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Right Blinker suddenly goes out

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Tony, since you are close to MD why not call Inan at Healey Surgeons and see if she can not find a good used replacement lamp assy for you.It seems that the present course of action is only going to result in more problems at a later date-FWIW---Keoke
 
Well Everyone,

Thanks for the input on stuff. I found a bucket that seems to fit well. When I temporarily wired it up to the car, to see if it works before making a permenant connection, I noticed that I had blown a fuse. I think when the bulb blew it took the fuse with it. It says 35 amp fuse. I tried my local radio shack, NAPA auto parts, and autozone. No luck. The carry 30 amp but not 35 amp. An ideas on local places to try? I hate to buy online and get charged for a 10.00 delivery fee for a 1.00 fuse. It seems 35 amps is a unusual amp fuse. I even tried home depot.
 
It has been covered before but here again;
The British fuse rating system is different than the USA rating system. To sum it up, a USA rated 20 amp fuse is close to being equivalent to the 35 amp British rated fuse. The USA rating is the continuous carry rating. The British rating is the fuse blow rating. There are details in previous posts of record.
D
 
Thanks again. I bought some 15 and 20's. I installed the 15amp fuses. But now the saga continues. After I installed the new fuses. The left keeps working but the right doesn't seem to get any juice. So I disconnected the connectors near the front of the car and cleaned them. I then slid the back together. And no juice. The bulb doesn't light up when I put on the right turn signal. I checked and the back right bulb does go on when I hit the brakes. But neither the front nor back bulb go on when the right turn signal is tuened on. When I turn the trafficator I hear a noise but then I don't here the flasher going like I do when I put on the left turn signal. When I put that one on, I get a noise then the relay going on and off. I don't get that when I turn the right turn signal on. Any ideas now?

I also tested the bulb at the connector on the wirting harness near the fron of the car and nothing. When I put the head light on it doesn't light up either.
 
A stupid question.... Can the flasher unit only go bad on one side if the unit? I.E. can the left side work but the Right side not? I didn't know if the unit goes bad the whole thing goes bad or not? Also per the shop manual it says to check them by connecting Terminal B and Terminal L. The flasher lamps light for the left side but not the right side. Any thoughts

Thanks
 
So another update. I now have the right running lamp, I guess you call it, working on the fron of the car. When I put the headlamp switch in the iddle poistion I get the right to work. Stupid me didn't realize that the black wire had to connect. So the running light, or whatever you call it, is working but not the turn indicator when I turn to the right on the trafficator. I am wondering if the trafficator unit needs work? Is that difficult to get off the steering wheel? Has anyone got advice on this one.

Thanks
 
Have you checked to see if all the wires are connected properly. It is possible one of the bullet connections has separated. Check the 4 wires that come from the trafficator down through the stator tube. A bad ground somewhere is a possibility, although if the running light works, the turn light should as well.
 
Thanks for the idea. How do I remove the trafficator? Is it difficult? I have a adjustable steering column on the car.

Thanks
 
There are 3 set screws on the back side of the hub (center) of the steering wheel. Unscrew those 3 screws. If you need to pull the trafficator completely out, you must disconnect the wires from the other end of the stator tube and gently pull the wires up through the tube, BUT FIRST tie a piece of wire to the bundle so that you can pull the bundle of wires back down the stator tube. This is a tight fit, by the way. You should tape the bundle and stagger the bullet end connections, otherwise the bundle will not fit through the stator tube. I actually removed, unsoldered, the bullet connectors and resoldered them after I had pulled the bundle back down the tube.
Before going to all this trouble, however, why don't you use a multitester to see if the electrical current for the turn signal is correct at the bundle at the bottom of the stator tube. Although I don't have a wiring diagram in front of me, I would assume one of the 4 wires is a hot lead, the other three would be for the horn, left turn indicator and right turn indicator. Disconnect them one at a time and test. Since your horn and left indicator work, removing those will stop them from working. You could even plug the right side from the trafficator into the left turn signal to see if the trafficator is working correctly. No reason to pull off the trafficator if it is ok.
 
Tony, I've been following this thread for awhile and a couple of things come to mind. One, I always check for the easiest thngs first. Why not pull both front assemblies out so you can check each of them. Also, try switching bulbs back and forth, you may have a bad one. Second, check the way each side is mounted. If that doesn't work check the wiring connectors near the center/front of the car with a test lamp, their cheap and you'll probably use it again in the future. You shouldn't have to remove the turnsignal mechanism at the steering wheel unless step two proves it faulty. Finally, if you receive the AHCA monthly magazine "Healey Marque" there is an article in the November issue on how to adjust the relay contacts. Good luck.
 
John,
As near as I can tell, Tony has a later model BJ8 which does not have the "traditional" turn signal relay. The lever on the column directly operates the lights via the flasher relay can. It has separate turn lights & running lights. Actually this should make troubleshooting easier, but with the chance for loose connections at many places, who knows?

The rest of your advice is right on.
D
 
HI Dave, This car has only a single light up front it is not characteristic of the later series BJ8. But,
front shrouds are awfully expensive and PO could have opted for the single lite shroud???- A Chassis number is required to track this problem,although I think it is simply a bad ground at the lamp fixture.-Fwiw---Keoke
 
Hi Keoke,
Your'e right. I read back far enough to find the "single lens in front". At this point I'm so confused, I'll give up. Still think that the turn relay on the inner left front fender well could be a problem since it has separate circuits for each light. Wouldn't the running light working eliminate the "ground" possibility? Not sure how to approach this diagnosis under the present circumstances so will let it go.
D
 
Why you think I have been so Quiet /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif 2 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif---Keoke---Sorry I did not read all. No the blinker if no relay is used gets its ground thrugh the blinker lamp filament and is very sensitive to ground resistance.These lamps suffer from water ingestion and the blinker will malfunction if the interfacial resistance{Bulb base to socket and socket to chassis} changes very much. A little rust can put you out of business.The lenses have an open cell foam type sealing gasket. Additionally, special sealing washers are required around the screws,which are usually lost at this stage and the foam seals won't stop air much less water. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I always permeate those open cell foam 'seals' with waxoil.
Have come across them a few times, and they always seem to be used where water seeping through is a big no-no.
The waxoil keeps them water proof.
 
Chaps there have been several front lamp changes, all models upto BJ8/26704 had the small single side flasher lamp up front but after that the size changed to a larger lamp upto BJ8/31336 aprox and then changed again to the two lamp system.The work shop manual has three wiring diagrams and it would appear that the one under section N covers all upto and including the BJ7, the 'early cars' diagram in section NNN covers the BJ8 upto 31336 and the last covers the remainder. If your relay system was anything like mine, the forks corrode a little under the screw clamps. I had to strip out all forks screws and clamps and clean them up, including the contacts on the relay unit and re assemble with petrolium jelly to stem (hopefully) future corrosion. The system works great, the main problem is that to get at the relay properly you have to remove the fresh air intake, this can be a devil to get back on.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif
Bob
 
Wow everyone. You have been great about trying to help me so thanks for all your ideas. It was amazing when I reas Keoke post about the water problems and moisture. The bulb went out when I decided to take a drive one night. It was like indian summer here in Chicago and it was like 70 degress on a Friday night. So I decided what the heck I want to take my baby out for a spin. But it was really humid that evening as it had been raining that day and the ground was somewhat dry but it must have been like 90% humidity that night. I am wondering if the high himidity tiggered something and caused a short that caused the burn out of the right turn signal. I will check the grounding piece of the socket. I read a tech article on the moss site around the lamps. It mention's the ground piece and I am wondering if the black wire is not connected tightly to the base of the socket. But the running lamps, when headlight switch is in the middle position, work. So is that independent of the turn signal circuit? I would think so. I am going to give it a once over again today and look through all the connections. THanks everyone for your pateince and ideas.
 
To all,

Thanks for all your ideas and patience. I finally got the dang blinker to work. I ran a bypass piece of wire from the unit to the flasher and it worked. So I traced down the problem to the brake overide relay unit. I opened it up and fiddled with it. Low and behold the darn flasher now works. I still have to figure out how to adjust the darn relay unit. The workshop manual gives me instructions but I will have to re read them again and see if I can get it adjusted correctly. Thanks again for all your advice and help everyone. I was so happy about getting it working I went for a drive last nite.

So the post mortem on the project was this....

I needed a new lamp sock. Old one was rusted.
I needed to lengthen the earth connection.
I learned what all the color codes for lucas wiring meant.
I learned what the heck a brake ovveride relay was.
I learned how to solder wires together.
I beat the "Lucas- The Prince of Darkness".
 
[ QUOTE ]
I beat the "Lucas- The Prince of Darkness".

[/ QUOTE ]

For now... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Congrats and and have yourself a cool one! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thirsty.gif

Tim
 
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