Projects ‘62 chevy taillight wiring issue

I’ve searched the HAMB and the internet but haven’t really found what I’m looking for, but this is my issue..

I’ve had a break light/turn signal not work on the pass. Side of my biscayne for a while now.. it turned out to be the bulb, but now the break light on the one side doesn’t work. It does flash for the turn signal, but won’t light up for the break lights. I traced back to the original wiring and there are 3 wires going to the tail lights: running lights, left turn signal, and right turn signal. When I push the breaks the left turn signal wire is hot, but when I push the breaks the right turn signal wire isn’t hot. Could this be a bad switch under the dash?

Thanks for the help!


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Brakes** sorry


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Time for a new turn signal switch maybe?


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Make sure your getting power on the back side of the bulb socket. Then Time for the test light and start at the brake lite switch then move to the turn signal if brake switch is not the problem.
Isn't their a ground wire on the bulb socket? Make sure the ground is good

 

I would start by making sure the turn signal switch cable housing is not broken, where it is anchored at the top. Then adjusting the cable.

 

Check your ground !I had a similar thing happen to me ,it ended up being a bad ground ,it test good with a light tester and not with the bulb its a bad ground , I have ran an additional ground wire for taillights before the original ground connection can get corroded and not visible

 

On old cars, I tend to throw out old light sockets and replace them, with a newer design in some cases. I'm using later GM sockets in place of the ones that came with my old Ford. They have better grounding and take an 1157 bulb.

 

As above...it is most likely a bad ground.

 

Back when the cars were just everyday drivers, '58 - '64 Impalas were the poster children for rear lamp grounding problems. Start by cleaning all the sockets, especially the outside where they plug into the lamp body. The bulbs need to be all the same, I. E., all 1034 or 1157 … 2057s will melt the lenses if you stand still at stoplights longer than a few seconds. The lamp bodies on some years have dum-dum sealer around the studs, so tighten them, or better yet, add a star washer under each nut. I've had to add a ground strap from body shell to deck lid on rusty cars to make them work consistently.
Switch problems were uncommon. ( In 1968 ... )

 

Thanks for the info but I know it’s not a grounding issue! The running lights work by the way.. like I said, when you push the break pedal, I used a test light to know that I’m getting power for the break light on the drivers side, but there’s no power to the passenger side break light.


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I’ll find that switch tonight and make sure it’s all operating correctly


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Check the turn signal wiring as Jim suggested. If one side comes on then the brake light switch is working.

 

The cable I mentioned is not part of the wiring. It is part of the switch mechanism.

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Whoops! My bad carry on

 

The 62 Chevy had a very strange turn signal switch, the electric part of it in the picture is located about 10 inches below the lever mechanism. Connected with a cable. Which breaks and gets out of adjustment.

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Yup I looked it up interesting setup

 

Thanks guys. And yes it used to work. It’s been out for a couple months now


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Sometimes I forget that not everyone has worked on all the parts of all the old cars.

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When you have a brake light that doesn't work and the same side turn does (or vice versa), it's the turn switch. The same wire from the switch operates both, so 99% of the time the problem is internal to the switch...

 

I'm a Dodge guy, that means I don't get out much! I do enjoy learning stuff like this though.

 

But if the switch setup is as flaky as this design is, it's also likely that the switch is not being fully engaged in one direction. Strange things happen when the switch does not go all the way to one end of its travel. Or does not return to center properly.

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I think it has the original turn signal switch in the steering column. They came factory with self cancelling turn signals as you probably know, and they’ve never worked right. I’ve always had to jiggle the lever after a turn to make them quit blinking. I’m going to mess with it tonight


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Be careful

 

you might also want to use a test light to check the electrical operation of the switch in various positions.

 

While no longer in a GM car; here's a pic of the switch for the unfamiliar. The cable exits the column above the switch (small arrow).

 

Check the turn signal switch.

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I helped a friend who had this same exact issue with his 1960 Corvette.
He told me that sometime it seemed to work fine and other times it didn't. I think what happened was due to a weak spring in the steering column at the directional lever mechanism. It would work okay after he took a right (using his directional) but wouldn't work after he took a left (using his directional) The spring was not strong enough to pull the lever back up to center position after being actuated for a left hand turn.
The problem in his car was at the lever inside the steering wheel. The spring was weak and not returning the lever fully to center so the right rear brake light would sometimes work and sometimes not. I pulled the flat spring piece out and gave it a little more bend to make it consistently return the lever to correct center position. His brake light and directional function worked fine after we did that.

 

I got it! Thanks guys! So the switch mounted on the steering column under the dash wasn’t in the right spot (the holes that bolt it down are about an inch long so you can adjust it) so I fixed that and it helped a lot, but still sometimes if the turn signal lever wasn’t in the right spot, the right side wouldn’t work. So all along for the past 5 years, I just thought my turn signal mechanism was just worn out.. tonight I pulled the wheel just to find that a bunch of the screws holding the mechanism together we’re loose. It works like a charm now. I also haven’t ever had the lights in the deck lid working, so I bought new sockets for them too and wired them as brake lights and turn signals too. I know factory they were just reverse lights, but I thought this way would make it much safer.


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That outside light is only brighter in the video because of where the camera is






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