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August 6, 2002 Lights!Well, the exhaust system on the Buick is officially junk. The pipe between the manifolds and the muffler has rotted out completely, so very little exhaust is actually going through the muffler. It's loud again, so I'll need to install a new exhaust system before I can drive it any more. But let's move on to today's project, which was more successful than the exhaust project: If I want to drive the car at all this summer, in addition to the exhaust issue, the lack of signal lights is a problem that needs to be addressed. I solved the brake light problem a week ago, and have not had a problem with the headlights, but all the other lights on the car are either non-functional or unreliable. The left front turn signal works occasionally, but rarely when the parking lights are on. The right turn signal has never worked for me, and the parking light will not illuminate at all. The taillights are functional, but not the rear turn signals, so I decided that I'd try to get them working. I also located a set of decent used parking light lenses on Ebay, so hopefully I'll have those by next week to make the lights complete again. On the way home from work, I stopped at the local auto parts store to see if I could score some 6-volt bulbs. Though the guy behind the counter assured me that they didn't carry 6-volt lights, he allowed me to poke around in the bins at the back of the store. I was actually able to find four 6-volt dual-filament bulbs (for the parking lights/turn signals and the brake lights) and four monofilament bulbs (for the rear turn signals). I bought them all so I would have some spares. I also purchased some 14-gauge wire to replace the crumbling original wire and some new bulb sockets. The sockets weren't exact matches, but I figured I could make them work with a little fabrication. I bought two dual-filament sockets for the parking lights and two monofilament sockets for the rear turn signals.
I attacked the right front turn signal/parking light first. Since it never worked, I knew there was something beyond a burned-out bulb wrong with it. The socket is not removable, so I removed the guts which included a crumbling resin disc that held the two hot contacts. Behind the disc were two small springs that hold the bulb in place. Fortunately, bulb technology has not changed much in the past 60 years, and the replacement sockets worked much the same way. With some fabrication, I was able to make a plastic disk so the new contacts would work with the original springs. I fed the wires through the housing and plugged in a bulb. Before running any additional wire, I tried testing the bulb and connections by running a lead wire from the positive (+) battery terminal to the bulb's signal wire. Nothing. Next I tried running a second lead wire from the negative (-) battery terminal to the housing for ground. The bulb lit right up! Therefore, I must have a bad ground. In fact, touching the negative battery terminal lead wire to any point on the entire chrome turn signal housing illuminated the bulb, so I surmised that the entire housing must be electrically isolated from the body by years of rust and other crud. I looked under the fender and located the mounting screws. They were all very rusty. So I removed one, hit the underside of the fender at the mounting hole with a wire wheel, and installed a new stainless bolt and washer with some dielectric grease. With a good ground, the bulb lit up without the ground lead wire. After that, it was a simple matter to run the wires up to the junction block under the hood and make the proper connections. When I turned on the parking lights, both bulbs came on. Success! Unfortunately, the right turn signal still didn't work, and the ammeter showed no signs that any current was being directed to it. There must be a loose wire at the steering column switch or on the flasher assembly. I'll have to check that another time.
I figured that since the right side had a bad ground, that might explain why the left side bulb was so unreliable. So I did the same cleaning procedure under the fender and installed another stainless bolt. The parking light might have seemed brighter, but the left signal was still weak and inconsistent, and flat-out refused to work with the parking lights on. Hmmmm... Frustrated with the front signals, I turned my attention to the rear turn signals. Since the tail and brake lights work fine, I pulled the receptacles for the turn signals and removed the bulbs. Fresh bulbs did not help, so there was something else wrong. On the right side, I figured that whatever was preventing the front signal from working was also killing the rear signal, so I didn't waste a lot of time on it beyond cleaning the contacts and putting in a new bulb. I found that the left signal bulb socket was badly corroded, so badly in fact that I couldn't remove the bulb without a pair of pliers and some Liquid Wrench. I ended up crushing the bulb to get it out. After that, I put the whole assembly on the wire wheel and cleaned up the exterior, then took my Dremel and a small sanding roll and cleaned the corrosion out of the inside of the socket as well. Finally, I installed a fresh bulb and reinserted the socket into the tail light housing.
When I tried the left turn signal now, it was a completely different story! The front light flashed brightly at a consistent speed. The rear light flashed in time, illuminating the little left-pointing arrow in the tail light housing. Even the arrow on the dashboard was flashing! Apparently, not having the rear bulb functional somehow limited the current of the entire system. With a good bulb in place and a good ground, the signal worked flawlessly.
Strangely, however, the parking lights don't work when the headlights are on. I can't find any reference to this in any of the manuals, but I suspect it is intentional. With a 6-volt electrical system, there typically isn't enough reserve capacity to run "unnecessary" lights. I suppose that the engineers figured that with the headlights on, why have the parking lights burning as well? The turn signals, of course, work no matter which lights are on. Can anyone with a '41 confirm or deny this as correct? E-mail me. So I now have about 85% of the bulbs working properly. I believe the right turn signal has a broken or loose wire at the switch that prevents it from operating correctly. I'm not too concerned for a couple of reasons: 1) I'll be replacing all the wiring eventually anyway, and 2) the left signal is far more important than the right, and I can always use hand signals if I have to.
I felt really good about getting this done--electrical work has never been my forte, but getting these old systems to work again is very rewarding. I even called Julia down to watch the bulbs flash--I'm such a dork. I still can't get over how different it feels to work on this car compared to working on the Ranger or the Corvettes I used to build--everything is low-stress and I find that I don't have any problems taking my time and remaining patient with the process. If things work, great! If not, it's really no big deal because I know I will be replacing everything eventually and it isn't vital right now. Sure, the right turn signal doesn't work now, but it will when I install the new wiring harness. This is quite a contrast; I find myself enjoying the journey at least as much as I expect I'll enjoy the destination. And that is exactly what this hobby is all about.
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