Please, enLIGHTen me.

[Mike_The_Grad]

1972 c10 with American Autowire classic update kit installed.

Tonight I started the truck, pulled the headlight switch on all the way out. I thought all lights were working fine. Pulled out of the front gate, parked it, got out to close the gate behind me and noticed the front of my truck looked dimmer than usual. Walked to the front and noticed my drivers side park light was out. I popped the hood and wiggled the park light pigtail a little. It came back on, then immediately turned off. I looked over at the passenger side patklight and noticed it too was off. Looked down the side of the truck ALL of my running lights were off all the way around the truck. Headlights were still on and working fine. Got inside the truck, no gauge lights. Dome light works fine. Brake lights work fine. Back up lights work fine. Hazard lights work fine. What gives?

[sick472]

The parking lights need to be in good working condition in order for the side markers and turn signals to work. Check the bulbs and grounds.

[VetteVet]

All of your parking lights and the dash lights are powered by the orange wire from your fuse panel to the headlight switch.When you turn them on the orange wire energizes the brown wire (parking lights) on the HL switch and the green wire (dash lights) so you have lost power on the orange wire or the HL switch has gone bad. Check the tail/stop and park/dome light fuses

[Mike_The_Grad]

Sick472, all or my bulbs are newer. Within the last year or two. My side markers are all LED bulbs. My front park lights are standard 1157 amber bulbs with clear lenses that I replaced within the last 6 months. It's weird how they all worked fine except the drivers side front park light then when I wiggle the pigtail on that light, I lost all of my running and gauge lights at the same time.
Thanks Vettevet for all of that information. I will start investigating it here shortly as I need to get them working before nightfall. This is my only vehicle right now and today is my girlfriends birthday that lives in the next town over. So the motivation is there.

[Mike C]

Like everything else electrical, start with the grounds.

[dmjlambert]

When wiggling a wire and possibly causing a short, and a variety of lights go dark including those on other parts of the truck, start with checking fuses.

[Mike_The_Grad]

Well I started with what I first noticed as different. I went straight to the drivers side front park light. I removed the lens and checked the bulb. Bulb was good. So I removed the park light assembly and pulled the pigtail through the housing. There was some moisture in the socket and a lot of rust. So I cleaned it all out real well dried it, scuffed all of the rust I could off and made sure I had bright shiny metal to make the best contact possible. Reinstalled the assembly and tightened all the screws goodentight. Put the bulb back in, pulled the switch and...nothing. so I went to the fuse panel under the dash. Started pulling fuses and sure enough the park lights 10A fuse was blown. Ran down to napa grabbed 5 of the 10A fuses for $3. Came back to the house put one in the park lights spot. Pulled the headlight switch out and bam had all my lights working like they should. That was 2 days ago and all is back to normal. Thanks for all of the help guys. ��

[dz1087]

So, my front right parking light (Turn signal) stopped working when the lights were on. On the turn indicators inside the cab, you could see a faint green glow so it was apparent a little current was flowing through that circuit, even though the turn signal stalk was in the center position.

Turns out the light housing was corroded where the bulb plugged in. I cleaned it out well and now it works fine.

So make sure your housings and contacts are all cleaned up, or you'll be chasing ghosts down forever.

[REDROCKER652002]

My son is having the same issue with his left side front turn signal. The light comes on when he turns on the headlights, but when he puts on the turn signal it does not blink. the right one does. I switched bulbs and still the same problem. My thought is the housing for the left side is bad. I tried to get some sandpaper in there to see if I could get it to work, but no luck. I am going to suggest he buy a new housing on the left side and see if it works. I think he can get them fairly cheap from after market places.

[Mike_The_Grad]

Red rocker, I know what you mean about getting inside the socket. I could barely fit my pinky finger in there. Try a round brass wire brush, then get a can of electronic cleaner or contact cleaner and spray it out real good. And be sure to blow it out with air until it's dry. Also check the mounting screws for the housing, rust and dirt can accumulate in between the housing and bumper. Make sure you have a star washer in between the bumper and the housing to get a good ground. I'll let you determine the best way to make that happen. It ain't the easiest thing to do. Lol. Also, try checking the turn signal switch in the column. If it's original, chances are its dirty and has dried up grease on the contacts. Mine was like that. You do have to pull the steering wheel to get access to it. But I got a couple of more years out of it by cleaning up the contacts and putting fresh grease in there. Plus a little grease in the upper bearing.

[dz1087]

Fellers, I thought I had mine fixed, but the turn signal issue came back last night, on both sides! I got some throttle cleaner and sprayed the sockets down good, and a small wire brush and went to town on them for a bit. Hopefully, that got all the dirt or whatever was causing the issue out. Seems to be working fine now for the time being. We'll see if it is still a problem in a day or two.

So far, this has been the most aggravating part of my rebuild - the dang turn signals!