C2 Turn Signal Issue

[John L.]

When I move the directional lever on my "66 for a left hand turn the parking lamp does not blink but the tailight does blink, also the directional light on the dash does not blink. This also holds true when I exert downward pressure on the directional lever. For a right hand turn everything works fine as the parking lamp, tailight and dash lights all blink. Its time to fix this so I went into the archives to research the issue and this weekend did the following;

Switched parking lamp bulbs, moved left hand side bulb to right side and the bulb blinks when the directional lever is engaged so the problem is not the bulb.

Also, I removed the bulb from the left side parking lamp, and enaged the directional lever for a left hand turn and also exerted downward pressure on the lever, the parking lamp still does not blink, however, the dash light now blinks as does the tailight. BTW, the turn signal switch is a replacement that I installed a number of years ago.


I guess my next course of action will be to remove the steering wheel to get at the switch, play around with it, and replace it if I can't get the parking lamp to blink, any comments, thanks.

[Bob H.]

Re: C2 Turn Signal Issue

Hi John:

I think I would look at the condition of the socket and contacts. If clean, place the activate the turn signal and check for your 12 volts in the socket. It of course should alternate 12v then 0. Does the parking light work? If not look for a ground problem there

[John L.]

Re: C2 Turn Signal Issue

Thanks Bob, yes the parking light does work, I will check the voltage as you suggest.

[Edward J.]

Re: C2 Turn Signal Issue

John, make a check of the harness under the column and make sure all the electric pins are in there sockets. and try wiggling the connector going up to column switch and see if this helps.

[James B.]

Re: C2 Turn Signal Issue

John,

Your problem may be the wire connections (headlight harness to parking lamp) that passes through the inner fender. There is a brown, light blue, and two purple wires (connected together) in the plug. Inspect each wire into the plug to insure they are connected and clean. I do not remember which color it was, but, I had the same problem and found one of the wires had broken off from the spade in the plug. I soldered the wire back onto the spade and the turn signal was back in operation.


Jim

[George W.]

Re: C2 Turn Signal Issue

John,

I don't want to sound like a "downer" but I went through this last Sept on my '65 BB and ended up replacing the signal harness in the stering collum.
So when you pull the wheel I would have a new harness standing by. Good luck.

Dr. George

[Martyn T.]

Re: C2 Turn Signal Issue

Dr. George. I was looking for info on changing directional switch and what's involved besides pulling the wheel. Have you done that or lead me to a you tube or post to save time and aggravation ?
Thanks,
Marty 65 non tele

[Thomas S.]

Re: C2 Turn Signal Issue

I don't own a 66 but do have a electronic and electrical background. My suggestion is to always look for the obvious. The turn-signal switch located in the steering column housing must be working if you are getting a blinking signal at the tail-light. The harness that passes down the column has to connect to something and that is where I would start. If you don't have a wiring diagram for the car you should definitely get one.

The steering column harness most likely plugs into a connector which then goes onto the harness that connects the appropriate lights. If you know which wires go where, you can replicate the switch action by by jumping the correct contacts, again the wiring diagram would have this info. You could also use an ohm-meter / circuit tester on the harness from the steering column to verify that the switch is functional although I doubt its the switch if you were able to get both sides to work.


Often times the blinker mechanism (flasher) depends on a certain level of resistance to operate correctly. The filament resistance changes over time so a bulb that works fine could still not have the correct resistance.

The sockets need to be checked at each point. If they have two sets of contacts (one for each filament) check both wires.

[Russ S.]

Re: C2 Turn Signal Issue

I had the same issue on my 66 and the problem was in my new column switch. I was able to fix it but unfortunatley don't remember just what I had to do.