BRAKE LIGHT AND BLINKERS

[thos25]

At a recent show a fella told me the left rear brake light on my 65 CYCLONE was not working. When I got home I checked and sure enough it was out and I have no blinkers on either side front or back but both flasher indicator lights on the dash work normally. I checked bulbs, they are ok and I have a full set of parking and tail lights. Any one have a thought or two on what's wrong?
Thanks TOM

[lavron]

Low blinker fluid?

See Ya,
Mike

[popscomet]

replace the blinker ! pop

[comethead]

I'd suspect somethings going on in the turn signal switch assembly or connector. Do you have emergency lights? If you do that one is piggy-backed in there as well.

Joe

[Harbbin]

Seems like a good thread to jump in on

I recently lost my rear right brake light/blinker on my '65 comet to intermittent power (bulb works but any road jiggle/jitter would knock it off the contacts and cut power to the bulb), most likely caused by the 50 year old assembly still affixed to the lens. I grabbed a couple of these cheap-o replacements http://www.macsautoparts.com/ford_falco ... comet.html but when I swapped out the old fitting with this new one I wasn't able to get anything with a working bulb. Does this new assembly require an additional grounding wire? the old assembly uses a rubber fitted connector that plugs into the back of the bulb adapter. if anyone has any experience with this it would be much appreciated..

[popscomet]

this is the best thread to jump on.......hands down...more you stay with us the better you;ll like us.......cause we already like you !! POP

[kevinshi]

...I have no blinkers on either side front or back but both flasher indicator lights on the dash work normally. I checked bulbs, they are ok and I have a full set of parking and tail lights. Any one have a thought or two on what's wrong?

Tom did you ever get this sorted? I seem to be having the same (or at least very similar) issue. My dash indicators work (blinking green) but both front (Amber) and rear (Red) lights are dead. I have verified bulbs are OK. I have a hazard switch and it works fine (all lights blink.. though of course the rear lights are flashing the brake line rather than the signal lines (as those bulbs, unlike the front, are two pole)).

For good measure I have replaced the turn signal can, and have also now tried replacing the entire turn/horn signal wiring assembly in the column.

I am super stumped. Hmm.

[Joe Travers]

I am super stumped. Hmm.

Always check the ground first, Kev. You'd be surprised how many electrical problems are due to poor ground.

Joe

[kevinshi]

Yea, I have been chasing all the grounds (because I definitely agree...).

If I have it correct there are three total grounds to chase per side. The first is a common ground (services both L and R) for the instrument cluster. That one checks out

Then there are grounds at each of the lights themselves. They are grounded at the fixtures. Since the emergency flasher works fine I am inclined to believe the issue would be at the rear (because the rear fixture has two modes - high for brakes (aka emergency), low for signal). To that point I have pulled a jumper cable from battery negative all the way to the rear of the car and directly grounded the rear fixture (in addition to it's chassis ground). Nothing changes. :-/

So I am pretty sure this is not a grounding issue...

[Joe Travers]

Can you wiggle the bulbs slightly in the sockets and get them to work?
I remember I had to wrap electrical tape around them so they would fit tightly and work in my '65 Cyclone years ago.
Never figured out if the sockets were just worn out or the bulbs weren't made to the exact specs as the original ones but it fixed the problem.

Joe

[Lou's Comet]

Yea, I have been chasing all the grounds (because I definitely agree...).

If I have it correct there are three total grounds to chase per side. The first is a common ground (services both L and R) for the instrument cluster. That one checks out

Then there are grounds at each of the lights themselves. They are grounded at the fixtures. Since the emergency flasher works fine I am inclined to believe the issue would be at the rear (because the rear fixture has two modes - high for brakes (aka emergency), low for signal). To that point I have pulled a jumper cable from battery negative all the way to the rear of the car and directly grounded the rear fixture (in addition to it's chassis ground). Nothing changes. :-/

So I am pretty sure this is not a grounding issue...

Hey Kevin.

Sounds like your wiring and grounds are correct. The rear bulbs are 2 filament, one filament is for tail light only, and the other filament is for brake light, emergency flasher, and turn signal. Since your emergency flasher and brake light works correctly your wiring and grounds are ok. Brake light, turn signal, and emergency flasher power all go through your T/S switch so I would think it is a safe assumption that it is also ok.

I would think your problem is 1 of 3 things. The T/S flasher is bad, no power going into the T/S flasher, or the feed from T/S flasher to T/S switch is bad.

Easy to find out. You have 2 flashers, 1 for Emergency flasher and one for turn signals. Since your emergency flashers work you know that flasher works. So I would swap the two. If the T/S flasher was bad then after you swap them the turn signals will work but the emergency flashers won't.

If that doesn't work check to make sure you have power going into the T/S flasher. (Key needs to be on) if no power could be a fuse or could be a problem with the feed wire coming off the ignition switch.

If the flasher is good, and you got power going into the T /S flasher then you need to check the wire going from the T/S flasher to the T/S switch. I think you have one of the first two problems. Bad T/S flasher or no power to the T\S flasher.

Do you have back up lights? And if so do they work.

Hope this helps

Lou