Electrical Gremlins - Losing The Little Hair Left
December 10th, 2012, 09:32 PM
#1
Electrical Gremlins - Losing The Little Hair Left
Just put power to the system for the first time since starting this frame off resto. Overall very good. Everything seems to be working except for these issues:
Problem 1
The Symptoms:
No right front marker light. Have power to the brown wire. If I put the light tester into the blue wire, the marker light bulb begins to glow very faintly.
All other marker lights and headlamps are working correctly, and I don't have the front turn signal lamps yet installed.
The LEFT turn signal indicator in the speedo goes on as soon as I turn on the running lamps. It's continuously lit with the turn signal lever in the center (off) or in the RIGHT turn position. In the left turn position, it works as it should. Also, in the right turn position, the right marker light comes on, but does not blink.
Problem 2
The Symptoms
The blower motor only works in the high blower position (non A/C car)
Any help would be appreciated. This is the area I'm weakest in.
Thanks
Problem 1
The Symptoms:
No right front marker light. Have power to the brown wire. If I put the light tester into the blue wire, the marker light bulb begins to glow very faintly.
All other marker lights and headlamps are working correctly, and I don't have the front turn signal lamps yet installed.
The LEFT turn signal indicator in the speedo goes on as soon as I turn on the running lamps. It's continuously lit with the turn signal lever in the center (off) or in the RIGHT turn position. In the left turn position, it works as it should. Also, in the right turn position, the right marker light comes on, but does not blink.
Problem 2
The Symptoms
The blower motor only works in the high blower position (non A/C car)
Any help would be appreciated. This is the area I'm weakest in.
Thanks
Last edited by costpenn; December 10th, 2012 at 09:40 PM.
December 11th, 2012, 03:14 AM
#3
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Too close to Toronto!!
Posts: 4,087
Fan speed
On the top of the heater case (under the dash) there is resistor cluster that controls the fan speeds...the resistors look like little coils of wire. One for low speed and one for medium and none for high speed. If they are burnt out then you need a new cluster.
December 11th, 2012, 04:09 AM
#4
Connoisseur d'Junque
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: The Hudson Valley
Posts: 21,183
So, Problem 2 first:
As YellowStatue says, the lower 3 blower speeds go through the resistor block, while the High speed goes through the High Speed relay.
The fact that you've got High shows that the fuse and connections through the switch to the relay are good, and that you've got power at the relay.
Since it is unlikely that ALL of the other switch contacts or wires from the switch would be bad, those are probably good, too.
That leaves the resistor block, and the wire from the resistor block back to the High Speed relay. I would check to be sure that you have a resistor block and it is connected, that it is good (not melted), that its connections are good, and that the wire from it to the relay is good, and, finally, that the High Speed relay is making contact when Off (High not engaged).
Now for Problem 1:
The front marker lights should have one wire each (Brown), with the circuit completed through ground (I am ASSuming that you are working on the '68).
If you have power to the Brown wire, but the light doesn't go on, then you have a bad ground.
The signal light sockets should each have one Blue wire to one terminal, and one Brown wire (from the marker) plus one Purple wire (to the Park terminal of the headlight switch) to the other terminal. There should be no blue wires to the marker lights.
I would recommend installing bulbs in the signal light sockets, so that there is no chance that either of the little contact buttons could be pushed out by its spring, and making contact with the socket itself (ground), or with the other button.
Once this is cleared up (including making sure that you have good grounds - freshly painted parts can be tough to ground properly, but you HAVE to be connected to bare metal and sometimes that means actually scraping off some of that nice paint), you should get back to us and let us know what's going on.
- Eric
As YellowStatue says, the lower 3 blower speeds go through the resistor block, while the High speed goes through the High Speed relay.
The fact that you've got High shows that the fuse and connections through the switch to the relay are good, and that you've got power at the relay.
Since it is unlikely that ALL of the other switch contacts or wires from the switch would be bad, those are probably good, too.
That leaves the resistor block, and the wire from the resistor block back to the High Speed relay. I would check to be sure that you have a resistor block and it is connected, that it is good (not melted), that its connections are good, and that the wire from it to the relay is good, and, finally, that the High Speed relay is making contact when Off (High not engaged).
Now for Problem 1:
No right front marker light. Have power to the brown wire. If I put the light tester into the blue wire, the marker light bulb begins to glow very faintly.
All other marker lights and headlamps are working correctly, and I don't have the front turn signal lamps yet installed.
The LEFT turn signal indicator in the speedo goes on as soon as I turn on the running lamps. It's continuously lit with the turn signal lever in the center (off) or in the RIGHT turn position. In the left turn position, it works as it should. Also, in the right turn position, the right marker light comes on, but does not blink.
All other marker lights and headlamps are working correctly, and I don't have the front turn signal lamps yet installed.
The LEFT turn signal indicator in the speedo goes on as soon as I turn on the running lamps. It's continuously lit with the turn signal lever in the center (off) or in the RIGHT turn position. In the left turn position, it works as it should. Also, in the right turn position, the right marker light comes on, but does not blink.
If you have power to the Brown wire, but the light doesn't go on, then you have a bad ground.
The signal light sockets should each have one Blue wire to one terminal, and one Brown wire (from the marker) plus one Purple wire (to the Park terminal of the headlight switch) to the other terminal. There should be no blue wires to the marker lights.
I would recommend installing bulbs in the signal light sockets, so that there is no chance that either of the little contact buttons could be pushed out by its spring, and making contact with the socket itself (ground), or with the other button.
Once this is cleared up (including making sure that you have good grounds - freshly painted parts can be tough to ground properly, but you HAVE to be connected to bare metal and sometimes that means actually scraping off some of that nice paint), you should get back to us and let us know what's going on.
- Eric
December 11th, 2012, 12:24 PM
#5
Erique,
Sorry for not stating which car I'm working on. It's the 72 442 vert and it's non A/C car - I believe it doesnt have a blower relay at all. I'll check with a light tester if the resisitor is getting any power at the other fan switch positions. It's the original Indak unit - I pulled it and it looked good to me (no burned elements), but I really dont know what I'm looking at anyway. Hopefully it will be that, because no one repo's the non A/C blower switch
The side marker lights (the ones in the fender) do have two colored wires going to them. The LH side has a light blue and brown, while the RH side has a dark blue and brown. I dont think it's a grounding issue. The grounds that come from the headlamp leads are both solidly anchored to the rad support, and I Dremeled off the paint before hand to insure a good contact. There's got to be something to the LH turn arrow lighting up (and staying on) in the speedo when the headlamp/running lamp switch is turned on. I'm wondering if the harness that goes to the back of the speedo is incorrectly installed, or if the problem somehow lies in the emergency flasher switch - it's something that both issues seem to have in common.
Oh that's right - this is supposed to be fun!!!
Sorry for not stating which car I'm working on. It's the 72 442 vert and it's non A/C car - I believe it doesnt have a blower relay at all. I'll check with a light tester if the resisitor is getting any power at the other fan switch positions. It's the original Indak unit - I pulled it and it looked good to me (no burned elements), but I really dont know what I'm looking at anyway. Hopefully it will be that, because no one repo's the non A/C blower switch
The side marker lights (the ones in the fender) do have two colored wires going to them. The LH side has a light blue and brown, while the RH side has a dark blue and brown. I dont think it's a grounding issue. The grounds that come from the headlamp leads are both solidly anchored to the rad support, and I Dremeled off the paint before hand to insure a good contact. There's got to be something to the LH turn arrow lighting up (and staying on) in the speedo when the headlamp/running lamp switch is turned on. I'm wondering if the harness that goes to the back of the speedo is incorrectly installed, or if the problem somehow lies in the emergency flasher switch - it's something that both issues seem to have in common.
Oh that's right - this is supposed to be fun!!!
Last edited by costpenn; December 11th, 2012 at 12:26 PM.
December 11th, 2012, 08:07 PM
#6
Connoisseur d'Junque
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: The Hudson Valley
Posts: 21,183
Well alrighty, then.
So, Problem 2 first:
The information we both gave you is for A/C cars only. Forget it all.
In a non-A/C car, there are 3 blower speeds, all of which go through the resistor block.
The fact that you've got High shows that the fuse and connections through the switch to the motor are good.
Since it is unlikely that both of the other switch contacts or wires from the switch would be bad, those are probably good, too.
That leaves the resistor block.
I would check to be sure that the resistor block is connected, that it is good (not melted), and that its connections are good - go through it with an ohm meter, or put 12V on the output terminal and check for voltage on each of the other terminals.
Also check for 12V (or use a test light) at each of the resistor wire harness terminals, as the switch is switched to each speed. High does not go through any resistance.
Now for Problem 1:
The front marker lights should have two wires each: Brown and Blue (one light, the other dark).
The Brown wires go from the headlight switch to the parking light terminals of the signal light sockets to the side markers.
The Blue wires go from the signal light switch to the signal light terminals of the signal lights, to the other terminals of the side markers.
To understand the way that the front sidemarker circuit works, you need to understand how an incandescent light bulb works:
The filament is basically just a wire, which, at normal temperatures, behaves like any other wire, and essentially passes current through it without resistance (a dead short - you can check this with a meter). The difference is that this wire is very thin, and heats up easily, but does not melt easily the way that a fuse would.
When you apply current to a light bulb filament at its rated voltage, it heats up rapidly (usually in less than a quarter second), and as it does so, its resistance increases, which quickly reduces the current flow down to the bulb's rated power level, and allows it to remain illuminated at a steady light output (and a steady power draw). This is because, in general, hotter substances have greater resistance, and colder substances have less resistance (hence the experiments with supercooling to create "superconductors").
If, instead of putting current through the filament at its rated voltage, you put it through at a lower voltage, the filament will not heat up, the light will not glow, and its resistance will remain minimal. This allows you to use a light bulb filament as though it were a wire to pass small amounts of current through without lighting it.
So, the way the system works is:
With the parking lights on, the Brown wires are hot.
Current flows from the Brown wires, through the marker filaments, into the Blue wires.
From the Blue wires, it flows back to the signal light filaments of the signal light bulbs, and through them to ground.
Because the current is flowing through the sidemarker bulbs first, the voltage at the blue wires is reduced, and is not enough to heat the signal light filaments until they glow, so the signal lights stay off and the filaments act like low-resistance wires to ground.
-- Note that current in this case also flows back to the signal light switch, where the signal light indicator bulb is also connected, so its filament offers an additional path to ground, other than through the filament of the front signal light bulb.
This is significant, because if the front signal light bulb is missing (or its filament is burned out, or has a bad connection), the only path to ground for the parking light current through the front sidemarker bulb on that side will be through the signal light indicator filament. In this case, since the indicator bulb is a lower wattage than the sidemarker, the indicator filament will begin to glow before the marker filament, resulting in a situation where the indicator glows, and the marker glows slightly less. --
When you turn on the signal lights, the Blue wires intermittently become live as the flasher flashes. Every time they become live, the marker bulbs see the same 12V on both terminals, which is to say there is no difference between the terminals, so no current flows through the markers, and they turn off.
This creates the alternating flash pattern that you see where, where the signal goes on when the marker goes off and vice-versa.
If you use the signals when the parking lights are off, the current flows through the Blue wire, through the marker filament, through the Brown wires, and through all four parking light filaments, and all of the other three sidemarker filaments, to ground (since all the parking lights and sidemarkers are connected in parallel), in much the same way, which accounts for the fact that when the headlights are off, the front signals and markers flash together, instead of alternately.
That being said:
Check for power to the Brown wire with the parking lights on.
Check for power to the Blue wires with the signal lights on (best to jumper the flasher terminals, as the flasher may not pass current reliably).
Check for good grounds with an ohmmeter.
Since the front marker bulbs will not light without a path to ground through the signal light bulbs, the bulbs have to be in place, and the bulbs and sockets need to have good, clean connections.
Once this is cleared up, you should get back to us and let us know what's going on.
- Eric
So, Problem 2 first:
The information we both gave you is for A/C cars only. Forget it all.
In a non-A/C car, there are 3 blower speeds, all of which go through the resistor block.
The fact that you've got High shows that the fuse and connections through the switch to the motor are good.
Since it is unlikely that both of the other switch contacts or wires from the switch would be bad, those are probably good, too.
That leaves the resistor block.
I would check to be sure that the resistor block is connected, that it is good (not melted), and that its connections are good - go through it with an ohm meter, or put 12V on the output terminal and check for voltage on each of the other terminals.
Also check for 12V (or use a test light) at each of the resistor wire harness terminals, as the switch is switched to each speed. High does not go through any resistance.
Now for Problem 1:
The front marker lights should have two wires each: Brown and Blue (one light, the other dark).
The Brown wires go from the headlight switch to the parking light terminals of the signal light sockets to the side markers.
The Blue wires go from the signal light switch to the signal light terminals of the signal lights, to the other terminals of the side markers.
To understand the way that the front sidemarker circuit works, you need to understand how an incandescent light bulb works:
The filament is basically just a wire, which, at normal temperatures, behaves like any other wire, and essentially passes current through it without resistance (a dead short - you can check this with a meter). The difference is that this wire is very thin, and heats up easily, but does not melt easily the way that a fuse would.
When you apply current to a light bulb filament at its rated voltage, it heats up rapidly (usually in less than a quarter second), and as it does so, its resistance increases, which quickly reduces the current flow down to the bulb's rated power level, and allows it to remain illuminated at a steady light output (and a steady power draw). This is because, in general, hotter substances have greater resistance, and colder substances have less resistance (hence the experiments with supercooling to create "superconductors").
If, instead of putting current through the filament at its rated voltage, you put it through at a lower voltage, the filament will not heat up, the light will not glow, and its resistance will remain minimal. This allows you to use a light bulb filament as though it were a wire to pass small amounts of current through without lighting it.
So, the way the system works is:
With the parking lights on, the Brown wires are hot.
Current flows from the Brown wires, through the marker filaments, into the Blue wires.
From the Blue wires, it flows back to the signal light filaments of the signal light bulbs, and through them to ground.
Because the current is flowing through the sidemarker bulbs first, the voltage at the blue wires is reduced, and is not enough to heat the signal light filaments until they glow, so the signal lights stay off and the filaments act like low-resistance wires to ground.
-- Note that current in this case also flows back to the signal light switch, where the signal light indicator bulb is also connected, so its filament offers an additional path to ground, other than through the filament of the front signal light bulb.
This is significant, because if the front signal light bulb is missing (or its filament is burned out, or has a bad connection), the only path to ground for the parking light current through the front sidemarker bulb on that side will be through the signal light indicator filament. In this case, since the indicator bulb is a lower wattage than the sidemarker, the indicator filament will begin to glow before the marker filament, resulting in a situation where the indicator glows, and the marker glows slightly less. --
When you turn on the signal lights, the Blue wires intermittently become live as the flasher flashes. Every time they become live, the marker bulbs see the same 12V on both terminals, which is to say there is no difference between the terminals, so no current flows through the markers, and they turn off.
This creates the alternating flash pattern that you see where, where the signal goes on when the marker goes off and vice-versa.
If you use the signals when the parking lights are off, the current flows through the Blue wire, through the marker filament, through the Brown wires, and through all four parking light filaments, and all of the other three sidemarker filaments, to ground (since all the parking lights and sidemarkers are connected in parallel), in much the same way, which accounts for the fact that when the headlights are off, the front signals and markers flash together, instead of alternately.
That being said:
Check for power to the Brown wire with the parking lights on.
Check for power to the Blue wires with the signal lights on (best to jumper the flasher terminals, as the flasher may not pass current reliably).
Check for good grounds with an ohmmeter.
Since the front marker bulbs will not light without a path to ground through the signal light bulbs, the bulbs have to be in place, and the bulbs and sockets need to have good, clean connections.
Once this is cleared up, you should get back to us and let us know what's going on.
- Eric
Last edited by MDchanic; December 12th, 2012 at 03:51 AM.
December 11th, 2012, 08:51 PM
#7
Well alrighty, then.
So, Problem 2 first:
The information we both gave you is for A/C cars only. Forget it all.
In a non-A/C car, there are 3 blower speeds, all of which go through the resistor block.
The fact that you've got High shows that the fuse and connections through the switch to the motor are good.
Since it is unlikely that both of the other switch contacts or wires from the switch would be bad, those are probably good, too.
That leaves the resistor block.
I would check to be sure that the resistor block is connected, that it is good (not melted), and that its connections are good - go through it with an ohm meter, or put 12V on the output terminal and check for voltage on each of the other terminals.
Also check for 12V (or use a test light) at each of the resistor wire harness terminals, as the switch is switched to each speed. High does not go through any resistance.
Now for Problem 1:
The front marker lights should have two wires each: Brown and Blue (one light, the other dark).
The Brown wires go from the headlight switch to the parking light terminals of the signal light sockets to the side markers.
The Blue wires go from the signal light switch to the signal light terminals of the signal lights, to the other terminals of the side markers.
To understand the way that the front sidemarker circuit works, you need to understand how an incandescent light bulb works:
The filament is basically just a wire, which, at normal temperatures, behaves like any other wire, and essentially passes current through it without resistance (a dead short - you can check this with a meter). The difference is that this wire is very thin, and heats up easily, but does not melt easily the way that a fuse would.
When you apply current to a light bulb filament at its rated voltage, it heats up rapidly (usually in less than a quarter second), and as it does so, its resistance increases, which quickly reduces the current flow down to the bulb's rated power level, and allows it to remain illuminated at a steady light output (and a steady power draw). This is because, in general, hotter substances have greater resistance, and colder substances have less resistance (hence the experiments with supercooling to create "superconductors").
If, instead of putting current through the filament at its rated voltage, you put it through at a lower voltage, the filament will not heat up, the light will not glow, and its resistance will remain minimal. This allows you to use a light bulb filament as though it were a wire to pass small amounts of current through without lighting it.
So, the way the system works is:
With the parking lights on, the Brown wires are hot.
Current flows from the Brown wires, through the marker filaments, into the Blue wires.
From the Blue wires, it flows back to the signal light filaments of the signal light bulbs, and through them to ground (and also back to the signal light switch, where those terminals are, I believe, not connected to anything when in their neutral positions).
Because the current is flowing through the sidemarker bulbs first, the voltage at the blue wires is reduced, and is not enough to heat the signal light filaments until they glow, so the signal lights stay off and the filaments act like low-resistance wires to ground.
When you turn on the signal lights, the Blue wires intermittently become live as the flasher flashes. Every time they become live, the marker bulbs see the same 12V on both terminals, which is to say there is no difference between the terminals, so no current flows through the markers, and they turn off.
This creates the alternating flash pattern that you see where, where the signal goes on when the marker goes off and vice-versa.
If you use the signals when the parking lights are off, the current flows through the Blue wires, through the marker filaments, through the Brown wires, and through the parking light filaments, to ground (also to the headlight switch, where that terminal is not connected to anything in the Off position), in much the same way, which accounts for the fact that when the headlights are off, the signals and the markers flash together, instead of alternately.
That being said:
Check for power to the Brown wire with the parking lights on.
Check for power to the Blue wires with the signal lights on (best to jumper the flasher terminals, as the flasher may not pass current reliably).
Check for good grounds with an ohmmeter.
Since the front marker bulbs will not light without a path to ground through the signal light bulbs, the bulbs have to be in place, and the bulbs and sockets need to have good, clean connections.
Once this is cleared up, you should get back to us and let us know what's going on.
- Eric
So, Problem 2 first:
The information we both gave you is for A/C cars only. Forget it all.
In a non-A/C car, there are 3 blower speeds, all of which go through the resistor block.
The fact that you've got High shows that the fuse and connections through the switch to the motor are good.
Since it is unlikely that both of the other switch contacts or wires from the switch would be bad, those are probably good, too.
That leaves the resistor block.
I would check to be sure that the resistor block is connected, that it is good (not melted), and that its connections are good - go through it with an ohm meter, or put 12V on the output terminal and check for voltage on each of the other terminals.
Also check for 12V (or use a test light) at each of the resistor wire harness terminals, as the switch is switched to each speed. High does not go through any resistance.
Now for Problem 1:
The front marker lights should have two wires each: Brown and Blue (one light, the other dark).
The Brown wires go from the headlight switch to the parking light terminals of the signal light sockets to the side markers.
The Blue wires go from the signal light switch to the signal light terminals of the signal lights, to the other terminals of the side markers.
To understand the way that the front sidemarker circuit works, you need to understand how an incandescent light bulb works:
The filament is basically just a wire, which, at normal temperatures, behaves like any other wire, and essentially passes current through it without resistance (a dead short - you can check this with a meter). The difference is that this wire is very thin, and heats up easily, but does not melt easily the way that a fuse would.
When you apply current to a light bulb filament at its rated voltage, it heats up rapidly (usually in less than a quarter second), and as it does so, its resistance increases, which quickly reduces the current flow down to the bulb's rated power level, and allows it to remain illuminated at a steady light output (and a steady power draw). This is because, in general, hotter substances have greater resistance, and colder substances have less resistance (hence the experiments with supercooling to create "superconductors").
If, instead of putting current through the filament at its rated voltage, you put it through at a lower voltage, the filament will not heat up, the light will not glow, and its resistance will remain minimal. This allows you to use a light bulb filament as though it were a wire to pass small amounts of current through without lighting it.
So, the way the system works is:
With the parking lights on, the Brown wires are hot.
Current flows from the Brown wires, through the marker filaments, into the Blue wires.
From the Blue wires, it flows back to the signal light filaments of the signal light bulbs, and through them to ground (and also back to the signal light switch, where those terminals are, I believe, not connected to anything when in their neutral positions).
Because the current is flowing through the sidemarker bulbs first, the voltage at the blue wires is reduced, and is not enough to heat the signal light filaments until they glow, so the signal lights stay off and the filaments act like low-resistance wires to ground.
When you turn on the signal lights, the Blue wires intermittently become live as the flasher flashes. Every time they become live, the marker bulbs see the same 12V on both terminals, which is to say there is no difference between the terminals, so no current flows through the markers, and they turn off.
This creates the alternating flash pattern that you see where, where the signal goes on when the marker goes off and vice-versa.
If you use the signals when the parking lights are off, the current flows through the Blue wires, through the marker filaments, through the Brown wires, and through the parking light filaments, to ground (also to the headlight switch, where that terminal is not connected to anything in the Off position), in much the same way, which accounts for the fact that when the headlights are off, the signals and the markers flash together, instead of alternately.
That being said:
Check for power to the Brown wire with the parking lights on.
Check for power to the Blue wires with the signal lights on (best to jumper the flasher terminals, as the flasher may not pass current reliably).
Check for good grounds with an ohmmeter.
Since the front marker bulbs will not light without a path to ground through the signal light bulbs, the bulbs have to be in place, and the bulbs and sockets need to have good, clean connections.
Once this is cleared up, you should get back to us and let us know what's going on.
- Eric
Joe
December 12th, 2012, 03:41 AM
#8
Connoisseur d'Junque
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: The Hudson Valley
Posts: 21,183
When I was waking up this morning, I saw the whole wiring diagram at once, and I realized that I had been focusing on connections close to the light bulbs, but had neglected to describe a few connections away from the light bulbs.
I have added those to my earlier post and will repeat them here.
With the parking lights Off and the signal light On,
I described a ground path through the brown wire through the parking light filament of the signal light bulb.
This is correct as far as it goes, but, since all parking lights are connected in parallel, the ground path is actually through the parking light filaments of both front signal lights, both rear taillights, and all of the other three sidemarkers.
With the parking lights On and the signal lights Off,
I had said that the Blue wire dead-ends at the signal light switch terminal (when the switch is in the neutral position).
Not completely true.
The signal light indicator is also connected to this switch terminal, so its filament offers an additional path to ground, other than through the filament of the front signal light bulb.
This is significant, because if the front signal light bulb is missing (or its filament is burned out, or has a bad connection), the only path to ground for the parking light current through the front sidemarker bulb on that side will be through the signal light indicator filament.
Since the indicator bulb is a lower wattage than the sidemarker, the indicator filament will begin to glow before the marker filament, resulting in a situation where the indicator glows, and the marker glows slightly less.
Sorry that I failed to include that last night.
- Eric
I have added those to my earlier post and will repeat them here.
With the parking lights Off and the signal light On,
I described a ground path through the brown wire through the parking light filament of the signal light bulb.
This is correct as far as it goes, but, since all parking lights are connected in parallel, the ground path is actually through the parking light filaments of both front signal lights, both rear taillights, and all of the other three sidemarkers.
With the parking lights On and the signal lights Off,
I had said that the Blue wire dead-ends at the signal light switch terminal (when the switch is in the neutral position).
Not completely true.
The signal light indicator is also connected to this switch terminal, so its filament offers an additional path to ground, other than through the filament of the front signal light bulb.
This is significant, because if the front signal light bulb is missing (or its filament is burned out, or has a bad connection), the only path to ground for the parking light current through the front sidemarker bulb on that side will be through the signal light indicator filament.
Since the indicator bulb is a lower wattage than the sidemarker, the indicator filament will begin to glow before the marker filament, resulting in a situation where the indicator glows, and the marker glows slightly less.
Sorry that I failed to include that last night.
- Eric
December 12th, 2012, 02:18 PM
#9
When I was waking up this morning, I saw the whole wiring diagram at once, and I realized that I had been focusing on connections close to the light bulbs, but had neglected to describe a few connections away from the light bulbs.
I have added those to my earlier post and will repeat them here.
With the parking lights Off and the signal light On,
I described a ground path through the brown wire through the parking light filament of the signal light bulb.
This is correct as far as it goes, but, since all parking lights are connected in parallel, the ground path is actually through the parking light filaments of both front signal lights, both rear taillights, and all of the other three sidemarkers.
With the parking lights On and the signal lights Off,
I had said that the Blue wire dead-ends at the signal light switch terminal (when the switch is in the neutral position).
Not completely true.
The signal light indicator is also connected to this switch terminal, so its filament offers an additional path to ground, other than through the filament of the front signal light bulb.
This is significant, because if the front signal light bulb is missing (or its filament is burned out, or has a bad connection), the only path to ground for the parking light current through the front sidemarker bulb on that side will be through the signal light indicator filament.
Since the indicator bulb is a lower wattage than the sidemarker, the indicator filament will begin to glow before the marker filament, resulting in a situation where the indicator glows, and the marker glows slightly less.
Sorry that I failed to include that last night.
- Eric
I have added those to my earlier post and will repeat them here.
With the parking lights Off and the signal light On,
I described a ground path through the brown wire through the parking light filament of the signal light bulb.
This is correct as far as it goes, but, since all parking lights are connected in parallel, the ground path is actually through the parking light filaments of both front signal lights, both rear taillights, and all of the other three sidemarkers.
With the parking lights On and the signal lights Off,
I had said that the Blue wire dead-ends at the signal light switch terminal (when the switch is in the neutral position).
Not completely true.
The signal light indicator is also connected to this switch terminal, so its filament offers an additional path to ground, other than through the filament of the front signal light bulb.
This is significant, because if the front signal light bulb is missing (or its filament is burned out, or has a bad connection), the only path to ground for the parking light current through the front sidemarker bulb on that side will be through the signal light indicator filament.
Since the indicator bulb is a lower wattage than the sidemarker, the indicator filament will begin to glow before the marker filament, resulting in a situation where the indicator glows, and the marker glows slightly less.
Sorry that I failed to include that last night.
- Eric
Bingo!! I will post more tonight with exactly what happened - there was a complicating factor I've got to explain to you but THANK YOU - you diagnosed my problem from almost 2K miles away.
December 12th, 2012, 10:53 PM
#10
This morning, based on the Maine junk connoseuir's advice, I tried following his explanation of just why I may be having the front marker light issues.
He was right. But it was a little more complicated. Like he wrote, the front side markers, when energized, actually ground through the front turn lamps. I had not yet mounted the front bumper, so the front lamps were not hooked up at all. The interesting thing was that the LH marker glowed a little, along with the LH turn signal marker in the speedo. Like he deduced after sleeping on it in his post the next morning, the LH marker was seeking ground and it found it by kind of backing up the turn signal wiring circuit and finding ground after making the LH speedo turn signal glow. The complicating factor was that the RH marker light wasn't glowing at all, nor the RH speedo T/S lamp. It didn't make sense to me that the RH wasn't behaving like the LH.
Well, the reason was that the RH speedo turn signal bulb was not making good contact with the housing. I pulled the speedo, cleaned the contacts and contact mounting surface where the peanut bulb holder goes. Voila, the RH marker glowed faintly along with the speedo bulb.
Eric, did I explain this correctly?
December 13th, 2012, 04:10 AM
#11
Connoisseur d'Junque
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: The Hudson Valley
Posts: 21,183
Yup, you got it .
And, actually, once you saw how it worked, you figured out where the problem was yourself.
Great work!
Now, if you want to be sure all is well, you can connect and ground two light bulbs (you can solder the wires onto them if you want) if you'd like.
- Eric
.And, actually, once you saw how it worked, you figured out where the problem was yourself.
Great work!
Now, if you want to be sure all is well, you can connect and ground two light bulbs (you can solder the wires onto them if you want) if you'd like.
- Eric
December 13th, 2012, 09:36 AM
#12
Yup, you got it .
And, actually, once you saw how it worked, you figured out where the problem was yourself.
Great work!
Now, if you want to be sure all is well, you can connect and ground two light bulbs (you can solder the wires onto them if you want) if you'd like.
- Eric
.And, actually, once you saw how it worked, you figured out where the problem was yourself.
Great work!
Now, if you want to be sure all is well, you can connect and ground two light bulbs (you can solder the wires onto them if you want) if you'd like.
- Eric
Got the blower motor thing fixed as well. Wiring/switch are all OK, what it was was the resistor. It's the original unit and I wanted to try to save it. The resistance coils were OK - the problem was the terminal that the low and mid both feed wasnt tight in the housing, and therefore was moving around when I would put the wiring connector on it. I twisted it a little in that bakelite thing, and it stopped being so loose. Slid connector on and all speeds now work.
The LAST thing that doesnt work is the map light in the mirror. Gonna read up on the numerous threads about it and give 'er a go.
Thanks again for the help.
P.S. You anywhere close to Skowhegan? One of my larger customers is located there.
December 13th, 2012, 10:05 AM
#13
Connoisseur d'Junque
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: The Hudson Valley
Posts: 21,183
Great!
That map light should run off the IGN tap on the fuse block, only when the ignition is on.
One wire, grounds through the windshield frame, simple slider switch at the mirror.
You're welcome!
No way! That's God's country up there.
I'm down south, safely away from the permafrost and the grizzlies.
- Eric
One wire, grounds through the windshield frame, simple slider switch at the mirror.
You're welcome!
No way! That's God's country up there.
I'm down south, safely away from the permafrost and the grizzlies.
- Eric
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
denf221
Interior/Upholstery
6
May 2nd, 2010 06:39 PM
