Turn signal lever shocks me why?

I finally got my truck going, the wiring is not completely done but the tail lghts,rear turn signals,brakes, four way flashers,headlights high and low beams and and the front signals work. The problem is that while I am holding the steering wheel (metal) and touch the turn signal lever at the same time I get a little tingeling shock---why? The steering column is ididit and an ez wiring harness. The horn is not on the truck yet, the wire for the horn is wired up under the seat right now. It may be touching something metal, would this cause this? tryin to think ahead so I can get this fixed this week. Any ideas?? Thanks Mark

 

Is your turn signal housing insulated or grounded to the column?
My Dad had a '57 Ford Hard top retractable, every time you would rest your arm out the drivers window you would get a shock under the arm, thanks for the memory!

 

Sounds like static electricity on your body discharging when you touch the grounded metal turn signal handle.

 

I dont know why but sounds like your getting AC current into your column.

 

Try a bad ground When you touch the turn single lever you complete the circuit.

 

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Mark...is it a short, single jolt, or is it a continuing tingle?

Roger

 

It is a short single jolt. At first I thought I was imagining it but my son was driving it and he said the same thing. How canI tell if it is insulated or not. Not trying to be smart but wiring isnt my strong point as you can see? Thanks Mark

 

For one,your not going to get a shock from 12v dc ... its either static or ignition current (post coil) .... open your hood in the dark
and check your sparkplug/coil wires for arching

 

Not so sure about that.
Do you get a shock when it's running, not running or both?
Take a piece of wire with Allagator clips, ground the turn signal housing to the column and see what happens ...........................

 

It only does it when it;s running. Tomorrow I'll try and ground it and see if that helps. It only does it when you turn the signal lever on to use the signal and touching the steering wheel at the same time. You can touch them both at the same time with no shock as long as you don't turn the signal on. Thanks Mark

 

Even though you don't have the horn hooked up you might have the horn relay installed in the fuse panel.The zap could be coming from the coil in the horn relay for the same reason the ignition coil puts out high voltage.
When you energize the coil of wire in the horn relay, it builds up a magnetic field. That magnetism pulls on the contact that closes the circuit for the horn(s). When the circuit is broken, the magnetic field collapses, inducing voltage in the coil. Depending on the number of turns in the coil and the amount of current flowing through it, and thus the intensity of the magnetic field, the voltage induced in the coil can be quite large. Ignition coils have primary coils with a much smaller number of turns than the secondary coil. That's why they can generate thousands of volts to send to spark plugs from only 12 volts in the primary system. If you are somehow completing the circuit to the relay when you touch the signal light lever it might be using you as a path to ground.........Or NOT

 

The horn relay is mounted right next to the fuse box. Should it be mounted farther away from the fuse box?? It has about six to eight inches of wire, so it could be that much farther away. Thanks Mark

 

Uhm, try using a volt meter? Just saying.

 

I wouldn't know what exactly to check and where to hook it up if I had one

 

I had a similar deal with my Ididit column, Haywire harness, in my '33 sedan. When it was running, sometimes (not always), I would get a small shock from the turn signal lever when I first turned on the signal. One difference, my horn is hooked up, and when I would get the shock, the horn would beep - once. I stopped happening, but I didn't do anything - maybe it was a bad ground that I inadvertantly fixed? Thinking about it just now, my shifter is on the column, and the shifter arm at the bottom of the column comes extremely close to the spark plug wires as they come around the left head - but that doesn't explain the shock only happening once.

 

Folks, don't forget that the flasher relay for the turn signals does have a relay coil in it, so therefore it has a magnetic field that is collapsing and could cause a voltage spike. Wired wrong, or a short could possibly put this voltage spike onto the turn signal lever.

And you can definitely feel a shock from 12 volts, especially it you've got sweaty body parts

Hard to troubleshoot without details and some close-up shots of the turn signal switch, etc.

 

Used to mechanic for a living, I have been shocked countless times working under the hood, from 12 volt d c , it is very possible.

 

Try this,,,grab onto the 12V DC pos & neg battery terminals of your car & have someone crank it over.
I guarantee you'll never do it again.

Sounds like somethings up with a relay as already suggested.

 

X2
12volts was bad enough; 24volts was quite painful. Davo.

 

Old post, but appreciate the info. Shock on my aftermarket steering column started after i removed the harness from the column and installed an external ignition switch. Touch the turn signal and bam! The shock was definitely high-voltage. My guess is I removed the ground when I removed the harness. It isn’t spark coil, so I believe it is static generated from spinning front wheels. Regardless, grounding the column should tame the beast.

 

Alrighty then!