I had working turn signals on a 54 Crestline until recently. Now I have a bright front left signal light in the bumper and arrow on the dash lit without the key on and the turn signal in the middle off position. When the signal switch is turned on for the left, the left tail light lights up bright but doesn't flash. When the signal switch for the right is turned on, there is nothing on. Without the key on, I have power to a green/yellow wire on the turn signal junction block, this is sending voltage up the steering column via a lighter green/white wire to the switch. There is also power without key on to a green/white wire in the junction block, which is sending voltage to the left indicator in the dash. From what I can see on the wiring diagram, this turn signal junction block should only be powered by the wire going through the flasher with key on? The junction block on the firewall has 6 volts to all terminals. The top fused connection with green/white wire appears to power the turn signals. I have to unplug the yellow wire of the fender well junction block to unplug the front marker light. Could this simply be a faulty turn signal switch? Thanks, Ben Cole
Have you tried replacing the flasher ? Next step would be to clean all the contacts and terminal blocks and bulb contacts with this stuff, I had a similar issue and had to replace the pigtails in the tailights.
I can't help ya, but I just wanted to say your pics certainly showed a different vision than the cobbled up/patched up spaghetti I had envisioned when I read your post. I was really surprised to see how neat and clean everything looked especially for 60 year old wiring . That should make chasing down the issue tons easier. My friend at the speed shop does alot of rewires. I can't believe how bad some of the cars on the road actually are. Particularly if modified from stock.
Unexplained and mysterious wiring symptoms can usually be traced to ground problems. The ground is trying to find a way back to the battery and will go through light bulbs, making them light up. I would start disconnecting and cleaning the grounds from battery to frame, body to frame, and engine to frame and body. The bullet connectors are known to cause resistance, too.
I ordered a 2 prong flasher but it has different connectors than the original. I'll test it temporarily and see what happens and start cleaning contacts and checking grounds. Thanks for the recommendation.
A new flasher didn't change anything. I cleaned the grounds and checked bulbs too. I would like to unplug the turn signal switch wires from the junction but the bullet ends are all stuck. I oiled them days ago and still stuck. Is there a trick to getting those out?
Remove the bulb from the burning signal light and see if the power disappears from the wires that are supposed to be powered from the flasher/key switch.
In my past experience the turn signal switch was broken internally or worn and resting slightly on the left turn contact. Just a thought.
You might have a bad ground at one of the lights. I suggest making up some wires to use as temporary grounds and attached to each light housing (all four). If this solves the problem, then remove one ground at a time to see if the problem re-occurs. If it does re-occur, then that light is the problem.
The fuse between the ignition switch and flasher was bad. Replaced the fuse and added a new flasher and have right turn signals now. Left front marker is still lit and left dash indicator is lit. Left signal doesn't work but.. with the key off, engaging the left turn signal turns over the engine but doesn't start it! With key on, turning the left signal on doesn't turn over engine.
The heater blower switch also turns over the engine when it's turned to hi! I unplugged the blower motor for now. Something crazy is going on here.
Your Ford should have a 3 prong flasher like pictured the spades that face the same direction are left and right and the center spade is power in.
This 2 prong rectangular flasher was in there. There is a place where it clips nicely in the back of the instrument cluster. It could be from a different model year since this car was rebuilt with parts from a few different cars. I'm going to have to chase down what's feeding power from the starter solenoid to the left turn signal and the blower motor switch.
Yes. Voltage is still going to the junction where the light plugs in. Voltage is coming from a green/white wire from the wiring harness from the firewall. I may have to untape all the harness to find the short.
I hate to disagree with the boss but you do have the right flasher the 3 prong does not go in our cars.I have found over the years that to take the bullet connectors out I use a pair of needle nose pliers and grip the wire as close to the bullet as you can then pry them out using the block as a fulcrum hope that makes sense.the 3 prong has one post for power then one for the lights the 3rd with the letter P is for the dash indicator light(s).no disrespect to you but the picture of the wires showing the frayed insulation is a disaster waiting to happen and is a very good possibility where the root of your problem is.the car looks pretty and well worth the time to get the wiring right there are people out there that produce an excellent reproduction wire harness for our cars far better than a kit in my opinion.it is simply a matter of plug and play.
I was finally able to remove the bullet connector that was backfeeding the turn signal terminal block. Everything is normal now with working signals, parking/running lights, tail lights ,but brake lights but NO headlights. A green wire with yellow tracers was the culprit. I just have to figure out why that wire has voltage. There has to be a bad ground somewhere unless I have a bad headlight switch or dimmer switch. Please direct me to the wiring harness for this car. I checked Painless and a few other places but didn't see what I need. Thanks!
I am busy working on a off topic car for the next few days.once finished I will try to help if you can wait.in the meanwhile you can search on google for rhode island wiring and tyree harris for a exellent repo wiring harness putting one of their harnesses in will save trying to put in a general harness from any of the aftermarket suppliers.if you are comfortable ripping out your wiring and retro fitting a general wire harness I would replace with a factory copy simple plug and play.
Don't know if Canadian Fords are different but I've owned three '54 cars and four '53 cars all had 3 terminal flashers https://www.macsautoparts.com/ford_mercury_late/catalogsearch/result/?q=turn+signal+flasher&x=16&y=9 The original 1952- 53 flasher was a small rectangular unit and the clamp for it is an the lower corner of the speedometer and gauge panel. Ford started using the two terminal flashers after they went to a 12 volt wiring system. If you still have the 6 volt wiring in the car and converted to 12 volts you would use a 12 volt 3 terminal flasher.
Consider purchasing a schematic wiring diagram for your car from Cl***icCarWiring.com They are 11x17 laminated and in color with all the wiring code colors for your car, About $20.00 Would not have been able to do any repairs on my 56 without one... I found the fuse to the flasher not making contact was a problem for me..Good Luck
My 54 is still 6 volt. I finally realized the green/yellow wire on the firewall junction with a 14 amp fuse.. this wire was backfeeding the turn signal block. That wire is supposed to go to an interior light junction and out to courtesy lights. Thanks for the help! I'll check out the wire options that 54vicky sent.
if you were not so far away you are welcome to check out my wiring it and was original to car still 6 volt and uses a 2 prong flasher owned car since 76 and it is a california car.if you can find a wiring diagram you will see it takes a 2 prong.as dash lights are handled in a different way the 3 prong.mine also had the rectangular flasher I changed it to the round type as it was easier to find.I had to change the plug to match.
I have a note for tyree harris he is in virginia phone #8045565200 I have not used him personally but read good reviews I think he supplies macs save the middle man as I said rhode island makes an excellent product I bought my first harness (partial)almost 40 years ago and again a few years back (dash)easy to do as I said plug and play. I think tyree may have made the harnesses I used for the power window setup (factory)I ordered from eklers (macs) before finding out about him.
here is picture of the wire junction block on left front fender.I hope they make it easier to match your wires.now the block on the fender may not be the right one as they are different they look the same but are different in the way the wires are routed the proper plug there and under dash at left side will have 1or2 ports that are twined so that a single wire will power 2 wires on the twined port.may only be one port on each been a while.as an example the parking lights will have a single wire feeding the one side then on the out side the left and right wires will go to the left and right lights which will power them together the other ports will be wire in and wire out for left and right headlights respectively and the same for the left and right signal.the block under dash is the same just look for the twined port it will make sense once you locate the twin port it will feed both taillights and singles will fee left and right signal which power the brake lights also no separate brake wire.as to blower motor there should be 3 wires orange red and black.black being ground the red and orange are hi and low I can not remember off hand which is which but easy enough to switch when you get it working.you still have the fuse panel on engine side of firewall?it should have a gl*** 15 amp fuse on top and 2 circuit breakers on bottom
forgot picture sorry about the blurry pic but hope you can see colours and where they should be in block
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