Side marker lights & front parking lights

djw&cjw71lemans

djw&cjw71lemans

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Can someone tell me if a 78 TA front side marker lights should be on when the headlights are on or not? My 78 they blink when the blinkers are on but otherwise never come on. That seems weird to me since the rears are on when the headlight switch is on. Also the front parking lights that are in the bumper cover also blink only and are not on with the headlight switch on. Any help would be appreciated. I am trying to determine the correct behavior. Thanks
 
Look at the bulb for the front in bumper lights they should have a dual element 1157 bulb if someone crammed in a incorrect 1156 single element bulb the side markers will not work as intended
The side markers should just come on with the lights and not flash. Also the side marker bulbs should be a single element bulb possibly a 194
Keep in mind I am going by a very old and rusty memory storage unit. LOL.
To know for sure pop out one of the front Turing signal sockets remove the bulb it should have two contacts then look at the bulb does it have just one connection?
However someone could have been mucking around with the wiring
I had a similar issue with my ford ranger someone ran a jumper wire to force lights on or to flash when they were not designed to. Kids these days call it modding I call it hacking up a nice car.
 
Thanks. I just checked and even put a dual element 1157 in the front and still they only blink. Also the side marker I put a new 194 and got the same results blinker only. I'm lost at this point and think the side markers and especially the two element front parking lights should come on with headlight switch.
 
Does the socket support the 1157 and have the two connections for the 1157 bulbs ? Did it have a 1156 bulb in it?
You may have to unwrap the wire loom and electrical tape from the wires to expose hidden work, splices to the harness.
At this point you will need a wiring diagram to see how the car was supposed to be wired.
However I think once you peel back the tape you will see someone has been playing with the wires.
The work should be obvious just post pictures of what your finding so we can help better
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We are dealing with a older car, one that could have been wrecked or otherwise tampered with. The wiring harness and insulation may have hardened over the years causing the wires to become brittle and breaking or who knows what less than desirable work has been done to it over the years.

So for now please take many pictures and post them of the wiring your working on the under the hood and under the dash.
Let us know about any aftermarket equipment that is installed alarms etc
 
The socket does support the 1157 and that's what is in it. You're right that I need to know how they are supposed to work and was hoping someone with a similar car could tell me. I'm pretty sure with the two element 1157 they should come on with lights and blinkers. It's just weird the front side markers are also doing the same thing. The only after market things I know of are a stereo and an oil pressure gauge. The rest seems original and the wires don't seem to be spliced or reworked at or near the sockets at least. Thanks
 
If you have not looked under the dash near the steering column you may want to this is where people tend to splice in aftermarket alarms and hack up the original harness to cause things like the lights to flash when the alarm is activated . If the alarm went bad and it was removed or disabled and they left the wiring hacked up your problem may be easy to fix.
Please clear this up for me did the front sockets have 1156 bulbs In It?
Have you checked all your fuses with a test light.
Not too many other people that are active on this site will pipe in. It is even harder to find a helpful person with the same 1978 TA to pipe in and help.

If my help is not useful to you I will be happy to stop responding just let me know.
 
Btw the front sockets could have been replaced with aftermarket sockets. You need to un wrap the wires far enough back to insure the wire colors match the harness wires.
If they do not match they have been replaced and may have been installed incorrectly if there are any splices you need to get a wiring diagram and make sure the wiring matches the diagram
The key to this is a factory service manual
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As stated above the 194 is used in the sidemarker and the 1157A is used in the front. You need a test light or voltmeter to probe the socket in the front for power when the directional switch is off. All of the lights should be on when the headlights are on.
 
This has been very helpful. Sorry if I came off any other way. To confirm there were 1157 bulbs in it already. I have replaced with new ones but it didn't change anything. Thanks again.
 
Like melsg5 said turn your headlights on, check for power with a test light or dvom if you have no power, check your fuses with the test light or dvom on both sides of each fuse in the fuse block.
while your under the dash look for signs of crimp connectors and crappy wiring
or a rats nest that once belonged to a alarm system.

Once you do this get back to us.
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