Electrical Glitch?

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yea i have to find the brass bulbs. the new ones suck. put all new ones in my car when w wired it and already blew three of them. they just don't last.
 
cosgig said:
Just as a matter of information, I have found that the bulbs with a brass base will have a much better ground than the new style nickle silver ones. I even found in my 67 owners manual that they insist that only brass based bulbs be used. I had a turn signal problem in Nellas car that was due to a bad ground because the bulb grounds through the housing. I had the nickle based bulbs in there and changed to the brass based ones and voila, no more turn signal problem. I ain't sayin' this is your problem there Cheryl, but something to look into!!! Good luck with the diagnosis!!! Geof
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I had the same condition in my 87 Gran Fury rear lights.
1156 or 1157 bulbs w/ nickel plated base that worked in the 87 Accord we had laying in the yard refused to work in the Fury fixture. Those were plastic bulb sockets with a ground wire off the side which shouldn't make a difference. I remember scratching my head and wondering if the nickel plated base was a smaller metric diameter. I never investigated further though. I robbed 2 brass base bulbs from the 75 Valiant that was also laying here at the time and they worked fine in the Fury.
 
Had a chance to check the rear bulbs tonight. One was brass and the other nickel, so I changed one bulb and put dielectric grease on both bases. Also, pulled the steering wheel and signal lever.

It looks like the column will have to be dropped for the umpteenth time (LOL) to remove the switch or at least to pull it out of the column enough to access it.

Any suggestions on the best way to clean the turn signal switch without pulling it completely out? It really looks like it's fine, but might as well clean it up while it's exposed........

Also, tonight noticed that the emergency flashers seemed to work better than the turn signals, so may swap the t/s flasher with that one tomorrow and see what happens.

Thanks again for everyones help!
 
Emergancy flashers will work better than turn. Faster and louder anyway. More bulbs draw more current through the flasher.
 
I've lost a little track of all this---have you tried jumpering with a clip lead RIGHT AT the column connector--from the flasher output to the left and right front and rear lights connections? (That is, you'd have to jumper three wires together, left front, left rear, and flasher-to-switch. Then jumper the right hand ones together)
 
nothingbutdarts said:
Can you spray brake/electrical contact cleaner on the switch? Sometimes it works well to clean it up!
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So are you saying I can use "brake clean" on the switch or am I misreading?

RedFish said:
Emergancy flashers will work better than turn. Faster and louder anyway. More bulbs draw more current through the flasher.
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Alright RedFish, That makes sense......Just trying to cover all bases in my quest for this pesty little problem. Thx again for your help bud!
 
67Dart273 said:
I've lost a little track of all this---have you tried jumpering with a clip lead RIGHT AT the column connector--from the flasher output to the left and right front and rear lights connections? (That is, you'd have to jumper three wires together, left front, left rear, and flasher-to-switch. Then jumper the right hand ones together)
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I'm sorry but this response "does not compute".......I'm such an electrical idiot LOL. Maybe if I read it again in the morning when I'm not so tired I'll understand better. Thx for your help! :happy10:
 
6pk2goDemon said:
So are you saying I can use "brake clean" on the switch or am I misreading?

No, you are not misreading, get some electrical contact cleaner/brake cleaner and spray it on the contacts.

There is brake cleaner and then there is brake/electrical contact cleaner, check the can. CarQuest sells just "electrical contact cleaner" at some of it's stores.

I'm not saying it wil fix it , but it never hurts to try it.
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6pk2goDemon said:
Had a chance to check the rear bulbs tonight. One was brass and the other nickel, so I changed one bulb and put dielectric grease on both bases. Also, pulled the steering wheel and signal lever.

It looks like the column will have to be dropped for the umpteenth time (LOL) to remove the switch or at least to pull it out of the column enough to access it.

Any suggestions on the best way to clean the turn signal switch without pulling it completely out? It really looks like it's fine, but might as well clean it up while it's exposed........

Also, tonight noticed that the emergency flashers seemed to work better than the turn signals, so may swap the t/s flasher with that one tomorrow and see what happens.

Thanks again for everyones help!
Click to expand...

Which bulb did you find was brass and which one was nickel? Which did you put in the left side? Just for curiosity sake, if the left side is still slower than the right side, swap front bulbs left to right as well as the rears. Also is the dash indicator working or not on the left side?
 
The left one was nickel, right was brass, so I installed a used brass bulb in the left side and put dielectric grease on both of them. I will drive it tomorrow before doing anything else.

Just to mention, I never started the car tonight and was only working with the key in the "on" position.
 
Heres a pic of a typical turn switch (Sorry its from my phone).
What I have seen, including this one, is the contacts get full of debris and do not make proper contact.
You can try to spray it first as suggested. If its apart, may as well take it apart & make like new.
 

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nothingbutdarts said:
How is she, has she ridden any horses lately?
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Don't want to hijack the thread so I'll keep this short. Nella had a long summer of riding and showing horses through her equestrian group and 4-H. She won lots of ribbons and had a great time. She still rides every saturday and 4-H every other saturday. Back to school now so she's busier than ever. She doesn't get a chance to chime in much here cause she has so many classes and homework that it keeps her busy!! Thanks for asking... Oops, she's here now!!! Nella says Hi to all her friends here!!! Geof
 
cosgig said:
Don't want to hijack the thread so I'll keep this short. Nella had a long summer of riding and showing horses through her equestrian group and 4-H. She won lots of ribbons and had a great time. She still rides every saturday and 4-H every other saturday. Back to school now so she's busier than ever. She doesn't get a chance to chime in much here cause she has so many classes and homework that it keeps her busy!! Thanks for asking... Oops, she's here now!!! Nella says Hi to all her friends here!!! Geof
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Thank's Geof, I didn't want to hijack it either just curious. Glad she had a fun summer!!
 
warwagons said:
Heres a pic of a typical turn switch (Sorry its from my phone).
What I have seen, including this one, is the contacts get full of debris and do not make proper contact.
You can try to spray it first as suggested. If its apart, may as well take it apart & make like new.
Click to expand...


Atleast now you have an idea of what you are trying to get clean as far as contacts.

Again, if it doesn't speed up try switching the front bulbs left for the right. Also is the dash indicator light working?
 
cosgig said:
Don't want to hijack the thread so I'll keep this short. Nella had a long summer of riding and showing horses through her equestrian group and 4-H. She won lots of ribbons and had a great time. She still rides every saturday and 4-H every other saturday. Back to school now so she's busier than ever. She doesn't get a chance to chime in much here cause she has so many classes and homework that it keeps her busy!! Thanks for asking... Oops, she's here now!!! Nella says Hi to all her friends here!!! Geof
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Never a hijack.......Nella is a sweety and plz tell her hello from Arizona!! When she gets a chance, ask her to show us her ribbons and maybe share a pic or 2 :happy10:
 
warwagons said:
Heres a pic of a typical turn switch (Sorry its from my phone).
What I have seen, including this one, is the contacts get full of debris and do not make proper contact.
You can try to spray it first as suggested. If its apart, may as well take it apart & make like new.
Click to expand...

Thank you soooo much for the pic warwagons. I know from experience the time it takes to help members sometimes w/ pics.

nothingbutdarts said:
Atleast now you have an idea of what you are trying to get clean as far as contacts.

Again, if it doesn't speed up try switching the front bulbs left for the right. Also is the dash indicator light working?
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The dash indicator light has been working all along w/ this problem. Fast on the right and slow on the left. Thanks again NBD :)
 
I believe it's FIXED.........:-D 8)

I am not positive, but have a sneakin' suspicion that it was the rear bulb that I changed last night.

Thank you all so much for your help. Here's a pic from a cruise-in today that I drove home from in the dark and had no light problems.......=D> =D>
 
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