On Tue, 19 Apr 1994, Randell Jesup wrote:
> I'm (still) having some annoying problems with my turn signals on my
> '70 TR6. They all started when I replaced my old dying/dead flasher unit with
> a new replacement from TRF last fall.
>
> Ever since I replaced it, left turn signals are slow at best, non-
> blinking at worst. With the engine on, they work, though a bit slowly (slower
> than the right). If I have my foot on the brakes, they slow down (the right
> It's not grounding at the rear, I tried running a wire from the rear
> isn't the turn signal switch.
>
> I can't see ANY difference electrically between the left and right
> sides! I'm at the tearing the hair out stage now. I'll appreciate any help
> I can get.
My money would be on a grounding problem that you have not yet unearthed
(pun intended). One thing to think about is that applying the brakes has
such an effect. It may not be that the brake lights reduce the voltage to
the flasher, but that the brake lights supply voltage to the lamp sockets.
I was following a friend who was in her Mitsuwhatsis. When she applied
her brakes, her left turn signal went out (sound familiar?). Brakes off,
it was fine. Right turn signal was ok. Aha, I said without much thought
or reason, bad ground. Even a blind hog roots up an acorn from time to
time; it was the ground on the left rear lamp cluster. I have not really
thought it through, but I suspect that the resistance in the ground
circuit caused the lamp housing voltage to be above ground when the brake
light was applied, which reduced the voltage drop across the turn signal
bulb to something that would not light the bulb.
I would recheck the rear grounds and make completely certain they are ok.
Have you checked the front ground? I dunno, maybe the *flasher* needs to
be well grounded and your replacement isn't (can't think why, but maybe).
If you can find no ground problems at all, then it is something more
esoteric. I would try exchanging the right and left bulbs, first on the
front, then on the rear. Your resistance checks are of cold bulbs, which
essentially is a continuity check. The pertinent resistance is the hot
resistance, which you cannot check. If the problem stays on the left even
when both left bulbs are on the right, clean the bulb contacts and
sockets.
If that does not do it, punt. Since installation of the new flasher
unearthed (pun intended) the problem, replace it again.
Good luck.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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