Blinker works but parking light doesn't

[olblue1970]

Hey Folks,

Really need some help here. I've been working on my 1970 Chevy c10 for the past 1 1/2 years...slowly restoring her. Well, I'm just about there, but have encountered an electrical problem. About 3 months ago, I had to park her and overhaul the engine, transmission ect. I also cleaned up and painted the engine bay, grill, bumpers ect. Well, I put the grill back on today, and the following problem cropped up.

All the lights work fine except the driver's side front parking light. When you pull the headlights on, it doesn't come on. Instead, the left turn signal inside the cab lights up solid green (no flashing). Blinkers both work fine. Put brand new blinker bulbs in today. What's even stranger is when I turn on the Hazard lights, the front parking lights flash back and forth in sequence....left, right, left, right, left, right...on and on.

I'm really wanting to get the state inspection sticker so I can drive her again, but I'm not sure if it will pass behaving this way. I told a friend of mine on the phone, and he said it sounded like a grounding problem to him. But, I don't know even where to start.

Any help greatly appreciated. (Also, see pics and video below.)

Thanks,


OlBlue1970

Here's a link to view a video of the back and forth flashing of my parking lamps when I turn on my Hazard switch.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kiq9lcbqo95zvye/VaCABYd-Av

[JJLT1]

check the ground and the socket on driver's side front parking light..

[legotech7]

I have a similar problem. Al the lights work on my 70, except for the passenger front parking lamp. when I pull the headlight switch for the parking lights, they all come on except that right front one. The blinker works though and I thought that maybe its aground issue. There are ground wires on each side of the headlight buckets, I removed them and cleaned the connections with a wire brush, out them back and made sure to tighten them down snug, but still the same issue. Don't know where to check. If anyone has any other suggestions, please post it here... Thanks.......

[slikside]

Originally Posted by JJLT1

check the ground and the socket on driver's side front parking light..

Giving this thread a bump, while adding my same problem to the list.

Had the front bumper off for a few weeks while it was getting it powdercoated. I had taped up the blinkers out of the way so I could still drive it a little. Anyway, upon reinstalling bumper, neither the front passenger blinker nor the marker will illuminate when the headlights or parking lights are selected on. At the same time the right blinker light on the guage cluster is illuminated constantly. The blinker does work though. This is a '72 c-10 SWB. I should add that my panel lights don't work either, but this problem existed before the bumper came off and back on.

Will give the above suggestion a try. Any other suggestions??

[legotech7]

The problem apparently,in my case was a bad ground. I checked all the ground connections I thought there might be. And still no parking light on the passenger side front, but the blinker worked. So I decided to just ground out the housing of the parking lamp, and that did the trick. This truck was worked on before i got it. I believe it doesn't have all the appropriate ground straps that are through out the truck originally. Everything is working ok now, but I will be lowering the truck soon and will take care of those issues then........

[slikside]

Originally Posted by JJLT1

check the ground and the socket on driver's side front parking light..

Originally Posted by legotech7

The problem apparently,in my case was a bad ground. I checked all the ground connections I thought there might be. And still no parking light on the passenger side front, but the blinker worked. So I decided to just ground out the housing of the parking lamp, and that did the trick. This truck was worked on before i got it. I believe it doesn't have all the appropriate ground straps that are through out the truck originally. Everything is working ok now, but I will be lowering the truck soon and will take care of those issues then........

So I just fixed my problem by doing the same thing, only I grounded out the blinker housing because it was metal, whereas on my '72 the marker light housing was all plastic. Previously, with the headlights on, neither the passenger side blinker light, nor the marker light would illuminate, but the blinker would flash when used. Now, after grounding the blinker housing, they both illuminate as they should with the lights on, and the dash panel blinker is extinguished...as it should.

I guess, with these old harnesses, when you start moving things, you can lose a ground without even realizing it.

Anyway, thanks to both JJLT, and legotech!!

(Now for those darn panel lights......again!)

[legotech7]

Though the wiring is simple, like you mentioned slikside, PO moving things a round can make a small problem turn into a big headache. Glad it worked fro you......

[slikside]

Thanks again lego. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed...I decided that maybe this grounding issue had something to do with my panel lights not working (the fuse would always blow). So I put a new fuse in there. They worked!! And after turning my lights on and off about 50 times, the panel lights are still working!!!!!!! Like I said, fingers still crossed!