Left Indicator on when Headlights on. Any ideas?

[Kane]

When my headlights are on, my left indicator is on solid as well. You can see it in the attached picture. The left indicator light on the instrument panel is on also (but dimmer than when you have the blinker on). I have replaced all my lights with LEDs if that makes a difference.

Any ideas on what could be keeping this on?

Edit*: I guess I meant when the parking lights are on, not necessarily when the headlights themselves are on.

34440

[Bitsyncmaster]

I assume it worked fine before you installed the LEDs?

Were the side lights set up to blink with the turn signals?

You may just have a bad rear light circuit board.

[Kane]

LEDs have been in since last year. I replaced both tail light boards with DMCs new ones about 2 months ago and didn't notice it then. Blinkers work fine when activated. The only issue that I can tie to it is the front blinker on that side is finnicky with the LED bulb in it. It wouldn't light at all so I bought a new bulb and found out the bulb has to be sitting just right to make contact. So I was delicate, got it seated and put the front back together. Would the front blinker socket cause this if it had a bad connection?

[Bitsyncmaster]

LEDs have been in since last year. I replaced both tail light boards with DMCs new ones about 2 months ago and didn't notice it then. Blinkers work fine when activated. The only issue that I can tie to it is the front blinker on that side is finnicky with the LED bulb in it. It wouldn't light at all so I bought a new bulb and found out the bulb has to be sitting just right to make contact. So I was delicate, got it seated and put the front back together. Would the front blinker socket cause this if it had a bad connection?

I guess if that front lamp is shorting the two pins together (running light and turn signal) it would also affect the rear turn signal. Maybe that short is internal in one of your LED bulbs.

[David T]

I guess if that front lamp is shorting the two pins together (running light and turn signal) it would also affect the rear turn signal. Maybe that short is internal in one of your LED bulbs.

If you have a bad ground the current could be "backing up" into the turn signal circuit. Make sure all of your grounds are good. There could also be a problem with the board. Make sure you have not put a double-filiment bulb in a single filiment socket or vice-versa.

[Riley88]

An easy way to test if its the bulbs shorted, swap the bulbs to the other board on the other side.

[DMC5180]

I agree with David, But the offset height of the 1/4 turn locking pins should prevent cross installing the wrong type bulb. 1157 (offset pins) 1156 (equal pins) Not that a brute couldn't force things.

I question the Front socket condition. These are famous for corrosion which leads to poor grounding and back feeding. Remove the front bulb to see if the rear signal goes out. This should help you isolate the issue to front or back.

[David T]

I agree with David, But the offset height of the 1/4 turn locking pins should prevent cross installing the wrong type bulb. 1157 (offset pins) 1156 (equal pins) Not that a brute couldn't force things.

I question the Front socket condition. These are famous for corrosion which leads to poor grounding and back feeding. Remove the front bulb to see if the rear signal goes out. This should help you isolate the issue to front or back.

You are right, there is an offset pin to prevent mixing up single and double filiment bulbs but all too often it happens. The sockets of the bulbs is brass and it is relatively soft and the socket on the board is just pressed steel. It doesn't take all that much to force the wrong bulb into the wrong socket. Something I always check for. Just like I always check to make sure the right size fuse is in the correct spot. Again, all too often a fuse blows and a PO will stick in whatever is handy.

[spedlot]

On another car I had I placed the wrong bulb into the turn signal socket( even though it fit) and it caused the brake lights to stay on as though I had the brakes pressed while driving I would check the new bulb or led socket first.

[Kane]

Thanks, guys, for the ideas. It will be a few weeks before I have time to really get into diagnosing this issue. I will update this thread when I find out what the problem was.

[Shep]

I had this same exact issue for quite some time. Turns out putting LED bulbs in the front turn signals messes them up if you have the blinker mod. I have yet to figure out why to be honest, but I guarantee that's what your issue is. First thing to try is replace both with incandescent bulbs, and see if the issue goes away.

I forget how I solved mine exactly, but I do know it was either by replacing the side markers with bipolar LED bulbs (I wrote a review in the "Product Reviews" forum), or swapping out the 1157 setup with a custom lighting solution. Either way, I never figured out what caused it. It would be fine at first, but once this symptom showed up, the bulb was dead. First bulb lasted a few months, second lasted mere minutes (literally while I installed side 2, side 1 quit on me).

Also worth asking, are the bulbs in your binnacle LED's too? That may have been another possible solution. Replacing the overhead with white, headlight amd turn signals with green, and brights with blue is sufficient for this purpose.

[Rich W]

When my headlights are on, my left indicator is on solid as well. You can see it in the attached picture. The left indicator light on the instrument panel is on also (but dimmer than when you have the blinker on). I have replaced all my lights with LEDs if that makes a difference.

Any ideas on what could be keeping this on?

Edit*: I guess I meant when the parking lights are on, not necessarily when the headlights themselves are on.

34440

Hi Kane,

I just saw a similar problem on a fellow club member's car and I know he does not have any LEDs anywhere in his DeLorean.
Since the car just came out of short term storage, my first thought is dirty grounds, which we will investigate this weekend.

If I get around to this investigation (and hopeful resolution) this weekend, I will post the results of the work here as well.
I noticed a few other "gremlins" with other switch positions, so these combined issues are pointing me to dirty grounds.

Just another point of reference.

Thanks,
Rich W.

Note: Forgot to mention the right turn signal indicator in the binnacle is out, so that may or may not be a factor.
The left turn signal indicator is on, as you described (either with running lights on or headlights on).