Fun with Electricity, PO Stuff #5 in the series, or is it #6? Options

[NARP74]

Going to RRC2023 last week, I lost all my gauges just after leaving home. Pulled over to check things out and found a blown fuse. Blew a couple more before I figured out it was the left turn signal. Didn't use them for the rest of the weekend. I asked around and someone suggested I check the flasher or turn signal relay. I dropped the fuse panel and found this. Did someone swap my relays around?


More in this thread to follow. I found lots of crap...

[87m491]

They are not in the same location/order as mine, but I don't believe you can swap relays into the wrong receptacles/slots as the pin configurations are different for the Wehrle and the square units..

Going to RRC2023 last week, I lost all my gauges just after leaving home. Pulled over to check things out and found a blown fuse. Blew a couple more before I figured out it was the left turn signal. Didn't use them for the rest of the weekend. I asked around and someone suggested I check the flasher or turn signal relay. I dropped the fuse panel and found this. Did someone swap my relays around?


More in this thread to follow. I found lots of crap...

[NARP74]

I guess the bases could be swapped. I'll have to look at the connecting wires.

[Dave_Darling]

The electrons don't care where the relays are. They just run along the wires to anything that happens to be there. The relay sockets can be moved around with some effort, and may not always have been put in the right place by Hans and Fritz at the factory.

Check the wire colors. If they're right, that's not your problem.

If the left turn signal is causing issues, the most likely causes are the turn signal housings front and rear, and the side marker light. Or the wires going to those.

--DD

[914Sixer]

I see lots of NON STOCK wires in the background. Are they hooked up where they might cause a problem?

[NARP74]

I have not even started looking at the non stock wiring, it is everywhere! Gonna be a real pain project.

[NARP74]

It gets worse. Why was this cut and bypassed?

[NARP74]

What is this add on wire for?

[jim_hoyland]

I had a similiar issue and is was:
“If the left turn signal is causing issues, the most likely causes are the turn signal housings front and rear, and the side marker light. Or the wires going to those.”
Good luck, fuse panels that have PO handiwork can be challenging

[87m491]

That is a jumper wire to make the later 5 pin directionsl relay mimic the proper working of the original 4 pin relay.

What is this add on wire for?

[NARP74]

Swapped relays with others I had, no change. Found a light that was heating the reflector in the left rear, probably an intermittent wire short. Got that sorted, no change. Bought more fuses since I was running low again.

1. Is there a way to rig a resettable fuse or at least newer style fuses that I have a ton of for diagnosing this?
How do I dig into the turn signal switch or test it out to see what is going on in there?

Need to get this fixed so I can work on other issues and drive it a little before the snow flies.

[NARP74]

Been working on this for a while now. I managed to not follow my usual practice of try one thing and verify it. I worked on several things at once and I am not sure what stopped the fuse blowing, but I have new issues that I have introduced.
Done so far;
Cleaned and lubed most of the front & rear contacts with appropriate products.
Took apart the rear light housing completely. I found an intermittent short between two wires on the trunk side. I think some luggage might have hit the wires while on the RRC 2023 trip. I could see evidence of heating in the outer shield from one of the lights.
I put in LED bulbs in all the external housings except the headlights.
I installed a new blinker relay from Spoke for the LEDs

So the new issues;
With no parking lights or headlight on;
The flashers work normal, 1 blink per second, dash indicator lights are bright
Left turn signal, fast blink, dash lights are dim
Right turn, the same

Parking lights on;
Flashers, lit but no blink, but the relay is clicking
The same for the left and right turn signal

Headlights on, same as with the parking lights on

The rear blinkers work properly in all scenarios

And
Parking lights turned on, dash indicator is lit
Headlights on, dash indicator is blank
Headlights on high, no hi beam indicator

I am sure there is a pattern here, what is it? Where do I look next?

[NARP74]

Any ideas here???

[Ishley]

I can’t say definitively… but I had gremlins in my turn signals

I ended up replacing the switch. That takes a little work to get it all changed out and working properly… but it fixed my issues.

[campbellcj]

^^^ I just went thru the same thing - pulled my hair out going back over all the wiring to no avail, then talked to my mechanic who suggested it might be the actual switch and so I found one on the samba board and voila that was it. Not a cure-all but these switches are complicated mechanically and do wear or break after ~50 years.

[NARP74]

Buying NOS or used old ones on Samba? Any good new sources? Do they still make them? I read a review of a cheap knockoff that sounded pretty bad. Who else has them?

[Tbrown4x4]

I have had good luck finding intermittent shorts by replacing the fuse that is blowing with a sealed beam headlight wired to the fuse panel. When the short would blow the fuse, instead it lights the headlight. When the normal circuit load is flowing, the filament passes the current without lighting.
I hope I explained that well enough.

[NARP74]

I have had good luck finding intermittent shorts by replacing the fuse that is blowing with a sealed beam headlight wired to the fuse panel. When the short would blow the fuse, instead it lights the headlight. When the normal circuit load is flowing, the filament passes the current without lighting.
I hope I explained that well enough.

Interesting idea. I have been looking for something creative like this so I can "see" what is going on.
I guess I would have to look for escaping smoke too since the headlight would take more than the amps rating of the fuse?

[76-914]

After you cleaned and replaced the bulbs you now have new symptoms? I would start by re-installing the old bulbs. If it still persists I would look into the turn signal assm. But before doing that I would remove those rogue wires from the fuse panel so that only the OEM wires remain. Then with the switch on (disconnect the + from your coil/points so you can leave the switch on for extended periods of time) see which fuses have 12v. After that do the same again but with the switch off. BTW, do the license plate light work? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[NARP74]

After you cleaned and replaced the bulbs you now have new symptoms? I would start by re-installing the old bulbs. If it still persists I would look into the turn signal assm. But before doing that I would remove those rogue wires from the fuse panel so that only the OEM wires remain. Then with the switch on (disconnect the + from your coil/points so you can leave the switch on for extended periods of time) see which fuses have 12v. After that do the same again but with the switch off. BTW, do the license plate light work? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

The cleaning the contacts and connectors was done the same time I found an intermittent short in the rear bucket. I fixed that then I swapped in the LEDs.
All the rear lights function correctly now.
Just the front L&R turn signals are acting up.
I did not think it would be the switch since it would act the same for the front and rear. That leaves a wiring issue but I could be wrong. I will take apart the front turn signal buckets and inspect that wiring next. I cleaned the contacts but did not inspect the wiring behind.
The rogue wires is also an issue I need to get working on.
The license plate lights are one of the rogue issues, it is an LED lit frame spliced into the wiring in the back. Came that way. I will see if they work.