Drivers side marker light dim help needed
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 476
Likes: 1
From: Gilroy CA
Drivers side marker light dim help needed
Drivers side marker (Not parking lamp) is not as bright as the passenger side..
Drivers parking light does not flash when using the flasher
Facts:
- All new wiring under the hood
- Drivers side did not work at all until I installed new pig tails
- Parking lamps are equal in brightness
- Marker bulbs are the same
- Cleaned the grounds and ran a separate ground wire to the rad core support grounding location w/ no change.
- Swapped bulbs and installed new bulbs including the drivers rear
Interesting behavior:
-Left indicator light is on in the dash as if a bulb is burnt
-When I turn the left indicator on the marker light gets as bright as the right
Any ideas? It appears that the left and right side share a ground... Is this true?
Car is off and gauge cluster is removed for restoration
Drivers parking light does not flash when using the flasher
Facts:
- All new wiring under the hood
- Drivers side did not work at all until I installed new pig tails
- Parking lamps are equal in brightness
- Marker bulbs are the same
- Cleaned the grounds and ran a separate ground wire to the rad core support grounding location w/ no change.
- Swapped bulbs and installed new bulbs including the drivers rear
Interesting behavior:
-Left indicator light is on in the dash as if a bulb is burnt
-When I turn the left indicator on the marker light gets as bright as the right
Any ideas? It appears that the left and right side share a ground... Is this true?
Car is off and gauge cluster is removed for restoration
Last edited by polyrocks; Jul 12, 2012 at 10:16 AM. Reason: Summary
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 476
Likes: 1
From: Gilroy CA
Switched bulbs no change
Switched the bulbs w/ no change but I did notice something intresting..
When I turn the left blinker on the bulb gets bright but does not blink. Right turn signal does not increase brightness and also does not blink.
Car is off when doing these tests as I have the cluster removed as well.
Any ideas? Steering wheel switch maybe although blinkers were working fine before I started this project
When I turn the left blinker on the bulb gets bright but does not blink. Right turn signal does not increase brightness and also does not blink.
Car is off when doing these tests as I have the cluster removed as well.
Any ideas? Steering wheel switch maybe although blinkers were working fine before I started this project
Last edited by polyrocks; Jul 11, 2012 at 09:28 PM. Reason: spelling
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 476
Likes: 1
From: Gilroy CA
Still searching
Look thru more and more past post trying to narrow down the issue.
Removed and replaced drivers side rear tail light bulb... No change.
Would like to try the flasher but bubba appears to have snapped off the switch or at least the screw that holds the ****. I have the **** but no way to pull it out unless it is a simple female thread.
Search continues...
Removed and replaced drivers side rear tail light bulb... No change.
Would like to try the flasher but bubba appears to have snapped off the switch or at least the screw that holds the ****. I have the **** but no way to pull it out unless it is a simple female thread.
Search continues...
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 476
Likes: 1
From: Gilroy CA
Summary & one new finding
Problems:
drivers side marker light is dim
Drivers parking light does not flash when using the flasher
What I have done w/ no change:
-Installed new wiring harness under the hood including the pig tails from Willcox.
- Cleaned the ground on the htr core support & next to the horn
- Swapped bulbs and installed new bulbs including the drivers rear
Interesting behavior:
-Left indicator light is on in the dash as if a bulb is burnt
-When I turn the left indicator on the marker light gets as bright as the right
Car is off and gauge cluster is removed for restoration
drivers side marker light is dim
Drivers parking light does not flash when using the flasher
What I have done w/ no change:
-Installed new wiring harness under the hood including the pig tails from Willcox.
- Cleaned the ground on the htr core support & next to the horn
- Swapped bulbs and installed new bulbs including the drivers rear
Interesting behavior:
-Left indicator light is on in the dash as if a bulb is burnt
-When I turn the left indicator on the marker light gets as bright as the right
Car is off and gauge cluster is removed for restoration
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,116
Likes: 5
From: Middleburg Florida
A couple thoughts/ideas. First, if you remove the drivers side turn signal and marker bulbs does the rest of the system work correctly? If so, I'd start at the socket of the turn signal bulb and work back looking for missing grounds or crossed wires. That's what it sounds like to me, the wires for the turn signal might have gotten crossed somewhere. If removing the bulbs makes no difference, I'd think the problem is inside the car, from the fuse block back to the turn signal switch or head light switch.
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Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 476
Likes: 1
From: Gilroy CA
No change :-(
Removed the bulbs - No change
Replaced flasher with a known good flasher - No change
Is there a way to easily test to see if the blinker switch is bad? Just feels strange since it was working prior to replacing the forware harness.
I need help :-(
Replaced flasher with a known good flasher - No change
Is there a way to easily test to see if the blinker switch is bad? Just feels strange since it was working prior to replacing the forware harness.
I need help :-(
Race Director
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 16,528
Likes: 53
From: Dayton, Ohio
Try adding a temporary ground wire to the drivers side turn signal. Attach a long piece of wire to the alt case , touch the wire or jam it in along side the bulb brass case(not too deep)like in this pic.
Racer
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 437
Likes: 3
From: Alvin Texas
Do you have a wiring diagram? I believe the front markers do not use a ground, they are connected to the park light circuit. The wires from the marker attach one to the park light and the other to the turn sig, light blue=L, D blue= R, park=brown. I am going back in time on this one, the bulb is something like a 168, or a small type bulb,be sure you have the right bulb. The marker in front does not use a ground. does this look like what you have.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 476
Likes: 1
From: Gilroy CA
Thank you for the replys still no luck :-(
Results - Additional ground wire did not resolve the issue :-(
bpassmore - I do have a wiring dia and the side lights do not have their own ground. The light has a light blue and brown wire going to to it which is shared with the parking light which does have a ground. I can only assume the Light blue wire goes to the blinker & interior indicator light.
Thank you for the ideas and please keep them coming.
Should I test voltage, is there a way to bypass the switch? It almost feels as if the right side indicator is on but not blinking causing the right side light to be brighter... Can someone tell me the normal voltage that should be at these lights or am I off in the weeds by thinking I should check that? The reason I have not done this is the parking lights appear to be equal.
Racer
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 437
Likes: 3
From: Alvin Texas
WAG, make sure the turn sig switch is plugged in tightly, check the voltage at the R. turn wire (dark bl). If you should have 12v when the switch is turned to the right. Not having a indicator and front light questions that circuit is not hot.
If the lights are on the action of the turn signal powers the blue side of the bulb, balancing the voltage turning the light out; if the lights are off the brown wire becomes the ground circuit so the light blinks with the hot blue wire
.
If the lights are on the action of the turn signal powers the blue side of the bulb, balancing the voltage turning the light out; if the lights are off the brown wire becomes the ground circuit so the light blinks with the hot blue wire
.
Race Director
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 16,528
Likes: 53
From: Dayton, Ohio
Check to make sure the blue and brown are not reversed in the connector.
The fact that the dash turn indicator is lighting up usually means the dash bulb is being used as a ground path.
I suggest at this point that you remove both front side marker bulbs and work only on the parking lamps and turn signals until you get them working correctly. As bypassmore has said the side markers have NO ground ,they BRIDGE the 2 circuits seeking a ground from either the parking or turn lights-this can be very confusing-removing the 2 bulbs will temporarily remove this confusion until we can get a handle on whats going on.
The fact that the dash turn indicator is lighting up usually means the dash bulb is being used as a ground path.
I suggest at this point that you remove both front side marker bulbs and work only on the parking lamps and turn signals until you get them working correctly. As bypassmore has said the side markers have NO ground ,they BRIDGE the 2 circuits seeking a ground from either the parking or turn lights-this can be very confusing-removing the 2 bulbs will temporarily remove this confusion until we can get a handle on whats going on.
Race Director
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 16,528
Likes: 53
From: Dayton, Ohio
Problems:
drivers side marker light is dim
Drivers parking light does not flash when using the flasher
What I have done w/ no change:
-Installed new wiring harness under the hood including the pig tails from Willcox.
- Cleaned the ground on the htr core support & next to the horn
- Swapped bulbs and installed new bulbs including the drivers rear
Interesting behavior:
-Left indicator light is on in the dash as if a bulb is burnt
-When I turn the left indicator on the marker light gets as bright as the right
Car is off and gauge cluster is removed for restoration
drivers side marker light is dim
Drivers parking light does not flash when using the flasher
What I have done w/ no change:
-Installed new wiring harness under the hood including the pig tails from Willcox.
- Cleaned the ground on the htr core support & next to the horn
- Swapped bulbs and installed new bulbs including the drivers rear
Interesting behavior:
-Left indicator light is on in the dash as if a bulb is burnt
-When I turn the left indicator on the marker light gets as bright as the right
Car is off and gauge cluster is removed for restoration
The parking light filament doesn't flash, the turn signal filament is what flashes AND this could be the problem if the brown and blue wires are reversed in the either the car harness or the pigtails. I've seen them reversed in either harness's. The 2 filaments are of different resistances.
Just for fun,leave everything as is and if you have a 12v testlight ,turn on the drivers side turn signal,probe the lt blue wire at the harmonica connector and see if the drivers side side signal starts to flash.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 476
Likes: 1
From: Gilroy CA
Thank you for the continued help / Update
Just to clarify so we don't get confused.
The parking light filament doesn't flash, the turn signal filament is what flashes AND this could be the problem if the brown and blue wires are reversed in the either the car harness or the pigtails. I've seen them reversed in either harness's. The 2 filaments are of different resistances.
Just for fun,leave everything as is and if you have a 12v test light ,turn on the drivers side turn signal,probe the lt blue wire at the harmonica connector and see if the drivers side side signal starts to flash.
The parking light filament doesn't flash, the turn signal filament is what flashes AND this could be the problem if the brown and blue wires are reversed in the either the car harness or the pigtails. I've seen them reversed in either harness's. The 2 filaments are of different resistances.
Just for fun,leave everything as is and if you have a 12v test light ,turn on the drivers side turn signal,probe the lt blue wire at the harmonica connector and see if the drivers side side signal starts to flash.
OK I left the bulbs intact and probed the lt blue wire(s) on the harmonica connector. I don't have a power probe so I was not able to send 12v to them but with the L. blinker on I was reading ground (Negative).
I then removed the side marker bulbs and the ground strap I installed on the parking lamp and noticed the following.
- Dash light (L. turn indicator) is no longer illuminated
- Blinkers don't work at all, either side
- Flashers work but not on the drivers side
I really hope It's not a bad harness.....