We've been discussing grounding of TR7 taillights; I have some more
to add:
Jody told us how the grounding of the taillight assembly depends on
one or more of the six machine screws that "pass by" the metal reflector
assembly "accidentally" connecting the reflector to chassis ground, or
one particular screw (in both my taillights, that would be the upper
center screw) connecting to ground through a ring terminal, connecting
via a black wire from the ribbon cable assembly.
I have verified in my case that the turn signals work equally well
with or without the ring terminals connected.
I also noted that the turn signals do not flash at all when the car
is not running, presumably because the battery voltage is low without
charging, and therefore the lamp current is too low to heat the
bi-metallic element in the flasher. This is probably Jody's problem
right now.
I had had the problem that my signals did not flash when the brakes
were on. This was because there was poor contact between the reflector
and chassis ground, so that there was less voltage across the turn
signal when the brakes light current elevated the reflector voltage
above ground.
I would think that the only reliable way to wire the
TR7 taillight would be to add a short wire assembly, with a ring
terminal on one end and a quick disconnect terminal on the other,
between the stud with the ring terminal from the ribbon cable and
the quick disconnect that is available and connected to the reflector
assembly. It would appear to me that the TR7 was designed with this
intention, but that someone mistakenly used a ring terminal instead.
I bought my car with only 15000 miles on it, 15 months after initial
purchase. I don't think this problem is a PO problem, but rather a
design error.
--Joe Gorin joeg@sr.hp.com '80 TR7 convertible
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