• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Direction indicators not working

Share this page

Hi Vette and Ray
Thank you both for taking time to provide a thorough explanation and guide through this process. Also, Vette ,the diagram was a great help in understanding the circuit.
Ok, so I have now concluded that there is a fault with the trafficator. The green wire is hot but neither the green and blue wire nor the green and yellow wire are hot after switching! As you say, these wires energise the relay so I am getting no power there.
As Vette suggested I jumped green to green and blue and indeed, the flasher worked. So after all that I will follow Vettes suggestion and fit a separate indicator switch on the dash. ( I had this arrangement on my previous TR3 and it was fine.)
So I will leave the brown wires untouched.
I guess I leave the green wire intact as it is needed for the horn but will tap off the connection and take this hot wire to the new flasher switch
I will disconnect the green and blue wire and the green and yellow wire and take a wire from each of them to the new switch.

I will think about what to do with the trafficator and thank glemon for his comments. I will no doubt post a new thread on the trafficator issue later (perhaps much later) on but I do have one question please
Can I just check out the mechanical function of the switch without removing the whole head. I have read that you can remove the bakelite cover by removing the horn push, taking out the two blades and undoing a further screw to remove the cover. Question, aren't there nuts on the end of these screws, are they captive so that you can reassemble?

Thanks once again for your detailed help in resolving this problem, I really appreciate it.
Steve
 
Steve, I must admit that I have never taken trafficator apart. Mine quit the canceling function and I just left it that way. I can cancel it manually alot easier that fiddling with that thing. Some day if another reason comes up to work on it I will fix it.
THE GREEN WIRE IS NOT USED FOR THE HORN BUTTON!!! THE HORN IS A TOTALLY SEPARATE CIRCUIT. THE WIRE THAT IS GOING UP THE STEERING COLUMN FOR THE HORN IS BROWN with a black tracer. This is a ground wire for the horn, when you push the horn button it grounds this brown/black wire completing the ground side of the horn circuit and causing the horn to blow. Just leave this wire alone. Disconnect the green wire, the green blue wire and the green yellow wire at the base of the
steering box and run them to your new switch.
 
Hi Steve,

From your last post, I guess I did misinterpret your statements about having power at both client circuits as well as the main feed (simultaneously) at the steering column.

I have pulled the trafficator to clean and check the unit a while back and, although a pain, I did not find it overly difficult. There is a step-by-step that shows all you need to know (downloadable) at www.healey6.com ( https://www.healey6.com/Technical/Trafficator Repairs.pdf ). Since it is highly pictorial, it will give you a good view of what is involved.

If you decide to remove the unit, you will have to cut the connectors from the main and client wires at the bottom of the steering column to pull the lines out with the unit. Don't forget to tie a line onto the ends of the wires to pull them back through the column when reinstalling the trafficator.

Good luck,
Ray(64BJ8P1)
 
RAC68 said:
If you decide to remove the unit, you will have to cut the connectors from the main and client wires at the bottom of the steering column to pull the lines out with the unit. Don't forget to tie a line onto the ends of the wires to pull them back through the column when reinstalling the trafficator.

Good luck,
Ray(64BJ8P1)
Click to expand...

Ray,

I don't think it's necessary to cut the wires, just detach them at the bullet connectors. The wires are of different lengths so the bullets can be fed up into the tube one at a time. Tieing them with fishing line is a good idea to help in "fishing" them back through the column.
 
I found it necessary to remove bullets 2 - 4 with heat-shrink tubing around the wires. Details: https://www.pbase.com/stevegerow/image/128474252
Bullets can be drilled out with 1/16" drill for soldering to wires after pulling through stator tube.
StatorPullSetup.jpg
 
Hi All,

Yes, I totally agree that you don't have to cut the wires. You just have to remove the bullet connectors. I was thinking that cutting the wire at the bullet allows the bullet's removal and re-soldered replacement on a clean piece of the wire. Sorry if I was not clear.

STEVE, before you take anything apart, I would suggest you get a can of spray Tuner/CONTACT Cleaner and give the Trafficator Switch area a good spray. When spraying, move the switch from side to side when spraying and allow to dry (a minute or so). Then try the switch and see if the problem has cleared. Since you have power to the main but not to the client connectors, the switch is not transferring the power and since the switch is opened to the top, could vulnerable.

Good luck,
Ray(64BJ8P1)
 
Thanks everyone
I happened to attend the Austin Healey Club International event not far from here today. Peter Healey was presenting the concours prizes.
Keith from Ahead4Healeys was there and he talked me through the trafficator. He restores 35 trafficators a year to a high standard and advised me not to try taking the front cover off without removing the complete head. I do now understand why!
Keith thought my trafficator was in pretty good condition with a positive movement of the lever and that the problem might be electrical. He said if the person who assembled the unit didn't use shakeproof washers under the small nuts a wire might have worked loose. Also, the boss onto which the mota lita wheel is mounted is period but only uses one grub screw rather than three to hold the control head. It may be that this may have contributed to the problem.
In any case I will for now install the separate indicator switch on the dash.
Ray, I do have a spray can of ULS Ultrasolve which is a cleaning solvent for use on electro-mechanical assemblies so before doing anything I will spray and move the lever side to side. It is certainly worth a try.
Vette thanks for clarification about the green wire.
Thanks again for guiding me through this.
Steve
 
Good day Steve,
with the help of a hand drawn exploded view of the control head that I found in an old "Healey Highlights" I dismantled my trafficator switch. I found that wear in the contacts where they engage on a brass quadrant was the cause of my trafficators not working. I also found that the Bakelite ring at the base of the actuating lever was worn, causing a lot of play. I was able to rework it enough to get the things working but now they only occasionally self-cancell. I believe this is because the high spot on the cancelling ring (alloy on a 100) was worn away.
If you do decide to have a go at it, remember that some of the parts are spring loaded and can fly out unexpectedly.
 
Hi pan
Thanks for that
I have been advised to encapsulate myself in a bubble to make sure I don't lose and of the exploding parts!
Putting it off until I have more courage
Steve
 
Hi
I have now wired in a separate indicator switch under the dash and indicators working. Thanks for your help in identifying the problem.
Steve
 
Back
Top