Summershandy Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 Firstly, when I got my '54 Pontiac, the flashers were very dim. Went down to NAPA and picked up their 6 volt 535 flasher. Nice and bright but made both indicators blink on the dash. Exterior lights work as expected. Thinking it was a defective flasher I picked up another and same results. I put back the old original Tung-Sol 229D relay and all lights work as expected inside and out. I fired the engine up today and was double checking all exterior light functions. The dash signals worked fine until I got back in the car and the indicators were both blinking again! Seems to happen after a couple minutes. I read about grounding the P prong but that did nothing. Again, the exterior lights work perfect but I'm just wondering what happening behind the dash. Incidentally, I've just ordered a new Tung-Sol flasher relay and should be in about a week. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryB Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 Had a similar issue one time on my ford truck. Weak socket grounding and corroded bulb contacts inside them were the problem. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleetwood Meadow Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 I was always told that when both flashers blink it indicates that a light is burnt out somewhere in that circuit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 (edited) I think you need to look for a bad ground, probably in the dash, or wherever the indicators ground. I am going to go out on a limb here and assume a bunch of stuff. You'll have to correct me if I miss. I am guessing that these are factory turn signals, with a turn signal switch built into the steering column, and that your turn signal bulbs in the back are shared with the stoplights, and that you do in fact have independent dash indicators for each direction. You may have noticed that 12v cars often have a flasher with 2 pins, and 6v cars usually have 3 pins. These work almost the same. On a 12v car, one pin is the voltage supply, and the other one goes to the switch, and from there on to the bulbs. There is no ground for the flasher. The flasher is selected for the number of bulbs (some cars have more than one bulb in the back). If there are too many or too few bulbs, or a burned out bulb, the flasher flashes at the wrong speed. On a 6v setup, it works exactly the same. the only difference is that many 6v setups only have one indicator light inside the car. That presents a problem because there is no place to hook a light that will work both directions. The third pin on a typical 6v flasher is just a dedicated contact to flash the single indicator light on the dash! If you have an indicator light for each direction (I suspect you do), that third pin is not needed. It is probably present but not used. In that case the dash indicators are just connected in parallel with the front turn signal bulbs. There are a bunch of other variations out there (for instance grounded flashers do exist, and I have heard of a system that works like Medd448 describes to indicate a bad bulb, I think it was aftermarket). What I described above is probably what you have. I am trying to imagine how you could get them both flashing at the same time. I think if the piece of dash that the indicator bulbs ground to was not grounded, maybe when you turn one side on, the indicator might "find" a ground through the other indicator. Edited June 28, 2018 by Bloo (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RansomEli Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 First thing, check your bulbs. I agree with Medd448; when both blinkers blink you have a bad bulb. Check this first, then go on to the other checks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cahartley Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 I JUST went through a similar thing in installing directional and brake lights on the '32 Chevy. I used the cowl lights for front directionals but they were kind of iffy now and then. I installed larger bulbs so people wouldn't need a flashlight to see if they were flashing and also to load the blinker as I have LED lights at the rear. I had to sand the bulb sockets after which everything works perfectly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleetwood Meadow Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Cahartley, are you saying yours was a connection issue where the bulb wasn’t getting a good connection with the socket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summershandy Posted June 28, 2018 Author Share Posted June 28, 2018 All bulbs work good and bright and the puzzle to me is, it doesn't happen from the git go. I can turn the key to power up signals and they work fine. Most things do or don't work. I'm picking up a box of new bulbs today and will also inspect the sockets for corrosion. I'll also try some more troubleshooting on when or how they start acting up. Thanks gang! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACK M Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Sounds to me like the cluster is not grounded properly. Electricity does funny things when it is looking for a ground. I might suggest that your dash lights are acting up as well. Get your self a piece of wire with alligator clips on both ends and experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cahartley Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 15 hours ago, Medd448 said: Cahartley, are you saying yours was a connection issue where the bulb wasn’t getting a good connection with the socket? Yes. What burned me up is they worked UNTIL I had cut the cowl light wires and connected the blinker wires so that caused a whole new mindset causing me to check everything EXCEPT the bulb grounding in the socket....... grrrrrrr I hate when things like this happen....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summershandy Posted June 28, 2018 Author Share Posted June 28, 2018 I think I've narrowed it down. I checked all sockets and bulbs. Changed bulbs anyway. Front sockets were dirty as expected. Cleaned them up. Back ones had been changed before and look good. Both blinkers still flashing on left or right turn signal. Removed flasher relay from bracket. As the lights were blinking, you could feel the flasher working. I wiggled the plug which made me put pressure on the flasher and the correct light started working BRIGHT! I then gently squeezed the relay and got the same results. I could control the brightness and make both dash lights come on simultaneously. If it's the plug I can replace it and again, my new flasher will be in soon. I absolutely hate electrical and think I got lucky. Cheers! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summershandy Posted June 28, 2020 Author Share Posted June 28, 2020 (edited) I'm revisiting this topic again with flashers. These are the symptoms: The Napa 535 flasher will make the dash indicators both flash and will give the exterior signals a good long off and on as I would expect. The Tung-Sol 229D flasher will make the dash indicators work as expected but the exterior signals are very quick from on to off same speed rate as the 535. The 229D in my opinion is hard for other drivers to see whereas the 535 is quite visibly better. This summer I'm going with the 535 and ignore both interior indicators flashing so drivers behind me can see me turning right and avoid a rear end. I'm starting to think this is an old school mechanism vs. electronic. Any more suggestions and ideas would be appreciated! Thanks Edited June 28, 2020 by Summershandy (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Posted June 28, 2020 Share Posted June 28, 2020 It is time to get out the wiring diagram..... When I was a kid, I had a 53 Chevy that used the third pin on the flasher as a GROUND for the dash indicators. To be clear, there was a connection from each front signal to each dash indicator, but the ground of the dash indicators were not grounded to the dash as you would expect. They were connected together and to the third flasher pin. Whats up with that? Probably some kind of bad bulb detection. I don't know. It's not normal. If that is what you have, you may need to pop the third terminal out of the flasher socket and ground it instead (ground the wire terminal, not the flasher pin). You may find that the dash indicators are backwards after you do that. You might have to switch the sockets in their holes in the dash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summershandy Posted June 28, 2020 Author Share Posted June 28, 2020 3 hours ago, Bloo said: ground the wire terminal, not the flasher pin). Ahh...I think I had grounded the pin and flasher together and had same results back when. Son of a gun you're right! I just gave it a try. Nice bright signal that has a steady speed rate.....backwards! Guess I'll pull the gauges out and switch those signals. Thanks Bloo! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summershandy Posted June 28, 2020 Author Share Posted June 28, 2020 Done! Was just a 15 minute job. Signals blink and work perfectly. On another note, remember having those cars whose speedo cable would dry up and seize in the housing? Happened to me once. Came completely unwound. Had to change the entire unit. You were suppose to lube it once in a while. No worries with mine...I had to disconnect it to remove the gauges and noticed red fluid hanging from the connection. Guess I was right when I said I had the trans fluid overfull. Must have worked itself right up the cable! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
54vicky Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 nice to see you solved it.just as an aside the "P" on the flasher stands for pilot.that is for dash lights(indicator) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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