My left turn signals work fine and left brake light and hazard. But when I switch to the rights, no go. Nothing. The green arrow on the dash doesn't light up and no sound at the flash relay. No right brake light either. Don't know about the right headlights yet.

Is there a separate fuse for the right turn signals and brake light. My wife was following me and said the right brake light actually does turn on but that it's very dim. This is on a '71 LS5 Coupe.

The turn signals are all on the same fuse. You probably have a ground problem on the malfunctioning side. The turn signal switch is likely OK as it's separate from the brake light switch. A bad ground can cause all kinds of problems that can defy logic. In my '67 Dodge Charger I had problems with the rear wiring harness with a burned wire and poor grounds. I replaced the rear harness and the rotating headlights which had not been working suddenly started working normally, and they are on a completely separate circuit from the tail lights!

I would check the wiring from the tail lights from front to rear and make sure they're properly grounded and not pinched anywhere.

Hey, munk. Gunslinger is giving you some straight advice here. Bad ground is a distinct possibility and DEFINITELY start at the rear - fewer wire trails to trace.

One suggestion, though. Before you dive under the car, check all your directional bulbs and then check the signal bulb itself - the one for the flashing arrow in the tach. All of your gauge housings are metal and are "daisy-chained" to a ground strap. If that socket is loose (it is just a push-fit to the back of the gauge) you will have an open circuit. That bulb may also be bad.

Oh, yeah. Is this that same Big Shark we been hearin' about?

Let us know what you find.

John

Thanks for the help you guys. Really appreciate this forum. Lots of good people here. Yeah, it's the same big shark. Warbonnet Yellow with ps, pb, pw, leather, tilt/tele and I think rear defogger. 4 speed. Just needs minor stuff.

Oh, I noticed some connectors hanging down behind the rear license plate. I think the previous owner must have been pulling a trailer with the car at some point. Maybe that's where the problem is eh?

|UPDATED|4/12/2004 10:55:25 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Yep, that'd be a great place to start. Since a trailer harness would (if done correctly) connect to both L and R signals with a common ground, your ground fault is probably not there (since you say the other side works fine). BUT, check where that sucker is spliced into the signal lamp wiring.

Not to nag, but follow the "Old School" rule: start with simplest solution - get complicated when you have to. Majority of turn signal problems are bad bulbs, bad flashers or bad fuses . . . and usually in that order.

One more thing, are all your brake lights working or just some?

John

Another trick is to turn on the hazard flashers. They use the same bulbs and wires as the brake lights and turn signals. Then it's easy to walk around the car and see exactly what is working or not.

Another trick is to turn on the hazard flashers. They use the same bulbs and wires as the brake lights and turn signals. Then it's easy to walk around the car and see exactly what is working or not.

Just to make sure, I would swap out the bulbs first. It's possible that both front and back are burnt out. Or even better swap the bulbs from right to left. I had a similar problem with my lights when I first got her. I first purchased a wiring diagram and went from front to back and found a couple areas that the wires had been broken. Easy fix, but troubleshooting was the hardest.

So since my Vette was in the shop, I had my mechanic check out the wiring. He said the trailer harness was a mess and he got both brake lights to work, tail lights and headlights. But he says when he turns on the L or R turn signals, everything goes haywire. I'm thinking that maybe the ground and hot wires are reversed or something at the turn signal switch or maybe somewhere in the turn signal wiring.