This weekend I noticed that my interior turn signals ('77 Vette) were not working. Then I noticed the same thing for the exterior turn signals. I looked under the dash and sure enough a burned out fuse. With the car off, I put in a new fuse and it blew within 2 seconds. I am sure there is a short to ground somewhere. But with all the wires I cannot figure out where. Does anyone have any likely places to lool for a short affecting the turn signal circuits?

Thanks for your help.

Rich

 

An obvious question is...were you doing any work on the car right before the signal lights fuse went short?

 

Just before the turn signals went dead, I replaced the valve covers. The only wires I knowingly touched are at the very left side of the engine compartment. They are held in place by a metal loop which also holds a few vacuum hoses. I already put electrical tape over these to eliminate any shorts to the metal loop. No improvement.

I am really bothered by this and want it fixed as soon as possible. I just don't know where to look.

Rich

 

Undoubtably,this may be a bugger of a job to find a short...I assume no wires were accidently caught under the valve covers...I checked the Haynes book, they are useless naming specific devices for specific fuses...If you have a volt/ohm meter, I would put the red probe on the hot side of the blown fuse, ground the black probe and see if you get voltage with key on/off, that might help localize a circuit...you can also see what the amp draw is on that fuse, also, if the turn signal switch is NOT down or up, does it still blow fuses? I'm trying to figure if the new fuse goes in, does it blow if you leave the turn sigs alone? and the key off? Somehow, you need to localize the bad circuit, obviously if you knew what devices went thru that fuse, you'd be ahead of the game. Do you have (I don't) the owners manual for the car...it may give you devices for that fuse, and at least have an idea where to start looking.
You may go broke buying fuses, but I would try differnt situations, signal left, signal right, key off/on, engine running, not running, noting when the fuse blows and try to find something common...it may be something as simple as a tail/front light grounded...or it could be just about anything else...I understand your frustration, I've been there...
Hope this helped a little, without being right there with you, it's kinda hard to troubleshoot...
Good luck

 

Thanks for advice so far.

Yes the fuse blows without the turn signal on. And at first it also did it when the car was NOT on. Later after moving some wires around it only blew as soon as the car is running. It blows before I use the turn signals.

As for this fuse, I believe it runs only the turn signals and hazard signal. ALL other lights work fine.

Rich

 

The same thing happened on my 76 a couple of weeks ago. I found my flasher for the turn signals (under dash on pass. side). It had a capaacitor of some sort accross it (maybe a filter for the radio ?). I took it off and replaced the flasher with a new one--no more blown fuses and turn signals have worked fine since. I was thinking that maybe that filter was touching metal as it just slid on over the flasher terminals. My turn signal fuse was also the courtesy lamps. Hope this helps and it is that simple for you.

 

Well, last night I moved wires around under the dash to stop the flasher (the one that is at the fuse panel) from clicking when ever I replaced the fuse. To my surprize, the turn signals were functioning!!

But by the time I had driven 3 miles, they were dead again. That tells me that there is an intermittant short with one of the many wires under the dash. I will insulate all the wires I can find. BUt not now. The 77 Vette is with a mechanic trying to fix the gas, power steering, and oil leaks.

Thanks for the continuing help. If anyone has any other advice please let me know.

Rich

 

There...you've localized....try this...if you've got a hot wire wiggling around under the dash grounding out...at night, in the dark, try the wiggle the wires thing...if it's a 20 or 30 amp fuse, you should be seeing a spark when the wire hits ground...and in the dark, it should be obvious and if it's quiet, you should also hear the snap of the spark...just a thought...(more) Good Luck

 

WOW!!!! I nevr thought of searching for the short in the dark. It's a brilliant idea.

Rich

 

We aim to please...