saw stuff that no one could explain, not even the over educated professors who taught there. So I understand.

So... did you check your grounds?

Sir, I did not check the grounds sir.....but I will. Thanks Tim. Steve

Tim, I checked the grounds that route through the blocks mounted on the inner fenders. I think the parking lights housing is grounded to the grill. I also used a circuit tester (new) on the plug that connects to the aluminum flasher with the ignition on and attached the clip from the tester to the battery ground. (6 volts) and did not get a response.The flasher unit itself is new from Classic Parts and has always worked. Nothing has changed and the truck is kept inside. All the wiring is tight, soldered with heat shrunk tubing. By the information I've given you can probably guess I'm no electrical wizard but I can usually follow clear instructions.Thanks to everyone else who has offered suggestions. Steve

The light on the fenders will not illuminate unless you have the parking light on and/or the turn switch positioned to the side you are checking.

1. I would not eliminate the flasher as a suspect because it is new: they are easy to check out of circuit. Just
go on-line and google the flasher for testing procrdure. My 12v (p/n FL 552, I just connect one lead to a B+ source
and the other connector to a bulb and attached that goes to ground. It should flash.

2. I don't know for sure, but some flashers (like the 552) are encased in oil. A sign of defectiveness is oil leaking through the case seal.

3. I don't know about your truck, but the B+ on my Task Force comes from the headlight switch (if memory serves).

don

Don, PM sent

I had a similar problem so I thought I'd jump on this post for anyone else searching if they have this problem. After a couple years or turn signals working fine, they just stopped working one day. After doing some trouble shooting I assumed it to be the flasher and bought a new one. That did not fix the problem, so that lead to more troubleshooting. Turns out the flasher wasn't getting any power. I was not able to figure out why because I had checked the inline fuse, it was good, replaced it anyway, still no power. bypassed the fuse and the signals worked. bypassed the fuse inside the fuse holder and it worked that way as well. Seems that for some reason the fuses just were no longer seating correctly and making contact in the holder (still don't know why but that's irrelevant at this point). Went to walmart, bought a new inline fuse set up and spliced it in and everything works again.