The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Turn Signal Problems

About eight years ago, I installed this turn signal switch on my '47. It has worked flawlessly during that time frame. Yesterday, on a 250 mile cruise a friend asked me why I use the four-way flashers as turn signals. Of course I don't and we investigated a little further and found that when I signal left or right, the both front turn signal lamps are flashing. Also, when I signal left or right, only the appropriate rear turn signal flashes. The four-way switch activates all four lamps and they all flash correctly. All connections are soldered and then covered with shrink tubing. The grounds at all signal lights and the switch were tested and have continuity. When the turn signal is activated, both front turn signals appear to be fully lit and not dimly lit like it's back feeding the circuit.

I'm not overly impressed with the quality of this switch and suspect that it's got an internal failure. If that's the case, is there a better after market seven-wire turn signal switch available? Has anyone experienced this condition/problem? I may open the switch and see what's going on in there........

Thanks,

You may as well, as you have nothing to lose.

You're right Phil, I'll try to find a replacement switch before I open it up. I fiddled with it this evening for a few minutes and had a hard time getting the four-ways to shut off. Something must be floating around inside the switch.

Tiny linked to a thread in the VCCA forum, a guy buy the name of Hawkeye opened his switch up and included pics. I've attached some of those pics. Thanks Hawkeye!

Is this a self contained unit?
I got something very similar looking on the 41, but it still needs a blinker relay to work.
Basically mine is just a fancy switch, but the actual action is done by the relay.
If yours is similar, I would look at the relay first.

my ct 2 - Frank

Yes, wired as per the attached picture.

If this post just confuses things let me know and I'll get rid of it.


I was troubleshooting a turn signal problem on my '57 GMC 15 years ago and couldn't find a diagram of the inner workings of a six wire GM turn signal switch. So I took mine apart and made the drawings below from what I found. With the exception of 7th (usually blue) wire, my drawing works with the 7 wire Signal Stat turn signal switch and knock offs from other companies. The 7th wire does not actually participate in the switch's function, it just connects the flasher to the light inside the turn signal unit.

The wire colors in my drawing are correct for OEM 54-59 Chevy/GMC 6 wire turn signal switches. The wire colors on a Signal Stat 900 (and knock-offs) are different, but function the same way. Your wire colors may vary, but the place they connect to will not.

The black dots are fixed (non moving) contacts inside the switch. The yellow pieces are movable contacts. They slide left and right as a group to connect and disconnect brake light and turn signal functions when the driver uses the turn signal lever.

The first drawing is with the turn signal in the off position. The flasher is disconnected as are both front turn signal lamps. The wire from the brake light switch is connected to both rear turn & brake lamps.


The second drawing is with the turn signal in the right turn position. The flasher is connected to the right front turn signal lamp and the right rear turn & brake lamp. The left front turn lamp is disconnected. The wire from the brake light switch is connected to the left rear turn & brake lamp.


The third drawing is with the turn signal in the left turn position. The flasher is connected to the left front turn signal lamp and the left rear turn & brake lamp. The right front turn lamp is disconnected. The wire from the brake light switch is connected to the right rear turn & brake lamp.

So yeah, they are pretty much the same.
As I said, I would first check the flasher.

Thanks for the pics and the input. It's all part of the discussion, that's the beauty of SB. Now we have the switch components as it's being disassembled and the inner workings of the switch in the same thread. It's bound to help someone else down the road.........

I purchased a used Yankee Turnflex 730/6 turn signal switch. It's made in the good old USA and should be superior to those knock offs from the Far East. It should be here early next week............

Today, I installed the Yankee Turnflex 730/6 turn signal switch. I mocked it up in the '47 to be sure it would work and it did. It's good to have my turn signals back in working order.

I did crack open the Everlast turn signal switch. There wasn't anything floating around inside the switch and I didn't identify any obvious shorts in the circuitry. I put it back together and when I bench tested the old switch it still malfunctioned as reported in my first post of this thread. Interestingly enough this switch had a heavy dose of lubricant on the contacts and moving parts. This may be a good Winter project......or a candidate for the landfill.

Some lubricants are actually conductive. You might clean most of it out and try again. It might be salvageable. If not, then probably landfill fodder.