73 Dart Side markers no longer work

[SputnikOne]

Hey all, haven't posted in awhile, got some more time to work on my dart, been slowly converting to LED lights, have everything now besides taillights on LED, including LED flashers. For the side markers I went with the black ones that have a colored LED strip that lights up when they turn on, pretty simple install, but for some reason only the rear ones seem to turn on, before the installation the front left side marker worked and the right one did not, I believe it may be a grounding issue? Can someone point me in the direction of the grounding connections for the front side markers? Thanks.

 

[SputnikOne]

PS I currently have the running light and the turn signal wires from the grille parking lamps routed to the headlights for the Halo lights instead with the other two wires on those connectors not in use, not sure if that would effect the circuit, this wiring diagram is kind of kicking my ***.

 

[j_anderson]

If you reattach the old ones, do they still work?

LEDs are pole sensitive. have you tried reversing the two wires?

edit: for 72, the grounding point for the light forward harness is between the radiator and the battery on the core support. I am not sure about 73 but may be the same

 

[SputnikOne]

The connector for the side markers fits into the light bulb socket for the original side markers, but yes I have tried taking it out and putting it in the other way, unless I just somehow got unlucky and kept accidentally putting it in the same way, not that I'd be surprised.

When you say the old ones do you mean the old side marker bulbs? I can try, but like I said I only really had one that wanted to work, and it seemed to be inconsistent which one.

I think I know which ground you're talking about, there's a big wire with a big ring connector and two smaller wires that combine onto a smaller ring connector on a bolt, but I've cleaned the hell out of that one in the past.

 

[j_anderson]

The connector for the side markers fits into the light bulb socket for the original side markers, but yes I have tried taking it out and putting it in the other way, unless I just somehow got unlucky and kept accidentally putting it in the same way, not that I'd be surprised.

When you say the old ones do you mean the old side marker bulbs? I can try, but like I said I only really had one that wanted to work, and it seemed to be inconsistent which one.

I think I know which ground you're talking about, there's a big wire with a big ring connector and two smaller wires that combine onto a smaller ring connector on a bolt, but I've cleaned the hell out of that one in the past.

You might have a broken/corroded wire inline somewhere between ground point and bulb.

Do you have a multimeter to test continuity on the wire?

Alternatively, you could cut into the ground wire near the marker light connector and run a new ground to it for testing purposes

 

[SputnikOne]

I didn't really notice anything that looked crowded, the pins on the left front sidelight socket that hold the two bulb pins in is green, like vertigris, and it's alittle hard to get at with any of my tools being covered by the plastic housing, but the bulb used to work in its place, and the right one doesnt work at all besides looking fine.

I guess what I need to do know is the flow path from the side lights, it's pretty hard to trace the wires as they go under areas I cannot easily access.

 

[SputnikOne]

Well, it looks like based on the diagram that the power for the front fender lights comes out of th connectors for the grille indicator/running lights, and since I repurposed those wires for the headlights I guess that's why theres no power there, which begs the question as to why the left one seemed to work anyways until I replaced it, maybe it had power but no ground, and the resistance just made it work anyways but now the LED doesn't have enough resistance? Looks like I'll need to do some wire work.

 

[DartGTDan]

Have you verified the new LED lamps illuminate? Bench test it/them using a 9V battery for a quick test (noting polarity). If they illuminate like that, make sure your vehicle matches the bench test polarity.

 

[SputnikOne]

Well, I put the old bulb in on the left side and it didn't seem to illuminate either, not sure if I need to put them both back to see a result, but I can test the lights themselves separately.

 

[SputnikOne]

Verified the Polarities on the connectors with the wire colors, guess "A" and "B" on the connectors is doesn't correlate to what wire it is as one is ground on one end power on the other, long story short both side markers have correct Polarities, and the left one lit up finally, the right one still seems to be dead, which was also the case with the old lamps, so there's still an issue somewhere around there.

 

[SputnikOne]

Of note, the connectors that go to the grille parking lamps/indicators has 3 connections, black/green (indicator), black/yellow (running light power), and black for ground. The left side has one of each besides ground, but the right side connector has two black and yellow wires that go into the connector and only one that comes out the other side, black and yellow is the color for the side marker power, wondering if this has something to do with it.

 

[SputnikOne]

Here's my theory in practice on the electrical diagram, guess my question is the input for the side marker come off of the input pin for the directional signal lamp? And my next question would be why the left side works anyways, and what wire powers that one instead.

 

[slantsixdan]

slowly converting to LED lights

Be a lot (a lot) more careful with this than it's easy/common to be; the overwhelming majority of "LED bulbs" and "LED headlamps" on the market are fraudulent, unsafe junk. There are a few worthy products, too, but just going by website hype you are just about guaranteed to get bad picks.

For the side markers I went with the black ones that have a colored LED strip that lights up when they turn on

You might or might not care, but the requirement on vehicles made after Dec 31 '69 is for side marker lights and reflectorsl, red rear and amber front. Not "or" but and. The reflectors do a great job of keeping you from getting sideswiped or T-boned while parked, and they can also be lifesavers/carsavers in specific situations that aren't very common but are very bad.

Also keep in mind that while it's possible you have a wiring/ground problem, the marker-things you bought are not of anywhere near OE quality, so it's also possible you have faulty lights.

 

[SputnikOne]

I understand that the light may be faulty, but as I said the OEM bulb there didn't light either for abit before I converted them, so it's probably the wiring or atleast the connections.