Help! My turn signals won't flash!
11-24-2006, 07:26 PM
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Help! My turn signals won't flash!
Hello all,
Please help me out here...
1972 corvette coupe, base 350 (VIN code "K"), muncie 4 speed.
When I got it this past spring, the turn signal flashers didn't flash, they would stay on as long as you had the turn signal lever engaged. It would occasionally just blow the turn signal/reverse light switch when I hit a bump in the road.
I traced the fuse blowing to crispy wires on the reverse light switch. There's a dead short there somewhere, so I disconnected the whole thing and taped off the plugs 'till I get this figured out. I put in a nice new relay type flasher and a new fuse. I fired it up and I'm back where I started. The turn signals will not flash. All the bulbs are good, and of the correct type. When I hit the hazards, the flasher unit (new) on the fuse block does work and all 8 lights (front, rear, and side markers) flash just like they should.
Now, according to everything I've seen, I should have 2 flashers. I thought the one on the fuse panel was the turn signal flasher, but it flashes the hazards. I verified this 'cause I turned on the hazards and felt the relay in the flasher doing its thing. There isn't another flasher socket on the fuse panel that I can see. So, my questions are:
1. Where is the turn signal flasher located on a 1972 Corvette
2. Could "Bubba" have bypassed the flasher somehow earlier in the car's life?
3. If the flasher is indeed bypassed or missing, what's the best way to re-introduce one into the circuit?
Thanks gang!
Mwieczorek
:
Please help me out here...
1972 corvette coupe, base 350 (VIN code "K"), muncie 4 speed.
When I got it this past spring, the turn signal flashers didn't flash, they would stay on as long as you had the turn signal lever engaged. It would occasionally just blow the turn signal/reverse light switch when I hit a bump in the road.
I traced the fuse blowing to crispy wires on the reverse light switch. There's a dead short there somewhere, so I disconnected the whole thing and taped off the plugs 'till I get this figured out. I put in a nice new relay type flasher and a new fuse. I fired it up and I'm back where I started. The turn signals will not flash. All the bulbs are good, and of the correct type. When I hit the hazards, the flasher unit (new) on the fuse block does work and all 8 lights (front, rear, and side markers) flash just like they should.
Now, according to everything I've seen, I should have 2 flashers. I thought the one on the fuse panel was the turn signal flasher, but it flashes the hazards. I verified this 'cause I turned on the hazards and felt the relay in the flasher doing its thing. There isn't another flasher socket on the fuse panel that I can see. So, my questions are:
1. Where is the turn signal flasher located on a 1972 Corvette
2. Could "Bubba" have bypassed the flasher somehow earlier in the car's life?
3. If the flasher is indeed bypassed or missing, what's the best way to re-introduce one into the circuit?
Thanks gang!
Mwieczorek
:
11-24-2006, 07:29 PM
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Originally Posted by MWieczorek
1. Where is the turn signal flasher located on a 1972 Corvette
I may not know if it's exactly there on a '72, but it should be behind the passenger side dash knee pad. Remove that panel, or lay on your back on the floor and look up behind the panel. You should see the flasher up by the top.
11-24-2006, 09:45 PM
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Melting Slicks
Originally Posted by Durango_boy
I may not know if it's exactly there on a '72, but it should be behind the passenger side dash knee pad. Remove that panel, or lay on your back on the floor and look up behind the panel. You should see the flasher up by the top.
11-24-2006, 09:49 PM
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Yeah, i have a 72 vette...the flasher is located behind the dash on the passenger side. Get on your back and climb in under there, should be directly behind the dash where a glovebox / map pocket would be.
good luck....
good luck....
11-24-2006, 10:33 PM
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Yup, that's where it was. It's all fixed now!
Now, what do you suppose the GM engineering staff was smoking the day they said, "hey, let's put the turn signal flasher all by itself in the middle of nowhere! Lets get it as far from the fuse panel or any other logical place as possible!"
Thanks gang,
Mwieczorek
Now, what do you suppose the GM engineering staff was smoking the day they said, "hey, let's put the turn signal flasher all by itself in the middle of nowhere! Lets get it as far from the fuse panel or any other logical place as possible!"
Thanks gang,
Mwieczorek
11-25-2006, 08:33 AM
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Burning Brakes
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Yeah, that's it....for the passenger 
I go with the grass smokin' myself....if I could get my hands around some design engineers necks, I'd surely go to the gas chamber...should be law that they attempt to install equipment after designing it and see how THEIR hands bleed....
I go with the grass smokin' myself....if I could get my hands around some design engineers necks, I'd surely go to the gas chamber...should be law that they attempt to install equipment after designing it and see how THEIR hands bleed....
11-25-2006, 03:11 PM
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Originally Posted by kb2fzq
Yeah, that's it....for the passenger
I go with the grass smokin' myself....if I could get my hands around some design engineers necks, I'd surely go to the gas chamber...should be law that they attempt to install equipment after designing it and see how THEIR hands bleed....
I go with the grass smokin' myself....if I could get my hands around some design engineers necks, I'd surely go to the gas chamber...should be law that they attempt to install equipment after designing it and see how THEIR hands bleed....
That's a little harsh huh? I mean, it is easy to get to once you know where it is.
11-25-2006, 10:32 PM
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I don't think he was referring to just this specific quirk...
I must admit, since I AM an automotive engineer after all, that there are times when by the time all the big stuff is set in place, the package space for the small stuff can get pretty crowded pretty quick. I worked a little on the suspension for the S197 (aka 2005 Ford Mustang for you outsiders). That thing was a nightmare. Mechanics across the USA will be taking our names in vain for the next 50 years. But, one day one of the Ford design engineers dropped by with a pre-production prototype, a GT at that! I was the only one ballsy enough to ask if I could drive it. He tossed me the keys and said, "sure, just don't put it in the ditch"...
I probably left 50% of the treadlife of the rear tires on the roads near our engineering facility.
Oh well, that's what it's all about. Going fast and burnin' rubber!
Later,
Mwieczorek
I must admit, since I AM an automotive engineer after all, that there are times when by the time all the big stuff is set in place, the package space for the small stuff can get pretty crowded pretty quick. I worked a little on the suspension for the S197 (aka 2005 Ford Mustang for you outsiders). That thing was a nightmare. Mechanics across the USA will be taking our names in vain for the next 50 years. But, one day one of the Ford design engineers dropped by with a pre-production prototype, a GT at that! I was the only one ballsy enough to ask if I could drive it. He tossed me the keys and said, "sure, just don't put it in the ditch"...
I probably left 50% of the treadlife of the rear tires on the roads near our engineering facility.
Oh well, that's what it's all about. Going fast and burnin' rubber!
Later,
Mwieczorek
11-25-2006, 10:38 PM
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Originally Posted by MWieczorek
I was the only one ballsy enough to ask if I could drive it. He tossed me the keys and said, "sure, just don't put it in the ditch"...
I probably left 50% of the treadlife of the rear tires on the roads near our engineering facility.
Oh well, that's what it's all about. Going fast and burnin' rubber!
Later,
Mwieczorek
I probably left 50% of the treadlife of the rear tires on the roads near our engineering facility.
Oh well, that's what it's all about. Going fast and burnin' rubber!
Later,
Mwieczorek
That's right. so long as you keep the shiny side up you're golden...
11-26-2006, 02:34 AM
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St. Jude Donor '07
Originally Posted by MWieczorek
Yup, that's where it was. It's all fixed now!
Now, what do you suppose the GM engineering staff was smoking the day they said, "hey, let's put the turn signal flasher all by itself in the middle of nowhere! Lets get it as far from the fuse panel or any other logical place as possible!"
Thanks gang,
Mwieczorek
Now, what do you suppose the GM engineering staff was smoking the day they said, "hey, let's put the turn signal flasher all by itself in the middle of nowhere! Lets get it as far from the fuse panel or any other logical place as possible!"
Thanks gang,
Mwieczorek
11-26-2006, 08:08 AM
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Burning Brakes
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Originally Posted by MWieczorek
I don't think he was referring to just this specific quirk...
I must admit, since I AM an automotive engineer after all, that there are times when by the time all the big stuff is set in place, the package space for the small stuff can get pretty crowded pretty quick. I worked a little on the suspension for the S197 (aka 2005 Ford Mustang for you outsiders). That thing was a nightmare. Mechanics across the USA will be taking our names in vain for the next 50 years. But, one day one of the Ford design engineers dropped by with a pre-production prototype, a GT at that! I was the only one ballsy enough to ask if I could drive it. He tossed me the keys and said, "sure, just don't put it in the ditch"...
I probably left 50% of the treadlife of the rear tires on the roads near our engineering facility.
Oh well, that's what it's all about. Going fast and burnin' rubber!
Later,
Mwieczorek
I must admit, since I AM an automotive engineer after all, that there are times when by the time all the big stuff is set in place, the package space for the small stuff can get pretty crowded pretty quick. I worked a little on the suspension for the S197 (aka 2005 Ford Mustang for you outsiders). That thing was a nightmare. Mechanics across the USA will be taking our names in vain for the next 50 years. But, one day one of the Ford design engineers dropped by with a pre-production prototype, a GT at that! I was the only one ballsy enough to ask if I could drive it. He tossed me the keys and said, "sure, just don't put it in the ditch"...
I probably left 50% of the treadlife of the rear tires on the roads near our engineering facility.
Oh well, that's what it's all about. Going fast and burnin' rubber!
Later,
Mwieczorek
11-26-2006, 10:30 AM
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Originally Posted by kb2fzq
Don't take me too serious....once I retired from fiber optic regen installs, I figured my hands would heal...now post retirement job requires occasional appliance installs, and it all came back to me, and the blood...just felt like venting...not serious
I've heard that fiber optic stuff is horrid on the hands. I really feel for you and respect what you did.
