Sweptline.ORG

Hey guys,

First time posting so be gentle. Have a 71 D100 3spd/318 and I did some custom conversion work to upgrade the entire turn/brake/marker system but have ran into a wall. Firstly I swapped out the steering column wiring harness which I've seen as a common deal. I then fllowed every wire and check for charring, wear, previous owner hacks and the like. Grounds were all good, remachined them all and coated.

NOW THE FUN PART.

I bought these neat oval turn signal pods from eTrailer and epoxied them to the back of the stock lenses. Rears were easy with minimal grinding to the old stock metal buckets. Ground wire right out to the stock screws too. Front needed some creative Dremel tool work to fit but nonetheless look stock until lit up. Powered up the truck and the markers worked. Ok. Hazards? Yup. Turn signals? Not so much. Steady burn either way.

Swapped to an LED compatible flasher, no joy in the turn singals. Hazards? Yes.

Swapped to a GROUNDED LED compatible flasher, still no joy in the turn signals. So heres my next step, does anyone think putting a inline load capacitor or equalizer at each pod seem to be the next logical step or solution?

Thanks in advance :)

Although I can't really "help" you out with your specific problem, I wanted to welcome you to the group!! You will find a great bunch of guys here. My first thought was "Is your flasher any good", but you answered that one already. However, did you double check to make sure your flasher has 12V power to it? Maybe the "tang" is a bit corroded.

Questions are no problem no matter how dumb/silly you may think it is. Guys are willing to help. Just ask away!!

Good Luck!

Thanks Jim, glad to be aboard. Dremelled (if that's a word) the contacts clean on the fuse/block and sanded the flasher connections with a modified emery board. Tested them too. All hot.

Could you pigtail/alligator clip some of the old bulbs/sockets back on for testing purposes?

Bucky

Bucky, unfortunately the previous owner had removed the bulbs (odd) and let the rear sockets hang (farm truck apparently) so they were toast. Fronts were just as bad but I have access to generic housings. I'll clip them in an try tomorrow. Thanks for the idea.

Unhook the rears at the firewall and see if the signals work then. Might have something to do with the rears and brake light circuit.

Good call. Worried its something in the fuse block.

So checked it out with old incandescent at all four corners. Disconnected the rears and still steady burn turns/working hazards.......ugh

I have a 63' so I don't know how the wiring is on the swepty your working on. But I had the same issue that my turn signals would stay on and not flash, I found the relay and replaced it, now I have turn signals

I've replaced the "relay", if by relay you mean the plug in two prong flasher, three times. First was a generic, second was a LED capable, lastly was a GROUNDED LED capable. I have literally replaced everything and checked every ground, and added the inline capacitors or load equalizers whatever you may call them. Replaced the turn signal switch in the steering column. Has to be something simple I'm missing.

SUCCESS! After checking everything you guys mentions and installing the inline load generators AND installing the original OEM flasher relays we have working turn signals :-)

Thanks again for all the input.

So when you pull the directional indicator (turn signal) handle up or down the lamps that correspond to that particular side (right or left) come ON but do not blink, correct?

And the hazards work properly, correct?

Bucky

They did. Everything is good now. After some debriefing over beers tonight we figured the culprit was the steering column wiring harness. Problem solved.

On to the next gremlin.

Bucky