47P15Cruiser Posted March 17, 2017 Report Share Posted March 17, 2017 hey hows it going I'm having some issue wit the brake lights not working when pressed on the brake but when yu turn the light on they turn on, and also with my front turn signal on the right doesn't work but the rear does 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busycoupe Posted March 17, 2017 Report Share Posted March 17, 2017 It is difficult to tell from your description which lights are, or are not working. However, crazy patterns of lights not working are often due to bad ground connections. I would start chasing the problem by cleaning all of ground connections on the light sockets and checking that they are securely grounded to the body by using an ohm meter. Also check to make sure that the engine block is grounded to the body. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medium_jon Posted March 17, 2017 Report Share Posted March 17, 2017 1 hour ago, 47P15Cruiser said: hey hows it going I'm having some issue wit the brake lights not working when pressed on the brake but when yu turn the light on they turn on, and also with my front turn signal on the right doesn't work but the rear does I have the same problem on my P20. But the weather hasn't been nice enough to let me figure it out. I'm guessing since the tail lights work that it isn't a ground problem at the bulb since my lights use double filiment bulbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busycoupe Posted March 17, 2017 Report Share Posted March 17, 2017 If there is weak ground at the socket the tail lights could still work by the electricity feeding back and grounding through the other filament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knuckleharley Posted March 17, 2017 Report Share Posted March 17, 2017 39 minutes ago, medium_jon said: I have the same problem on my P20. But the weather hasn't been nice enough to let me figure it out. I'm guessing since the tail lights work that it isn't a ground problem at the bulb since my lights use double filiment bulbs Don't be so sure. There are two contacts inside the taillight housing,and they both go to different places at the other end. You could have a bad ground in your taillight,you could just have a bulb with one side burnt out,or you could have a bad brake light switch or one that just needs cleaning. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDoctor Posted March 18, 2017 Report Share Posted March 18, 2017 Originally, the P15 had only one brake light, the one in the center of the trunk lid, and it’s a single-filament bulb. The taillights are also single-filament, and that’s all they are—tail lights. From the information I have, turn signals were available for the P15, but they were of a clamp-on addition. As such, neither the park lights in the front, nor the tail lights in the rear, incorporated the turn signal feature, so they were single filament bulbs, too. When I rewired our car, I changed the sockets for the park lights, and the tail lights, to two-contact type, and incorporated the brake light feature in both of the tail lights, as well as the trunk brake light, and the turn signal feature in the park lights and the tail lights. I also have a buss-bar type of ground located under the hood, under the dashboard, and in the trunk, and each connects to the body. They’re all also connected to the engine, which is connected to the negative side of the battery, and to the frame, and the body. I admit that I went overboard with the grounds, but our Cadillac has several grounds because of all of the electronics, so I decided that too many grounds presents no problems, and is better than too few grounds. KnuckleHarley’s correct about the ground issue, as well as one of the filaments being burnt out, while the other one may still be viable. Also, Ron Francis Wiring stresses that the first thing to check when trouble shooting is the grounds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Skinner Posted March 18, 2017 Report Share Posted March 18, 2017 Been experiencing this for 44 years with multiple 6 volt old Chrysler's. 99% of the time a bad bulb or ground. Good luck chasing it down. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knuckleharley Posted March 18, 2017 Report Share Posted March 18, 2017 39 minutes ago, The Dr's In said: Originally, the P15 had only one brake light, the one in the center of the trunk lid, and it’s a single-filament bulb. The taillights are also single-filament, and that’s all they are—tail lights. From the information I have, turn signals were available for the P15, but they were of a clamp-on addition. As such, neither the park lights in the front, nor the tail lights in the rear, incorporated the turn signal feature, so they were single filament bulbs, too. When I rewired our car, I changed the sockets for the park lights, and the tail lights, to two-contact type, and incorporated the brake light feature in both of the tail lights, as well as the trunk brake light, and the turn signal feature in the park lights and the tail lights. YIKES! It's been so long since I did this to my P-15 coupe that I forgot all about it. The light in the center of my trunk is now a 3rd brake light,and both of my taillight housings have dual element sockets and bulbs. So do the parking lights in the front. I should have remembered that. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatie46 Posted March 18, 2017 Report Share Posted March 18, 2017 I was under the impression that factory original turn signals on 46-48 Plymouths were pretty rare. There was a thread about this years ago, someone posted how rare a turn signal indicator was in one of these cars. I just happen to catch the thread and realized one of my cars had the indicator. I think someone posted that Dodge turn signal indicators were more common but were different that the Plymouth. When I posted the pic of mine I received 2 PM's with nice offers to buy it, I declined to sell, still have it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Ed Posted March 18, 2017 Report Share Posted March 18, 2017 26 minutes ago, Flatie46 said: I was under the impression that factory original turn signals on 46-48 Plymouths were pretty rare. There was a thread about this years ago, someone posted how rare a turn signal indicator was in one of these cars. I just happen to catch the thread and realized one of my cars had the indicator. I think someone posted that Dodge turn signal indicators were more common but were different that the Plymouth. When I posted the pic of mine I received 2 PM's with nice offers to buy it, I declined to sell, still have it. That is 100% correct. I've got everything to put factory signals on my car except for the indicator/high beam piece Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatie46 Posted March 18, 2017 Report Share Posted March 18, 2017 I've never seen one in a Dodge either myself, I'm not sure how different they are. May have even mentioned it in that old thread or posted a pic in comparison. The thread was about rare and hard to find P15 parts. This was prob 7 or 8 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Ed Posted March 18, 2017 Report Share Posted March 18, 2017 10 hours ago, Flatie46 said: I've never seen one in a Dodge either myself, I'm not sure how different they are. May have even mentioned it in that old thread or posted a pic in comparison. The thread was about rare and hard to find P15 parts. This was prob 7 or 8 years ago. The dodge one is straight the plymouth one is angled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted March 18, 2017 Report Share Posted March 18, 2017 It appears your 47P15 Cruiser has been molested by previous owners. As stated stock P 15's did not come with signal lights and the brake light was the center lamp on the trunk lid. There were several options available from the after market to add signal lights. Some incorporated the brake light function into the lights, some did not. This can be determined fairly easily by looking at the wiring going into the switch and the number of wires coming out of the switch going to the lamps. The simplest would have one power wire from an independent power source and the other either powered from or powering through the brakelight switch. Take a look and report what you find.. Also look for a makers mark on the housing of the signal switch assembly and tell us any names and numbers you find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatie46 Posted March 18, 2017 Report Share Posted March 18, 2017 2 hours ago, Young Ed said: The dodge one is straight the plymouth one is angled. It's still on the dash of the car I pulled it from. The dash is in the rafters, I'll pull it down and post a pic when I get a chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatie46 Posted April 3, 2017 Report Share Posted April 3, 2017 Finally got a chance to get a pic of that turn signal indicator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverdome Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 Does anyone have a picture of the lever assembly that attaches to the steering column? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonaldSmith Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 (edited) Here's the turn signal switch, usually after-market, dealer-installed. Cover off This vintage style doesn't have the circuit to interrupt the brake lights, like the newer types. No problem with the dual-filament bulbs at the front, but no good with trying to have brake and turn lights at the tail lights. So I squeezed three quartz bulbs in my tail lights housings, for tail, turn and brake. Some guys add auxiliary turn signal lights. (The rocker switch which I added is an emergency flasher switch and turns on all the flasher bulbs.) Edited April 4, 2017 by DonaldSmith additional info 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverdome Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 Very nice. Thank you Donald. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superbyrd Posted April 6, 2017 Report Share Posted April 6, 2017 this is the ones on my 48 dodge coupe.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medium_jon Posted April 6, 2017 Report Share Posted April 6, 2017 So that's what they look like. Very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
47P15Cruiser Posted April 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 thanks guys it was a bad ground connection and thanks for the help and I highly appreciate it and sorry for the late reply but hey better late than never lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oiler_Elrod Posted June 23, 2021 Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 (edited) post deleted Edited June 25, 2021 by Oiler_Elrod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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