Left Blinker Issues

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RollercamDART

RollercamDART

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1974 Dart. My left blinker doesn't work. Right blinker works fine, flashers work fine. I get no light at all when I pull the blinker lever down, but it does lock and release on the turn like normal. The previous owner swapped all the bulbs with LED bulbs, but it worked when I got the car.

Any ideas? I dont want to start with pulling the wheel to look at the blinker switch if there are other things it might be.

Thanks for any ideas, signaling by hand in Washington during the rainy season sucks lol
 
Sounds like your low on blinker fluid! Lol
I'd start with the bulb if that's not it start checking ground.
 
If you are an old man, you REALLY need to get that fixed. It seems to be standard to get behind some old guy with his LH blinker stuck ON.
 
It prob is a ground issue. Run a separate wire to a good ground and connect to your housing. That's what my right side issue was.
 
Peter Bates said:
It prob is a ground issue. Run a separate wire to a good ground and connect to your housing. That's what my right side issue was.
Click to expand...
On my old dodge pickup i had that problem and I did just like you said and it fixed it.
 
Peter Bates said:
It prob is a ground issue. Run a separate wire to a good ground and connect to your housing. That's what my right side issue was.
Click to expand...

Exactly because of issues like this I added a dedicated ground to every rear light socket on the car. (not the housing, but the bulb socket itself)
Even the contact between the bulb socket and housing metals give up sometimes, and this is one of the reasons the ground wire touching socket bases works really well to pinpoint light grounding problems.

Good call.
 
Post #4 nailed it. Check the blinker fluid.

Blinker fluid.jpg
 
I agree, blinker fluid does loose its viscosity over time. If you change it, be sure not to use the metric blinker fluid. It does not work in our old american iron.
 
I checked the blinker fluid and the level was fine and it smelled/tasted good still.. Jeeze I am not that much of an amature ;)

Ill run a ground in the morning and give that a shot.

As for being an old man leaving the blinker on, my kids make me feel old all the time but only in my mid 30s, and one of the few who wouldnt just say "eff it" and have actually been using hand signals when I turn left lol. Too much effort to leave my arm hanging out there...
 
Grounds would be a good start. A test light is great for these kind of problems.
 
Kern Dog said:
If you are an old man, you REALLY need to get that fixed. It seems to be standard to get behind some old guy with his LH blinker stuck ON.
Click to expand...

I resent that remark, u couldn`t pull in behind me, never get that close !! LOL
 
More info:

Went out this morning and started by checking all the bulbs, bulbs are fine (swapped the LED for the incandescent). Discovered the following:

1. If you have a bulb in the socket the rear blinker works, but the dash indicator does not and nothing in the front.

2. If you take the bulb out the rear blinker still works and the dash indicator works.

Moved all my attention to the front, found the following with a test light:

The bulb plug has ground, but no power. The "mooring lights" on the fenders are currently disconnected on both sides, but shows constant power like its indicating a bad bulb on the left side, right side working normal.

All other lights working correctly.
 
RollercamDART said:
1. If you have a bulb in the socket the rear blinker works, but the dash indicator does not and nothing in the front.

2. If you take the bulb out the rear blinker still works and the dash indicator works.

.
Click to expand...

Sorry but this makes no sense........you take what bulb out of what socket?

Let's review "how this works"

The signal switch only has so many power inputs, all separate:

1....brake light power from the brake light switch, anytime the brake pedal is pushed

2...full time power from the hazard flasher which is separate

3...Power from the TS flasher when the key is in "run."

OUTPUTS

4....left rear stop/ turn
5....right rear stop/ turn
6....left front turn AND DASH INDICATOR
7....right front turn AND DASH INDICATOR

GROUNDING. Not only must the bulb have a good connection to the lamp shell, the lamp shell then has to have a good ground to the body. This varies from model year. Some years have dedicated grounds connected to the lamp shell and a jumper to the body. GOOD TO ADD if you don't have

Bulbs...........SEVERAL things can happen to bulbs. The filaments can get stuck together causing interesting "cross" talk. Some guys quickly check the bulbs and think they are good when one filament might be bad. THESE ARE ESSENTIALLY two bulbs in one. BEST WAY to test them is to LIGHT them in a spare/ junk socket --which you should have for a test device, anyhow-- across a battery
 
67Dart273 said:
Sorry but this makes no sense........you take what bulb out of what socket?

Let's review "how this works"

The signal switch only has so many power inputs, all separate:

1....brake light power from the brake light switch, anytime the brake pedal is pushed

2...full time power from the hazard flasher which is separate

3...Power from the TS flasher when the key is in "run."

OUTPUTS
4....left rear stop/ turn
5....right rear stop/ turn
6....left front turn AND DASH INDICATOR
7....right front turn AND DASH INDICATOR

GROUNDING. Not only must the bulb have a good connection to the lamp shell, the lamp shell then has to have a good ground to the body. This varies from model year. Some years have dedicated grounds connected to the lamp shell and a jumper to the body. GOOD TO ADD if you don't have

Bulbs...........SEVERAL things can happen to bulbs. The filaments can get stuck together causing interesting "cross" talk. Some guys quickly check the bulbs and think they are good when one filament might be bad. THESE ARE ESSENTIALLY two bulbs in one. BEST WAY to test them is to LIGHT them in a spare/ junk socket --which you should have for a test device, anyhow-- across a battery
Click to expand...


I'm still placing bets on a bad ground. I remember my 66 with a bad ground to the rf socket. The light wouldn't flash and the dash indicator would glow dimly. Something I didn't notice until I drove it at night. Bad grounds can do some funky things.
 
67Dart273 said:
Sorry but this makes no sense........you take what bulb out of what socket?

Let's review "how this works"

The signal switch only has so many power inputs, all separate:

1....brake light power from the brake light switch, anytime the brake pedal is pushed

2...full time power from the hazard flasher which is separate

3...Power from the TS flasher when the key is in "run."

OUTPUTS

4....left rear stop/ turn
5....right rear stop/ turn
6....left front turn AND DASH INDICATOR
7....right front turn AND DASH INDICATOR

GROUNDING. Not only must the bulb have a good connection to the lamp shell, the lamp shell then has to have a good ground to the body. This varies from model year. Some years have dedicated grounds connected to the lamp shell and a jumper to the body. GOOD TO ADD if you don't have

Bulbs...........SEVERAL things can happen to bulbs. The filaments can get stuck together causing interesting "cross" talk. Some guys quickly check the bulbs and think they are good when one filament might be bad. THESE ARE ESSENTIALLY two bulbs in one. BEST WAY to test them is to LIGHT them in a spare/ junk socket --which you should have for a test device, anyhow-- across a battery
Click to expand...

I took the bulb out of the bulb socket in the front left blinker, the part that the bulb itself pushes/twists in to. If I am using the wrong terminology for the "plug" where you put the bulb and subsequently put into the housing I apologize, but that is what I am referring to. When I remove the bulb the dash indicator works again. The rear left blinker works regardless. I used a test light on both left and right, and get blinking light on the front right, nothing on front left, and confirmed that the ground terminal in the socket is fine on both sides. Just no power to the bulb on the left side.

I pulled the bulb from the front right blinker, which works fine, and tried it in the front left and same result. I dont think the bulb is the culprit. Ran a ground cable from the bulb housing in the grill to ground and same result. Maybe I am not grounding the housing from a good spot?
 
RollercamDART said:
I took the bulb out of the bulb socket in the front left blinker, the part that the bulb itself pushes/twists in to. If I am using the wrong terminology for the "plug" where you put the bulb and subsequently put into the housing I apologize, but that is what I am referring to. When I remove the bulb the dash indicator works again. The rear left blinker works regardless. I used a test light on both left and right, and get blinking light on the front right, nothing on front left, and confirmed that the ground terminal in the socket is fine on both sides. Just no power to the bulb on the left side.

I pulled the bulb from the front right blinker, which works fine, and tried it in the front left and same result. I dont think the bulb is the culprit. Ran a ground cable from the bulb housing in the grill to ground and same result. Maybe I am not grounding the housing from a good spot?
Click to expand...
Insufficient ground? Could be. This is the way I would do it. If you don't get your test light to blink on the left, trace the wires back to the first connector. The turn signals usually have a foot long pigtail or so and then a connector. If you unplug the connector and still no power keep tracing the wires as far back as you can. many times they get lost in a harness. This is where a wiring diagram comes in handy. You can trace the circuit back to the bulkhead connector and test there. Look for loose or corroded connections. If still no current there then it must be under the dash or in the switch. Best to have a diagram or a service manual at that point.
 
I had a similar situation with my barracuda.........right signal would function in the back, but not the front of the car. Checked all the bulbs, they were good, flasher was good, I replaced it anyway, I have spares. It ended up being a signal wire was pinched underneath the signal housing. I had at some point removed the housing to clean and paint the inside silver, when I put it back in the garage,(too dark), I pinched the wire and didnt see it......never blew a fuse.......all works good now, I had to replace the wire with new........your may be different, but thought I would mention it..........good luck
 
RollercamDART said:
I took the bulb out of the bulb socket in the front left blinker,
Click to expand...

That is what confused me you didn't say which bulb location

As said earlier I'd check all sockets for grounding and make darn sure the bulbs actually work correctly.

Once you have done that, if the problem persists it almost has to be either a harness/ connector problem, or a bad TS switch

The connections are:

The connector coming out of the column for the TS switch
The bulkhead connector which feeds the front lamps
The left kickpanel connector which connects the rear harness
 
I have the exact same issue on my 74 Duster, I have power at the left kick panel connector but no output at the firewall bulkhead connector.
I'm going to check grounding today, that make sense
 
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