front turn signal - Good evening everyone. I have a 1967 cutlass. One of the front turn signal lights is dimmer and has a slower flash than the other. I have put new bulbs and flasher fuses in, no change, I was told to check the light socket. I was wondering can the socket be replaced? It looks like its made on to the headlight housing. Does anyone have any other advise in finding the issue? Thank you for any help

 

Check the rear lights also. You don't have a short because there is no smoke or blown fuses.

 

You are correct. the rear driver side light flashes slower than the passenger side. Just like the front. Any suggestions?

 

Make sure you have the dual-element, dual-contact, 1157 bulbs front and rear. The front bulbs will obviously be yellow. It is difficult for most people to get a different bulb type in the socket, but there are some over motivated folks out there that can get 1156 style bulbs in the 1157 sockets. It can cause problems when they do.

 

thank you sir. I will check on it this evening.

 

Make sure you have the proper voltage at the bulb contacts and the grounds are good.

 

Ok I inspected the wiring and bulb. The wiring looked ok. I replaced the bulb. The old one was the correct 1157. Have'nt checked the voltage yet. But I did notice the bulb socket on the drivers side, the one with the slow flash, was held in place with some black calking or silicone and moves around easily.. While the driver side, the good, side the socket is more stable. Does not move at all. Could this be the cause of my problems? Is the socket grounded to the housing unit? Do I need a new headlight housing unit?

 

I have chased around a turn signal problem yrs ago ... turn out the turn signal switch needed a slight adjustment (they have a oblong hole for ajusting )

good luck

 

what was your turn signal issue and location of this oblong adjusting hole please

 

Do you know if the headlight housing grounds the turn signal socket? My socket is not secure to the housing. It has silicone around it yo hold t in place while the other side does not and is locked in place

 

i seem to have another problem,I have no front park lights. When the headlights come on the park lights dont. The only time the bulb comes on is when the turn signal switch is activated. Any leads?

 

The parking lights going off with headlights on is correct for a '67.

 

The park lights dont turn on with the headlights. That is the problem Im asking about

 

The parking lights go on alone, they go out when the headlights are on. On later models they stay on with the headlights.

 

In other words, the parking lights are only on when the headlight switch is in the parking lights position only.

 

Many, many years ago, cars had "parking lights". They had a detent position half way between "headlights on" and "headlights off". These were used for car trouble and "parking" for various reasons. The parking light position turned on the lights, tail lights and "I think instrument dash lights and radio dial light. Police frequently pulled over cars driving at night with only the parking lights on. This was usually a sign of someone "under the influence".

Then came a period of "running lights, later to add flashing "Hazard lights". Someone like Joe P can tell us when all of this became federally mandated.

Slowly pull the headlight switch out to see if you can feel an intermediate detent.

 

It's normal for the parking lights to go off with the headlights. It wasn't a fed mandate yet. American Autowire has instructions in their kits to make it go either way. You can jump them to the headlights through a relay, if so desired. If you don't use a relay, the headlights will probably overload the parking light circuir/fuse.
As far as your front marker socket goes, I'm pretty sure the socket is crimped onto the housing, thus being a difficult repair. If so, the ground being pulled through the sketchy connection could cause the slow flash. Best to replace the marker light housing.

 

I learned the same thing about my '67. If you want the front parking lights to stay on, the options are to replace the light switch with one for a '68 or '69, or tie the front and rear parking light circuits together with a Scotchlock connector (or similar electrical connector).
The front parking light socket does ground through the chassis, so if yours is held in place with an RTV silicone product you probably have a weak ground. The best option is to clean all the silicone off and figure out a way to mechanically attach the socket.

 

Thank you everyone for sharing your knowledge. Its greatly appreciated