Technical Turn signal won't flash but lights up.

The '28 Essex has not been driven in 3 years and was disassembled for paint. As I am putting it back together, the turn signal will light up on each direction as indicated on the dashboard, however it will not flash. I have changed the flasher and the fuse is good. The tail lights work. There are only two wires and a ground. What the hell am I doing wrong?

 

Make sure you have a good ground..

 

By any chance, did you covert the bulbs from incandescent/filament style to LED bulbs. Even if you only did one end of the car (taillights only or front turn signals) the flasher will not see the resistance needed to make the flasher work. You would have to use a flasher relay specific for LED bulbs.

 

If all other things are normal,the flasher relay is bad.

 

X-2....Sounds like you need a new "ticker hickey" ! (pretty sure that's the official name for it )
6sally6

 

A couple layers of fresh paint where there had previously been some good ground connections?

 

Thanks, will look into that

 

Is it possible that the wiring is transposed, tail filament is wired to turn signal wiring, and turn signal filament is wired to tail light wiring. The tail filament draws half the current of the turn signal, therefore the flasher might not have enough current to work properly.

 

I had a bad connection once... tried to sell me a bag of catnip... ..

I would look at the bulbs themselves, swap some around or get some new ones. Bad bulbs can drive you to the looney bin.

 

I had a similar problem, i tried the emergency flasher and all lights worked. Reversed flashers and found I had a bad flasher.
Terry aka dirt t

 

Disassembled for paint is the change. Paint is another change. As said, make sure the wires are going back the way they were and you have clean, bare ground connections.

Lights up on dash shows that part is powered and grounded, but does not confirm routing and ground at exterior lights. Flash requires proper routing, bulbs and ground (load in circuit) if using old school flasher.

Tail lights are a different circuit. Turn signals interrupt stop circuit in rear. Does the car have front turn signals? Do the front lights turn on solid? Do the stop lights in rear work? Does the car have emergency flashers? All of these will change the diagnostics.

 

And if there are LED lights, also make sure polarity is correct!

 

Yes, LEDs are Polarized.
In the original post, the tail lights work, they just don't flash.