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Odd electrical problem with 1978 F150

I recently took ownership of a low mileage 78 F150. This truck has been the second vehicle for old guys since it was new. Our old neighbor bought it new and when he passed away, my father bought it (12 years ago with only 40k miles.) Now my father feels he's too old to drive it and gave it to me.

Anyway it has 69000 miles on it and I'm finding a lot of small age related problems from mostly not being driven much. What I'm dealing with now is the turn signals will not work with the headlights on. I replaced all the bulbs yesterday after noticing one of them was out (I'd rather do them all at once than piecemeal it.) Also sometimes the left turn indicator will sometimes come on with the headlights.

My guess is the 2 systems are shorted together somewhere. The bulb sockets look fine as does all the wiring. Any suggestions where to look next?

Tony

Reply to
Anthony W
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The grounds

Whitelightning

Reply to
Whitelightning

Congratulations on coming of age Tony.

Reply to
Al Bundy

Yes, definately a grounding issue somewhere. Could be tuff to find but start in dash area.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

Reply to
SnoMan

At 49, I'm the youngest owner of the truck but I sure as hell don't feel young. Turn your head and cough...

Tony

Reply to
Anthony W

Thanks. I've been meaning to tear into the dash to replace the bulbs anyway. I'll check the grounds while I'm in there.

I'll also look at the grounds for the signals. It's a good thing I buy dielectric grease in the large tube...

Tony

Reply to
Anthony W

Not making any assumptions here, as this has happened before . Make sure you put the correct bulbs in. they should be 1157, or 1157A in the front, and 1157 in the rear. If by mistake an 1156 was installed it can cause these types of issues with turn signals, especially the dash indicator lighting up when the park or head lights turned on.

Whitelightning

Reply to
Whitelightning

I bought to twin packs of 1157 bulbs but I'll check to see if they are shorting out across the terminals when I'm checking the grounds tomorrow.

Tony

Reply to
Anthony W

Don't forget to clean the rust out of the sockets while you're at it. ;) HD

Reply to
HoDad

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