The yellow light on the fender are they turnsignals or cornerlights?

Mine act kind of funny. The left light only works if I turn on the headlights but itīs not flashing/blinking?

My right works the same as the left but when I turn off the headlights its flashing??

 

They are marker lights. They should go on & off with the parking lights & not be effected by the turn signals.

 

In 1972, the yellow side marker lights come on with parking lights or headlights.
When lights are ON, those side markers flash alternately with the turn signals.
I cannot remember if they flash WITH the turn signal when lights are off, but I think they do...
It was done with a simple wiring method of grounding the marker lights through the turn signal bulb filaments.

Not sure if they did this in 1970 though. I am almost thinking they did.
Do all of your other lights work?

 

No they donīt work as they should. When I put the headlights on the right blinkers front and rear freezes.
If I put the headlights off itīs flashing both rear and front, meanwhile the left rear light lights up a little bit?

There is something real strange going on here. I think I will ask a friend to take a look at this. Me and electrical stuff does NOT mix at all!!

 

You have a burned out bulb or a bad ground somewhere in the left side turn signal/running light circuit. Many people are confused by the fact that the 1157 bulbs have two filaments (one brake/turn, one running light) that share a common ground wire. A bad ground can cause the circuit to back drive the other filament. Also, a burned out turn filament can cause the turn signals to freeze. This tells you there is a burned out bulb.

 

Rob
The turn signals (front/side) will alternate only when the park/headlights are on. For normal daytime running the side lights flash at the same time as the front/rear.

 

I was thinking this was the way it worked - thanks for the confirmation.

 

?? Teepo's rear side marker lights do not flash with the turn signals.... the front ones do though, with the headlights off. Should the rear ones??

 

And they shouldn't. The front marker lights are the only ones that do that as part of the electrical circuit design. Next time you have Teepos (either park or full headlights) on, you'll notice that the front signals 'alternate' with the appropriate side light. I suspect this feature was similar on all 70-72 models. I found it quite by accident back in 74 when I was doing a light check on the car.

 

I was surprised this feature was on cars of this vintage. When I realized they were on my '86 long ago, I felt like I had a super-modern new safety feature that many cars then did not have.

The rear ones could be wired up to where they flash also, but I would rather not cut any wires.

 

Well thanks Allan R! I was just curious about this since I saw ya'll talking about it and thought I would ask!! Her front side markers flash with which ever turn signal I'm using, so all is well!

 

Interesting, do the side markers do this on all cars, or only B and C bodies.

I ask because I'm sure my '70 "S" doesn't do this.

 

Seems complicated The only burned out bulb I got is my right low beam headlight. Ordered a new from Rockauto yesterday. But I guess that hasnt got anything to do with the blinker problem?

I also ordered a new blinker realy just to eliminate one thing.

 

This is a GM design, since my '72 Cheyenne lights work the same way. Another thing that surprises GM- illiterate people is the rehostat built into the headlight switch which allows you to dim the cabin and dash lights. I did this while test driving the Oldsmobile I bought from a Mopar guy. He had the car for several years, and was totally unaware of this feature. Chumley

 

Wow...
Reminds me of some more oddities like like the gas cap holder on the 80's Cutlass that held the lic plate down when refueling. Or the 4 ETR radio presets that actually give you 7 when you also use them 2 at a time. Or the blue lit-up "!" at the headlight switch that was always on when the ignition is on so you could find the light switch at night (the bulb was always short lived)...

 

anyone

 

No, they don't. The alternating side lights started in 71 or 72 I think. B and C bodies at the same time. The B and C cars could also be ordered with a white cornering light that came on when turning corners at night. A lot of the later 80, 90's and 2000+ models come with the cornering light standard on higher end models ( ex: 1983 Olds 98 shown in pic)

 

thanks for the clarification, cause I'm sure my Cutlass doesn't do that