Turn signal ground?

[1 Patriot-of-many]

I have a bad ground on my left front turn signal, where is this grounded? A wire or is the housing to the body the ground?

 

[steelandcanvas]

Light housing to fender, both studs.

 

[wsucougarx]

Be sure to use star washers to make sure you get adequate ground.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Thanks guys, both studs have star washers, I'll take off the light do a little filing and reinstall.

 

[eagle4g63]

If you have a meter than before you put the light back in scratch the paint on the hole of the bracket and test to see it has a good ground, the fender may not have a good ground. If you don't have a meter you can make an idiot light with a light socket and wire leads.

If you don't have a good ground there than you have to find out why before going nuts trying to get the light to work.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Okay I'm stumped for the moment. Every light works fine except when I turn the left turn signal on. The upper bulb blinks along with the right also dimly. The bottom bulb the actual turn signal bulb doesn't light up at all. I'm thinking one of the connectors from the bulb housing was put on the wrong connector by the mechanic? I cleaned up all the connections including the housing to the body. same thing, the main bulb for the turn signal does not light up and I substituted the right bulb same thing.

 

[porkysplace]

Use new star washers they are like $.10 apeice ,it will make a difference.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

If you have a meter than before you put the light back in scratch the paint on the hole of the bracket and test to see it has a good ground, the fender may not have a good ground. If you don't have a meter you can make an idiot light with a light socket and wire leads.

If you don't have a good ground there than you have to find out why before going nuts trying to get the light to work.

Headlight, side light, 4 ways all work perfect. Only when the left turn sgnal is on do I get the wierdness. The upper bulb(parking light?) flashes dimly along with the right upper bulb flashing dimly on the opposite front side. I'm thinking a wire on the left side is not connected right?

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Use new star washers they are like $.10 apeice ,it will make a difference.

But all the lights work fine except for the left turn signal. So it can't be the ground to/from the housing.

 

[porkysplace]

But all the lights work fine except for the left turn signal. So it can't be the ground to/from the housing.

They work fine except when both lights are being used right ? weak ground or bad wire in socket.

 

[KsM715]

But all the lights work fine except for the left turn signal. So it can't be the ground to/from the housing.

The whole housing is not grounded, one bolt is one ground and the other bolt is a seperate ground. They both must be making good contact or you'll have the problems your describing.

 

[eagle4g63]

A quick way to check is take off the lens and put a jumper to the ground post's(both of them in the back of the housing) and connect the other end to a known good ground.

If that doesn't give an different results, than the only other way is to get to the connectors on the back, separate them one at a time and check which one has power when the turn signal is activated(it will blink) and then make sure it is hooked up to the wire that the turn bulb is hooked to.....again will have to track it on the inside of the light housing.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

They work fine except when both lights are being used right ? weak ground or bad wire in socket.

Okay my mistake, 4 ways work the same way as tunring left turn signal on, the upper bulbs flash dimly. WTH are the upper bulbs for to begin with?

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

The whole housing is not grounded, one bolt is one ground and the other bolt is a seperate ground. They both must be making good contact or you'll have the problems your describing.

These are the bolts at the back of the housing correct that ground the turn signal light? I know the headlight is grounded by wire under the little hood, I have two wires just above the headlight, when I disconnected them the headlight got dim.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

A quick way to check is take off the lens and put a jumper to the ground post's(both of them in the back of the housing) and connect the other end to a known good ground.

If that doesn't give an different results, than the only other way is to get to the connectors on the back, separate them one at a time and check which one has power when the turn signal is activated(it will blink) and then make sure it is hooked up to the wire that the turn bulb is hooked to.....again will have to track it on the inside of the light housing.

Okay wilco tomorrow thanks for the help guys, Much appreciated.

 

[KsM715]

These are the bolts at the back of the housing correct that ground the turn signal light? I know the headlight is grounded by wire under the little hood, I have two wires just above the headlight, when I disconnected them the headlight got dim.

Correct. One bolt grounds the marker/turn signal lamps and the other bolt grounds the blackout light. In the housing itself, the upper bulb is the turn signal bulb and the lower bulb is the marker lamps, IIRC, and the bulb in the bottom section is the blackout marker. One easy thing to check would be to swap your housings around, take the right side and put it on the left side and see if the problem moves with housing. That will tell you if the problem is in the housing (bad socket ground) or in the grounding continuity thru the fender/chassis.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Thanks guys! I took the housing off and disassembled the whole thing, to find the whole bottom was cracked, the two connections to ground were just complete rust. Attached a couple wires to ground, All good now. I bought a complete housing to replace it eventually, but I need to paint it first. Problem solved. Thanks gentlemen and Merry CHRISTmas.

 

[eagle4g63]

Sounds like the same thing that was wrong with mine, grounds all rusted out, inside the light.

Glad you figured it out.....and followed up with the thread posting your results.

 

[JOEDEUCE]

I had the same issue with my rear tail lights when I first bought my truck.... Had a bad ground inside the light, had a bad ground where the light ataches to the bracket, and I had a bad ground where the bracket ataches to the frame. Wound up cleaning grounds and replacing both rear light housings..... Good to go...

 

[cranetruck]

I'm a bit anal about my grounds, installed star washers and dedicated ground wire to the frame to be sure.