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  1. #1

    Default Lights Questions

    Hello,
    I just have a couple question regarding the lights on my car. I gutted it months ago, and am putting the wiring back in and I didn’t take any pictures so I am forgetting some things.
    The car came without a battery so I am having some issues. I have (2) test lights I am supposed to pick up tomorrow so that I can really get to work.

    1. Are all 4 rear lights supposed to light up with the brakes, blinkers, hazards, and headlights? Right now it seems like the outboard lights are working but the inboard lights either light up just a little bit, or not at all.
    2. my front blinkers seem to work, but the pass side is very dim compared to the driver’s side which is much brighter. This goes for the front blinkers, and the front side marker lights. With headlights on, they both appear to be equally bright. The bulbs are correct in the socket, I know that sometimes dual filament bulbs can get installed wrong.
    I haven’t checked the voltage yet.with my meter but that is my next step.
    3. when I put the key in the run position, the alt light light is lit up.
    Are all of the warning lights supposed to light up in start? As a test? I tried grounding the oil pressure wire and the coolant temp wire, but can not get these lights to come on. The bulbs are good, I replaced all of them and tested them with a power probe.
    Does this point to a bad IVR (which I did replace) or is my printed circuit bad?

    Thanks for any help on this, it would be much appreciated. I can provide additional information as necessary
    79 Zephyr, 4.6L 4v/4r70w swap, with team z front and rear suspension, 8.8 and upgraded brakes and coil overs. Running Holley Terminator X Max.

  2. #2

    Default

    42 views and no one has any idea if all 4 rear lights are supposed to work as tail, brake and directional lights?
    Just like with all of my cars, I will figure it out. Only a matter of time lol
    79 Zephyr, 4.6L 4v/4r70w swap, with team z front and rear suspension, 8.8 and upgraded brakes and coil overs. Running Holley Terminator X Max.

  3. #3

    Default

    Found out I have a bad socket on inboard pass side front marker/blinker.
    Here’s how I came to this conclusion-

    Symptoms-
    Drivers side markers and blinkers work fine. Markers come on with headlight switch, blinkers come on with blinker switch and hazards.
    Pass side inboard marker does not come on with headlight switch. All other markers work fine. All passenger blinkers work, but are very dim.
    With headlights on and pass side blinker selected, pass inner marker light stays on steady and will not blink.

    All of the front marker lights use brown for power and black for ground. They are 2 wire sockets.
    But the inner front marker is also a blinker, so they are 3 wire sockets. They share the same brown power and black ground wires, but have an additional power wire from the multifunction switch for the blinker. Pass side is W/LB and drivers is I think LG/W.

    with headlight switch on, and pass bulb not lit, I used my power probe to test for power and ground at all 3 of the inside marker/blinker socket terminals. Blk wire = ground, have power at the brown wire. Which doesn’t make sense because I have power to the socket but the bulb is still not lit.
    But I also have power at the W/LB blinker wire at the socket which is weird because there should not be power there. So I grounded the blinker wire with the power probe, and the bulb lit up steady. When I tried to ground the brown headlight wire, it popped the breaker on the power probe.

    Since the markers all share a common power and ground, and all the other lights were working, I knew that it was not a common ground or power problem.
    Which leads to a specific problem with that particular socket.
    Having power at the blinker wire when the blinker was not turned on was confusing. But being able to ground that wire and having the bulb light up was a clue. For some reason, the brown headlight wire is feeding back through the socket to the W/LB blinker wire.
    Like it is looking for ground, but not getting there the way it’s supposed to, so it just feeds back through another wire.

    I ended up using the power probe to ground the lower metal part of the bulb. Since the socket is plastic, that is the only place to ground it to remove the socket from the equation. Lo and behold, the bulb lit immediately steady, and was just as bright as drivers side.
    with both blinker and headlight switch on, everything works as it should! And the rear blinker works now too.

    So wiring is really just a process of elimination, power goes from one place to another. Start at the beginning and test each stop along the way.
    Same with the ground part of the circuit.
    Either you will end up finding a loss of power somewhere along the line from point A to point B, or you will end up finding a loss of ground on the way back.
    in this case, I have power from the battery all the way to that socket. So power was not the issue. That gives an indication as to which side of the circuit the is a potential problem.
    79 Zephyr, 4.6L 4v/4r70w swap, with team z front and rear suspension, 8.8 and upgraded brakes and coil overs. Running Holley Terminator X Max.

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