everything but the turn signals

[fordhombre]

okay, here's the skinny. No lights worked on my pickup, then I started tracing, testing, and replacing wires following the 67 wiring diagram conveniently features on this site. I have gotten the headlights, park lights, hi beams, brake lights, brake lights w/ headlights, and emergency flashers to work. The only thing missing is the turn signal.

I have two different steering columns that i've plugged in, neither seem to get the turn signal lights going, there's just nothing... As far as I can tell (and i've triple-checked), all wires from the steering column are going to the appropriate places. Do turn signal switches go out often? I know at least 1 steering column used to work before sitting for about 2 years.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Are there any wiring guros out there?

[bluef250]

Did you check the flasher control which should be attached to the instrument panel? and the fuses? If the emergency lights work then the bulbs should be good and the turn signal switch should be good. Check ground also on the back. Hate electrical problems, :twisted: that why I spent so much time on it.

[fordhombre]

i replaced the flasher control switch connected to the instrument panel with the other one, and the emergency flashers still worked, so I think that both flashers are good. The fuses are all good. One was busted when i first started, but so far is holding together. Which ground were you suggesting i check out? I checked out the instrument panel ground. It wasn't connected because that takes to long but i ran some alligator clips and used a test light to make sure it was grounded. I'm kind of at a loss for the first time since beginning wiring..... and i was so close....

[bluef250]

Check the 14 amp fuse in the fuse panel and to see if you have power at this location. Others have said that sometimes the fuse panel gets corroded. One ground that is good with the rest being so so, would make emergency flashers work and possibly cause problems for the turn signals. Check all bulbs holders, clean them good, check bulbs. Don't give up, you will find the problem.

[fordhombre]

okay, i have checked both 14 amp fuses, and here's what i find:

The long 14amp fuses (black w/ green stripe) gets auxiliary, and on ignition position power. However, the small 14amp fuse gets NO power in any positions. This seems to be the "instrument panel" fuse. There is no power on either side, or the fuse itself. However, the bulbs in the instrument cluster light up with the emergency flashers, so i thought that meant the whole instrument cluster was getting power. I will double check the two wires leading to the small 14 amp fuse.

Along the way I noticed that one of the large 9 amp fuses is getting power on only 1 side, but the fuse is still good. Is it possible for a fuse to look good, but still be bad? it's got a thick bridge in it, and i can clearly see it is intact. Is this common? I'm sure it will fix with another fuse and a good cleaning of the contacts, but I was wondering if this was normal? thanks thanks thanks for all the info!

[fordhombre]

*sniff *sniff......i've never seen my dome light shine so bright!!!!!!

[fordhombre]

okay, breakthrough news... got the other 9 amp fuse to work, it was just a corroded connection. now the dome light shines real bright, making me very proud!

on the other hand, I realized that the small 14 amp fuse controls the dim of the instrument panel lights. They are now working, although i have to play around with the light knob to get it constant... The turn signals are still not working. However, I notived that when I left the test-light pen on the small 14 amp fuse controlling the instrument lights, the test-light would dim when I used the turn signal switch on the steering column. I has to be making some kind of good connection to be effecting the power of the other lights. It's obviously reading the wires from the steering column, but what's wrong from there? I've followed wires, i guess i'll follow again. Should the wires from the steering column get power from somewhere that they currently are not? any suggestions?

[bluef250]

Do you have Volt Ohm meter?

[bluef250]

What year of truck do you have? The ‘68 wire diagram does not show a 9 amp fuse. See the fuse thread in Electrical forum. If your fuses don't match those I would check them again and switch out those that don't match.

The column should get power from the 14 amp fuse, in a round about manner. All the blinking/flashing lights go through the column. If you have power at the 14 amp fuse then the problem is between fuse and the column. If not then you go toward the battery.

If you are seeing corrosion at the fuse panel, I would check the panel good.

All the power for the steady lights comes through the light switch. The light switch has built in circuit breakers. The switch often become weak as it ages. The power comes directly from the battery to the light switch, except the dome light. The dome light comes off the lighting switch which is fed from the 15 amp fuse.

[fordhombre]

The pickup was a 69 f100, then I replaced that wrecked cab with a 67, so i'm wiring for a 67, but with the 69 ignition, and 69 instrument cluster. Those are basically the only changes. I don't have a volt Ohm meter, just a little test pen. My emergency flashers work, but the tail lights don't flash, just the front one, and the left bulb's real quick. I just assume that the bulb is aged, i'll try replacing it. Oh, the ignition wire, the solid yellow thick wire I spliced with a 10 gauge wire with an in-line fuse, and ran it straight to the battery relay. There was absolutetly no problems 'til this mornin'. I cranked it and after a few minutes, the 40 amp fuse blew. I'd cranked the pickup several times and this never happened. Also the brake lights quit comin' on, but i had done a few things like uninstall the cassette player i had in there. So i've got some more tracing to do. It's just a jumbled mess I thought I had figured out, but I need to look at again. We'll see! oh, the motor's a 351w out of an LTD, so hardly anything's factory on my pickup. Lemme know if any pictures would help.
thanks!

[bluef250]

Blowing a 40 amp fuse is definitely not good. I guess that a wire is shorting to ground somewhere. It needs to be fixed before more damage is done.

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

You stay you had the front turn signal working. I would check the wiring and grounding of the tail lights.

[fordhombre]

I had the front turn signal working, but only with the emergency flashers switch, not from the column. Everything from the column is still unresponsive. The ignition wire I ran is straight from the ignition to the battery relay. I know the ignition feeds everything, but if there was a bad ground/wire in the rear lights, would that cause the main ignition to short out also? I'm sure the rear lights are incorrectly wired since they won't come on with the emergency flashers. Also, the boot that connects to the dimmer switch on the floor tends to heat up with the headlights on at all, could this be the result of improper rear lights wiring?