Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Fixing the Turn Signal

Yesterday I worked on my 1953 F-6 Ford truck with a 351 Windsor engine. To most I could have said “Truck” and that would have been enough.

The task I set for myself was to get the turn signals to working. They never had worked right and I had bought a brand new aftermarket turn switch. It sure did look shiny coming out of the box and I had all the lights, bells and whistles. I cut the old rusty one off the steering column and laid it aside.

The problem I faced, one that often confronts me was figuring out how it worked…I mean I knew how it worked in theory but what were all those wires supposed to attach to. Two years ago I bought the switch and was in the process of installing it when I got drawn away on more important matters. In the interim the instructions had gotten misplaced, however this is such a frequent occurrence and since I refer to instructions as little as possible I was not deterred.

Allow me to digress for a minute on instructions. For the most part instructions tend to be almost totally worthless. Either they are written in engineering language that only a highly skilled technician could ever hope to understand, or they are written in Chinese and translated by a totally non technical linguist. The only exception I have see recently are the instructions that come with this cheap computer furniture desks and drawers. Is that stuff ever junk, but the instructions are great. If Asia ever figures out what quality assurance is they already know how to write good instructions if they talk to their furniture manufacturers.

Where was I? Oh yeah! The turn signal on the Truck. Since I didn’t have any instructions I decided to use my signature approach to figuring out electrical stuff. The first thing I checked out was the “Test Appliance.” It lit. Next I checked out the flasher module. It flashed. Then I took the batter, some wires and connections and the appliance and started touching the wires and flipping the switch to see what would happen. The switch had eight wires coming out of it. Soon my efforts were warded. When the stitch was pulled down the light lit and not only that but it flashed. Who need instructions ? I thought smugly to myself. The yellow wire activities the left turn signal. I then proceeded to touch the other wires searching for the right turn signal but to no avail. It never occurred to me that my beautiful Chinese manufactured switch might be defective.

Maybe I reasoned the flasher module is designed to distribute the power to two circuits. Since my flasher only had two prongs maybe I needed a three pronged.

I then wasted altogether too much time and effort going to the parts store and purchasing a three prong flasher. This too was defective. Regardless how I routed power in the module nothing came out much less something that was flashing. Growing increasingly frustrated I took the switch apart thinking it might be a connector had come loose I could solder back. No luck. Then a couple of springs popped out that I never could quite figure out how to put back in. So much for the warranty…then again I no longer had the receipt and even if I had it would have been over a year old….get the picture…imagine the frustration. In a pique I threw the new switch and flasher module out the window and looked about for the old unit. Imagine once more my disappointment.

It had an accumulation of over fifty years rust. I blew it off, made sure the connections were clean and hooked it into the circuit. The indicator lights flickered and when I switched it on the left flashers on the truck worked. Then I raised the lever and guess what. The right indicator lights, front and back worked. A simple old switch, made in the good old US of A after fifty years, the last twenty exposed to the elements worked and this crap from China and Taiwan is now sitting in the dumpster.