Technical 54 chevy turn signals

first off, I love this forum, I've learned a crap ton about my old chevy from you guys. anywho, another random question. the turn signal indicators on my dash are all out of sorts. problem 1: when the ignition is on, the left signal light is illuminated. problem 2: the right signal flashes the left one on the dash and vice versa. the outside lights work correctly however. any ideas of where to start?

 

If the lights in the dash are switched, just take them out and put them back in where they go.

Problem 1, not sure exactly what is going on there...what happens when you move the switch, either a little bit or all the way? and does it change when your foot is on the brake pedal. or when the parking lights are turned on?

 

switching them was my first thought, but the wires arent long enough, so I'm pretty sure they're in the right spot?

the brake light switch is currently disconnected, as there is no master in the car right now (going to a firewall mounted one, just not installed yet) but there is no change whether the parks are on or not. the light will shut off to flash if the right turn signal is turned on

 

what colors are the wires to the indicator lights in the dash, left and right? and what color are the wires to the front lights, under the hood, left and right? Did you look at the wiring connector for the switch, which should be close to the column, under the dash, to see if all the wire colors match correctly?

As for the glowing light with the ignition on, usually we blame strange turn signal issues on bad grounds...if the dash cluster is not grounded properly, and the power to the gas gauge is getting back fed into the turn indicator light that way, it might cause this problem?

 

There's 2 junction blocks under the hood holding the wiring for the parking & turn signal lamps. Sort them out there ...

 

okay, took a closer look... the sockets do appear to be switched (the colors for which socket were blinking match the colors under the hood) I was able to get them switched, but I had to move the entire wiring harness and everythings pulled pretty tight. so even though everything seems, well, wrong, from a fit standpoint, I'm going to consider that solved. I still have the glow. you mention the gas gauge.. mine is not connected as the tank is out of it (looked like swiss cheese, and smells like old stain) do you think that's what's going on there?

 

It could be that the turn signal switch is making part contact when it's "off". That's why I suggested wiggling the switch.

Otherwise, the gas gauge is the only thing near the turn indicator lights that gets power when you turn on the ignition switch. and a bad ground can cause interesting things like that to happen. Electricity takes the path of least resistance...if ground resistance is high, it finds a light bulb to light up on it's way back to the other side of the battery.

 

This link will help a bunch down the line. Maybe the wiring diagram will help also. http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1949_53/index.htm

 

thanks guys, I did try wiggling the switch, (although I forgot to mention that) nothing changed. I'll start looking for a grounding issue in the next couple days.

 

Get a ClassicWiring.Com 11x17 laminated schematic of your car. The wiring is in the color of the original wires with every option. About $20 you will never be sorry.

 

that's an excellent suggestion, I'll check it out!

 

Notice there aren't any turn signals on that 1949 wiring diagram..there aren't any on the 1954 diagram, either....

Turn signals were were optional or accessory equipment.

 

I did know that. do you know if there were different park light housings for the front on non-turn signal optioned cars? I've got to replace at least one of mine, (I can get the rust out of one, but the other has damaged pins)

 

I had similar issues on my 53' a few years back. I was able to sort most of it out by rearanging the wires where they plug in between the steering columb and the wire harness, and how they were connected at the junction blocks under the hood. It was tricky as it ended up being several overlapping misswire issues. The one that took the longest was that the pigtails comming out of the turn signal lamps are not interchangable. Theres one leg for the turn signal filament and one leg for the park lamp filament and they can't be switched for whatever reason.

Now to be honest, there is one last issue I havn't yet resolved: the dash turn signal lamps are on when there is no turn signal going, but flash off when the outside lights flash on. I think it's some kind of polarity issue, but I havn't sorted yet.

 

Chevy sold accessory turn signal kits that included the switch, wiring, and front sockets with dual filament bulbs. The original sockets had a single wire. So yes, there were different housings.