What's easiest way to run turn signal wires back to the rear?

[central52]

Hooking up my directional signals, and running the front wires to the front parking lights is easy, but what's the best way to run the rear wires to the tail lights?

Go under the carpet, or snake a wire thru the top where I notice the rear wires seem to go thru? Or is there another easy way? Ed P.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I would be careful about trying to fish wires to the rear beneath the headliner..the wires that were factory run also are held in place by folded metal flaps...in fishing the wires, it would be very easy to damage old brittle wires reallly causing yourself a nightmare..to run the under the carpet and across the rear hump in the trunk will be less head ache and still be well protected.

[oldmopar]

if you are only running the directionals they should fit under the door mat.

[Norm's Coupe]

You shouldn't have to run wires through the car cabin to the tail lights to get directionals. Just make sure you have dual filament sockets in the tail lights. Then all connections to the signals can be hooked up to the original wiring under the dash and hood. It's been awhile since I hooked mine up, but believe you just tap into the stoplight switch wiring.

[Don Coatney]

You shouldn't have to run wires through the car cabin to the tail lights to get directionals. Just make sure you have dual filament sockets in the tail lights. Then all connections to the signals can be hooked up to the original wiring under the dash and hood. It's been awhile since I hooked mine up' date=' but believe you just tap into the stoplight switch wiring.[/quote']

Norm;

That is only true if the car left the factory with turn signal wiring in place. There is no turn signal wiring in my car so when I do the upgrade I must run additional wires to the rear and front of the car.

[Jims50chrysler]

I was into this on my car yesterday....the tail light sockets have 2 wires running to them in the case of the left tail light 1 wire hooks up to the headlight switch and the other to the left turn signal.

The turn signal switch is banana shaped and has 2 rows of 3 terminals. the inside terminals are for the front turn signals and the outside are for the rear turn signals the bottom 2 terminals on the switch are for left turn (green wires on my car) and the top terminals are for the right turn (brown wires on my car). The center inside terminal is power from the flasher unit (red wire) and the center outside terminal is power from the brake switch (red wire).

I am thinking that you are hooking up an aftermarket turn signal is there provision for six wires on the switch?

Are you hooking up seperate turn signals aside from your tail lights?

If you car never had factory turn signals I would suggest that the wire from the brake switch was run directly to the brake lights and not into the cabin of the car.

Hopefully this will be of some help to you.

Jim

[Norm's Coupe]

Norm;

That is only true if the car left the factory with turn signal wiring in place. There is no turn signal wiring in my car so when I do the upgrade I must run additional wires to the rear and front of the car.

Don,

My car did not have turn signals from the factory either. One reason I don't remember all the details is because my son was doing most of the work. He's my electronic guru and can do things faster than me. All we did was tap into the wiring under the dash and into the stop light switch. Then in the trunk we ran jumper wires from the center stop light on the trunk to the tail lights. That made all my lights act as stop lights and the two tail lights work as all three stop, turn and tail light. You do have to tap in trunk properly though. First time we wired it, the center stop light would also come on with the directional. After moving things around a little, we finally got the right tap so the center light only comes on with the brake.

I could check with my son to see if he remembers how we did it if anyone is interested.

[David Maxwell]

..., my friend decided to make future changes a little easier on his. He installed conduit in the roof so that fishing new wire in the future will be a snap.

[martybose]

When I rewired my car, I just carefully disconnected the front and left side of the headliner, then had an upholstery shop put it back in place. Wasn't expensive at all.

Marty

[grey beard]

Gentlemen,

You cannot run wiriing from the stop light switch directly to tail lights with any aftermarket signal switch arrangement. The stop light switch wire goes to the signal switch and from there to left and right tail lamps respectively. The signal the tail lamps receive is then actually an interrupted brake light signal.

Double filament tail light bulbs use the dim element for the tail lamp. The brighter of the two signals will need to come from the signal switch, and will be used for either brake or signal functions. It is for this reason that wiring must be run from the signal switch to the tail lights - unless the vehicle had factory signals originally installed, in which case the wiring is already in place.

There have been several signal schematics posted on this forum and elxsewhere, over the past years. Just do a search for them and you will see what I am talking about.

[central52]

O.K. guys, help me run thru this procedure. I just want to run directional signals into the rear tail lites and front parking lights. I'll keep the original brake lite on the trunk separate from the signal lights. I think that simplifies it a little.

So, my kit has seven wires that come out of the signal switch. Four of which go to the front and rear lites. So far, so good. Two go to the flasher marked L and P. (And on the flasher, there is an X, a seperate wire with fuse runs from this to the positive power source).

So, that's six wires from the switch itself. The seventh wire from the switch is marked to go to the brake switch. Now, my question. Is this wire necessary to hook up to the brake switch since I'm keeping the brake light seperate? Can I just leave it alone and put electrical tape on the end and just let it dangle by itself all alone?

I hate to think I have to make this connection. I just put in a mechanical switch, and it's a pain to get to the switch itself. Ed P.

[oldmopar]

Yes that completes the circut

[central52]

O.K., OldMopar, I know I'm getting anal about this, but please bear with me. So, I have to connect that seventh wire to the brake switch. There are two connections on it. Does it matter which one I use? And by doing this, the wire I take off can just dangle there? Or can I just splice this seventh wire into either one of the brake switch wires. And my single brake lite on the trunk will still work as it should? Ed P.

[james curl]

One of the wires on the brake light switch is hot all of the time, the other only when the brakes are applied. The seventh wire is spliced into the terminal that is only hot when the brakes are applied. The double filament bulbs do double duty, brake light with out the turn signal, turn signal with out the brakes being applied and brake lights that flash as turn signal when both are applied.

[oldmopar]

Here is a generic diagram about directionals from the manual it is a 6 wire you said you have 7 but maybe it will help

[central52]

Since both wires coming out of the brake lite switch are the same color, I guess I have to experiment with each one to see which is the wire I have to splice into. Am I correct in assuming this?

So, by scraping off the insulation of the brake switch wire and wrapping the seventh wire from the signal switch onto it, I should then have my directional signals working properly? I hope, I hope, I hope. Ed P.

[james curl]

Yes, that allows the center light to remain independent from the turn signal system and the brake lights integrate into the signal system.

[central52]

I must be doing something wrong. I finally hooked up that seventh wire to the brake lite wire coming from the brake switch. I determined which wire it was, not the hot one. And I hooked up the power wire that runs from the flasher to the hot connection on the headlite switch. Tried the lever on the signal switch....left and right.....nothing!

So, I was wondering if it's the unit I bought from BlueOvalTruckParts. A person on our forum said he bought one from them and it was O.K. Now this unit said it was for a 12 volt system, but, as I understand from other people on the forum, these can also work on a 6 volt system.(I have a 47 Plymouth).

If this unit can and should work, what could be the problem? How can I trace it? I know a ground is very important. Where should I start?

Or, should I just buy another unit on e-bay that says it should work for a 6 volt system? Ed P.

[martybose]

6v, 12v makes no difference. Just the bulb (in the handle) needs to be changed so it will be bright.

I didn't see any mention of a 6 Volt flasher in this thread; a 12 Volt one wouldn't do anything.

Marty

[BobT-47P15]

Riiight, Marty. Now, that WOULD make a difference.

[greg g]

Mine won't work unless the ign switch is in the on positon. The flasher for 6 V is a 635, and were it me, I would leave the 12v indicator light bulb. My personal preference if for dimmer interior lighting at night. That indicator is to bright for my tastes.

Are you sure you want the power coming form the headlights don't you want your signals during the day light also? I believe your post said you picked up power from the head light switch. Which terminal? The one that is powered all the time or one of the ones that are hot with the switch on? You want one that is hot with ign on or one that is hot all the time, but then your signals will work after your car is shut off if you accidentally leave one on.

[central52]

Hi guys. I hooked up the power wire to the headlite connection that's always hot. And the flasher is a 6 volt. I used a tester lite at the connection to the flasher and it's hot. Now, if I tested the connection on the flasher that goes to the signal unit, (there's two wires). Would that be hot, and would the tester lite go on?

I'm glad I don't have to change the whole set-up again, if as you people mentioned, the 12 volt unit should work.

For the connection to the brake switch wire, I just wrapped the signal switch wire around it and pinched it with pliers. Should this be more tight? What's the best way to splice into the brake switch wire?

I'm also concerned whether or not, it's all grounded properly. I scraped some paint off the steering post where the strapping bracket is attached, and I ran a wire from the screw on the bottom of the signal unit to a screw on the dash.

Would the system go on, even if a lite, say the right rear, is not grounded properly? Or does the whole thing shut down if a wire is not grounded anywhere? Whew! Ed P.

[oldmopar]

If one of the lights is not grounded properly that light will not work or be very dim the others should work.

I would secure the brake light wire better just wrapping it around it may come loose with a good bump. Either remove about a inch of coating on the original wire and wrap the new wire around or cut the original brake light wire and pigtail (twist) all 3 ends together and solder or use a connector.

[Don St Peter]

The saga continues.

On my restored to original 40 Ply P-9 there are no provisions for turn signals. I have totally replaced the wiring harness with a new one ( made to spec ), and now want to add turn signals. I have thus been following and learning with interest the discussions taking place.

As I it see it, my first ( and prefered ) choice would be to add the turn signal features thru the existing front park lights and the tail/stop lights. The next choice would be to "add" seperate turn signal lights.

In studying the 7 wire turn signal diagram posted by Don Coatney, it looks like the nomenclatures for wires #3 & #4 from the flasher are reversed ( although probably doesn't affect anything ). I'm also a bit confused on the "tail switch" shown, since my car has no "tail switch" nor brake light on the trunk.

On my P-9, when I move the dash light switch to the partically out position, I get front park lights and tail lights. When I pull the switch full out the park lights go out and the head lights come on. Of course the tail lights stay on and ( if I push hard enough ) I get stop lights. All as advertised.

The left & right front park light bulb socket has a single wire to the terminal block, from which power is picked up. The left & right tail lights each have 2 wires from the bulb socket, one to the dash mounted light switch and the other to the stop light switch.

Finally, I get to my questions.

1. If I buy 6 volt dual element, dual contact, bulbs to replace my existing park and tail light bulbs as stated by Don Coatney in his post, do I also need to replace the bulb sockets with a two wire provision for park light and a three wire provision for tail/stop lights in order to provide places to wire in the 7 wire turn signal/flasher per the wiring diagram?

2. I know what the dual element bulb does for me but, since I'm not sure what the "dual contact" feature of a bulb is, can someone explain that to me and how that fits in here?

3. The existing park light bulbs are very small, by necessity because of close clearence to the glass. Can I get small or low profile bulbs with needed features?

3. Do those, in the know, recommend a seperate turn signal light for front and rear?

I'm very sorry fot the long post.

Thanks

Don

[BobT-47P15]

Don.....I would say part of the answer is.....you would need two contact

bases for the front bulbs. Not sure if you can get a small double filament

bulb. If not, then you might need auxilliary front turn signal lights.

The rear ones should be OK....you already have two filaments....the turn

signals would share the brighter filament. Would have to tap into that

side of the base. Not sure of the rest of the answers.