Electrical: Turn signals backwards, help!

[50starlite]

[studeski]

Check the plug coming out of the steering column. The wire colors on each side should match. The wires coming out of the column will pull out of the plug so you can switch them around.

[50starlite]

Calude,




Here is the fitting you mentioned. The column side is to the right and has six coded wires, the output side, to the left, has eight coded wires. As you can see, no colors match. Well, maybe one black, one white.

Dick

[gordr]

Have you checked to see if both front and rear signals are reversed? Front and rear are handled by different contacts in the signal switch, because of the brake light requirement.

You can figure the functions of the six wires by a process of elimination. With the switch in the "off" position, three wires will have continuity, left rear, right rear, and feed from stoplight switch. If your stoplights are currently both working, you know that the feed wire is right, although left and right could be swapped. Ignoring the other three wires for now, move the lever for a left turn. One of those three will become disconnected; that is the wire for the left rear lamp. It has been switched from the stoplight feed to the flasher feed. If you find the wire to which it is now connected, you have identified the flasher feed. Mark that, and the left rear. They are identified. Move the lever to right turn, and identify which of these first three wires has become disconnected, and verify that it now shows continuity with the flasher feed. That identifies right rear, and the remaining wire of the three is stoplight feed. You have now identified 4 of the six wires. The remaining two are easy-peasy. Just move the lever to left turn, and see which of the remaining two gains continuity with the flasher feed (already identified). There's your front left. The last wire has to be front right, because all the others have been checked off.

You can do a similar logical progression with the wires on the harness side of the plug. We know they have to include: front right, front left, rear right, rear left, flasher feed, and stoplight feed. No grounds. To identify them, start with a 12 volt lamp bulb, like an 1157 in a socket. Or solder wires to it. One wire goes to the shell, the other to both terminals on the base (to give a decent load for the flasher so it will flash). Connect one wire from this test light to ground, and use the other to probe the harness plug (ignition on). When you find the wire sourced by the flasher unit, the lamp will begin to flash. There, you have found "flasher feed". Mark it. Now step on the brake pedal, ignition on or off, and find which pin in the harness plug causes the lamp to burn steadily; release the brake pedal, and ensure that the lamp goes out. There, you have identified "stoplight feed"; mark it, too. The four remaining wires in the harness plug will be the lamps on the four corners. I think the dash telltales are fed from splices on the wires going to the front lamps.

Take piece of wire (a 10 amp inline fuse would be a smart precaution) and connect one end to 12 volts, and probe the remaining four pins in the harness plug. Each one should light one of the four corner lamps, and you can mark them accordingly. If the left front telltale comes on with the right front lamp, and vice versa, simply swap the telltale lamps, with their pigtails, between holes in the dash. If there is a single telltale, it gets fed off the 3-terminal flasher, and can be ignored here. Looks like you have a single dash indicator?

Note: if it's just the front lamps, or just the rear lamps that are wrong, it would probably be just as quick to set the signals flashing, and unplug wires from the harness plug one at a time until the "wrong" flashing light goes out, while the other continues to flash(obviously, unplugging "flasher feed" will make both quit, telltale too). Mark the wire to the "wrong" with its location, put it back, move the signal lever the other way, and similarly identify the "wrong" lamp in that position. Then simply swap the two "wrong" wires, and all should be OK. This could take a whole five minutes. The more rigorous logic tree described above could take you an hour, if you have to rustle up the test lamp and test lead.

[50starlite]

Thanks Gordon, I'll let you know when I work through this as you suggested.

Dick