Brake light out with position of turn signal cam?

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stackattack

stackattack

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65 Barracuda

Turns out that if I jiggle my turn signal stick it will make my brake light go out on one side, respectively. If it's not EXACTLY center than the right side brake light will be out. That's no bueno.

For any electric experts out there --- do you think it's the turn signal cam switch or some other gremlin? I will probably pull the steering wheel and replace it anyway, but just wanted to see if you guys think this will be the fix or not or what else I can do to pin it down....
 
Front/rear signals work as expected? With park lights on?
And do signals work with brake pedal depressed?

im asking to pinpoint the issue, your description leads me to believe it is the switch,as long as everything else works as expected.
 
Yeah, I'm seeing it now. Everything else works normally....its just there's some play in the cam switch and it's enough that the brake light on that side (the side the switch is leaning to) will cause it to go out. I pulled the wheel and can see the "play" in the middle of the switch and tried to do a video to show it here....

Dropbox - 20211115_192333.mp4 - Simplify your life
 
There are two little hard wires in there. Possible you can carefully tweak the contact areas to get some more years out of it.
beerestoration2018 1684.JPG
 
Take it apart and clean/lube it. Maybe thats all it needs. My column is in the car, in a cold shed, not really wanting to take it apart.
 
Every single light on that car except the headlights goes through that switch, so it can become a point of contention when it gets worn and dirty. You can try taking it apart and cleaning it and maybe tweaking the springs a little, but the labor is the same to replace it. @slantsixdan used to keep some good ones in stock, but I don't know of he still does. I tagged him so maybe he'll chime in.
 
Heh, well, no. The parking/ tail lights don't. The turn signals and brake lights are what go through there. Geez Rob. GEEZ!!! LOLOL
 
Well, if you hadn't figured it out yet I dug into this. I ended up opening up the switch and cleaning up all the contacts and the two slider pieces. Mine is different from the 2 wire pic above - it has 2 central run contacts like the wires but has two small plastic roll pins with some metal contacts on them that move with the cam. I cleaned it all up, tighten the contacts by bending them out some, and put it back in. It's better and I may adjust it once more to get a much better result but overall this thing is toast I think.

In searching the internet looking for a similar contact switch I did come across this so I emailed this guy....maybe he still has some of his "new-new-stock" I can purchase from him....

Mopar OE turn signal switches
 
stackattack said:
In searching the internet looking for a similar contact switch I did come across this so I emailed this guy....maybe he still has some of his "new-new-stock" I can purchase from him....
Click to expand...
That's slantsixdan, as mentioned above in RRR's post.
 
@dadsbee @Tooljunkie @slantsixdan @BobW @RustyRatRod @67Dart273 I wanted to update this thread for sure in case any one else needs this reference (or can help me any further now).

Short-term and long-term, here's where I am at...

Long term I have some great options from slantsixdan. Dan, you are the man! Great help and I will be placing my order with you soon. In the short term, however, I was able to find the upper part of the cam switch which was broken and the clips on both sides were cracked, most likely causing the "slop" in the center shorting out one side brake light sporadically. So, for 6$ I found a local shop that at least had a spare Upper part for the cam. I replaced it and it's nice and tight now.

Good news, bad news, though. When I gently pried off the top of the cam switch, these two small contact parts popped out with it. I have place them back in as below in the pic (and tried I feel like every variation otherwise) and now I get both brake lights (at center), left and right turn signals correct when selected on the stick, but no flashing -- just solid. Also, If I have the left turn signal selected and I push the brake, the selected light (left in this case) goes out.

I can't find any reference for how these damned contacts are supposed to be in there.....anybody know one out there or can assist....it's driving me crazy!

newse.jpeg


wtf.jpeg
 
dadsbee said:
There are two little hard wires in there. Possible you can carefully tweak the contact areas to get some more years out of it.
View attachment 1715820900
Click to expand...
He is ABSOLUTELY right. After a two year restoration on my 69 Barracuda, the brake lights would not work. After hours of diagnosis (and studying a wiring diagram), I pulled the steering wheel and found that the 4 wire tabs on the back of the turn signal cancelling switch (as seen in post #4) were not making contact with metal bumps under the turn signal cancelling switch (look at the red arrows in post #12). All I did was bend those wires out a tiny bit, and everything worked out fine.
 
stackattack said:
@dadsbee @Tooljunkie @slantsixdan @BobW @RustyRatRod @67Dart273 I wanted to update this thread for sure in case any one else needs this reference (or can help me any further now).

Short-term and long-term, here's where I am at...

Long term I have some great options from slantsixdan. Dan, you are the man! Great help and I will be placing my order with you soon. In the short term, however, I was able to find the upper part of the cam switch which was broken and the clips on both sides were cracked, most likely causing the "slop" in the center shorting out one side brake light sporadically. So, for 6$ I found a local shop that at least had a spare Upper part for the cam. I replaced it and it's nice and tight now.

Good news, bad news, though. When I gently pried off the top of the cam switch, these two small contact parts popped out with it. I have place them back in as below in the pic (and tried I feel like every variation otherwise) and now I get both brake lights (at center), left and right turn signals correct when selected on the stick, but no flashing -- just solid. Also, If I have the left turn signal selected and I push the brake, the selected light (left in this case) goes out.

I can't find any reference for how these damned contacts are supposed to be in there.....anybody know one out there or can assist....it's driving me crazy!

View attachment 1715824490

View attachment 1715824491
Click to expand...
Mighty nice of you to update. Most of these guys don't care enough to do that. All I can tell you is try messin around with the small hard wires like @dadsbee was talkin about. I've done that a few times in the past and fixed them.
 
stackattack said:
Also, If I have the left turn signal selected and I push the brake, the selected light (left in this case) goes out.
Click to expand...
If you don't have the ignition on, this is correct. If the ignition is on, the power to the left rear comes through the turn signal flasher, the left bulb should blink.
 
Those little shuttles can go back in the switch the right way round or the wrong way round. Also, they wear down over the years and make intermittent/poor contact even when they're installed the right way round.
 
So I wanted to close the loop on this thread for anyone who looks it up in the future. If you're reading this - REPLACE THE DAMNED SWITCH

As @slantsixdan stated, I don't have the wire that you guys keep talking about from post #4 -- I have the "shuttles" shown in the picture in #12 with red arrows that are small rectangular plastic pieces with a copper contact on each side that correspond to the wire contacts and slide left-right with the signal switch.

After trying every combination of replacing them in the switch, understanding the schematics of the wires, removing the ash tray and testing the flasher, and after cleaning/adjusting the contacts, etc....let's just say they are still highly suspect and certainly not reliable for safety. My lesson is learned....contact @slantsixdan and get a new-new-stock replacement and call it a day.

I did. (thanks again to Dan - order placed). I'm sure I'll be better off in the end.
 
stackattack said:
So I wanted to close the loop on this thread for anyone who looks it up in the future. If you're reading this - REPLACE THE DAMNED SWITCH

As @slantsixdan stated, I don't have the wire that you guys keep talking about from post #4 -- I have the "shuttles" shown in the picture in #12 with red arrows that are small rectangular plastic pieces with a copper contact on each side that correspond to the wire contacts and slide left-right with the signal switch.

After trying every combination of replacing them in the switch, understanding the schematics of the wires, removing the ash tray and testing the flasher, and after cleaning/adjusting the contacts, etc....let's just say they are still highly suspect and certainly not reliable for safety. My lesson is learned....contact @slantsixdan and get a new-new-stock replacement and call it a day.

I did. (thanks again to Dan - order placed). I'm sure I'll be better off in the end.
Click to expand...

I had the same experience. I screwed around with the contacts, bought a replacement cam & all that accomplished nothing & wasted a lot if time. I bought a $30 new switch from year one on sale & it has worked great for about 5 years. I know others have had issues with the repop switches, but I greased it up and put it in & it has worked for me. I only drive mine 3-5 thousand miles a year, so it doesn’t get that much use.
 
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