Working on this 1971 mach1 and the turn signals don't work the left side comes on, the right side comes on,but neither flash.I can only find 1 flasher not 2 like most cars.The hazzard lights work fine and you can hear the flasher working for those,but nothing on the signals.Any help woulde be great. Derek.
That will happen if one of your bulbs is dead...eg. if your front right turn signal bulb is dead, the rear right and right indicator lights will come on full and not blink. Also if one of your bulb sockets is not seated very well or has poor metal-to-metal contact. So, make sure all the bulbs are connected tightly (wiggle the sockets onto the frame to make sure they are grounded good) and that they are all in good working order.
You say you only see one flasher, and it clicks with the 4 ways on... It sounds to me like you are missing the turn signal flasher itself. I'd be looking around under the dash for an empty flasher connector, or two wires of the same color that have been cut and taped together. On my '73 4 door, someone had cut the connector for the flasher off, and just twised the wires together so that when your turned the signals on, they would just stay lit up, you had to flash them by hand.
Yea i guess i should look for somones elses hack job.I must have spent nearly 2 hours under the dash of the car today.I know the sockets are good because the 4 way flashers still work.I had the gauge cluster out,the center radio/gauge plate out,kick panels off,fuse box out,heck the guy who owns the car even bought a new signal switch assy and i put that in.I guess i'm going to have to keep searching for those flasher wires.
I'm betting the flasher is still there. Did you try feeling up just on the inside of the dash around the steering column area? Also check very close around the glove box area fastened to the metal dash...however I do think it will be close to the column.
Thanks Ray,I'll do some more standing on my head today and i'll let you know what i find or don't find. Derek
hello my friends... i have the same problem... i changed the bulbs and still no luck... could it be caused by the other side being bad (but it still works)
Chasing wiring ghosts is sometimes nightmarish. I have a complete metal dash out of a '73 well optioned Mach 1. It's wiring harness is still attached. It does not appear to be cut in any way. I found only one flasher, located next to the glove box. I have another one from a low optioned '71 Mach 1 up in the upper storage area. I am going to work shortly, but I will get it out tomorrow morning and look at it, too. I just fixed my brake lights on one of the '69 Cougars by replacing the turn signal switch. It seems all the power to the turn signals and brakes go through this switch. Old cars, got to love them! Jim
The most common problem is poor grounding at the light bulb socket as previously suggested. It can manifest in a number of strange ways depending on where the bad connection is. This was the problem with my '71. The flasher for the turn signals should be located under the dash above where your high beam switch is mounted on the floor. There will also be something that looks like a flasher near the glove box area, but that is in fact a buzzer for when the key is in and the door is open, (or other such reminders.) The lights that were giving me troubles were the ones located under the front bumper. They were very corroded. If you unbolt the light and clean the surface where it mounts this should clear up any trouble if that's your problem.
All 71 Mustangs had two flashers. Every Ford product I have ever worked on that had emergency flashers had 2 flashers...at least back to the mid 60's. I'm not sure about anything older than that.
