front directional dont work

[northeast dmc]

Well, the adventure continues, put the new(rebuilt ) alternator in, charging like a champ, as well as new starter. My headache currently which is preventing me from getting it inspected, is the front directionals dont work, I replaced the rear circuit board and both back lights all work. The front running lights work but not the directional, nor the 4 way flashers. I am guessing that if the marker light comes on then the ground should be good. Is there another part of this puzzle that I can check, or where do I start with getting them to work. I did check the bulbs.

[DMC5180]

Well, the adventure continues, put the new(rebuilt ) alternator in, charging like a champ, as well as new starter. My headache currently which is preventing me from getting it inspected, is the front directionals dont work, I replaced the rear circuit board and both back lights all work. The front running lights work but not the directional, nor the 4 way flashers. I am guessing that if the marker light comes on then the ground should be good. Is there another part of this puzzle that I can check, or where do I start with getting them to work. I did check the bulbs.

Just to clarify. Your rear signals flash with Hazard and Left/ Right turn w/ Key in Run position?

What about the turn indicators?

Conventional or LED bulbs up front?

[Michael]

If the bulbs are good my first guess is the relay is either bad or the LEDs do not pull enough current to make the relay work right.

Edit, got ahead of myself. I read the last response and just assumed the op had LED bulbs as part of the improvement. Still, check the relay.

[Jonathan]

That sounds like what happens when you are running LED's for those front bulbs, but haven't changed out the flasher relay to one compatible with LED's. Hence Dennis' question about what kind of bulbs and what Michael said about the current draw.

http://store.delorean.com/p-10678-flasherhazard-for-leds.aspx

[northeast dmc]

Just to clarify. Your rear signals flash with Hazard and Left/ Right turn w/ Key in Run position?

What about the turn indicators?

Conventional or LED bulbs up front?

The left/right turn signals work with the key in run position. and conventional bulbs, did not switch to LED. The hazard work in the rear as well. The running lights work in the front, just not the turn or the hazard.

[Michael]

The left/right turn signals work with the key in run position. and conventional bulbs, did not switch to LED. The hazard work in the rear as well. The running lights work in the front, just not the turn or the hazard.

Make sure both bulbs are not bad. I'm not sure but the fronts may be dual filament. The filament for the brights may be broke but the running filament may be working.

If the bulbs are good, relay working, fuses good, then it's time to break out the wiring diagram and multimeter and start tracing back.

[Ron]

...
I am guessing that if the marker light comes on then the ground should be good.

Just a guess since a front and back indicator is fed by the same circuit:

Look at the ground wire(s) going to the side marker lamp(s) to see if the wig wag mod has been performed. (The black wire will be cut and spliced to the Green/Red indicator wire on the left side, and Green/White on the right side).
With this mod, the side marker is grounded through the the indicator feed...

...check for ground in the indicator socket(s).

==================

"It's ALWAYS the grounds!" :)

[David T]

The front lights are prone to water intrusion and corrosion. It is also possible you have the wrong bulbs in them.

[DMC5180]

May seem strange, but make sure the front bulbs are 1157. Not 1156.
Since the rear lights flash, that rules out a flasher problem. It would be really weird if you had two bad bulbs, but hey some people do win the lottery on occasion [emoji6]. Since, you say the park lights work, they share the same ground as the signal through the socket body. The Wig Wag mod Ron mentions is possible, but a very rare mod. Also make sure the socket contacts are clean. Any presence of corrosion can cause issues.

[Ron]

Makes sense but if it's two bad bulbs after checking them, or, has 1156 bulbs that don't make the the indicators and markers come on together, I'd really like you to pick a lottery number for me.:devil:

[northeast dmc]

May seem strange, but make sure the front bulbs are 1157. Not 1156.
Since the rear lights flash, that rules out a flasher problem. It would be really weird if you had two bad bulbs, but hey some people do win the lottery on occasion [emoji6]. Since, you say the park lights work, they share the same ground as the signal through the socket body. The Wig Wag mod Ron mentions is possible, but a very rare mod. Also make sure the socket contacts are clean. Any presence of corrosion can cause issues.

Thanks for all the fed back, I bought 2 new bulbs, and now down to only one not working, I can get minimal voltage at the wire for the directional, I used the 4 ways to keep the power on a whisker longer than with the directional only as it flashes fast with out the front working. I get good reading on the marker wire to the socket ground, nearly 12 volts. I will check the side marker wires for the possible re wiring that has been mentioned. I pushed the wires out of the socket and at that location all look real good. Again the car only has 3900 miles on it. How can I check the turn signal wire??

[northeast dmc]

Well, 5 hours later and the mystery solved. Started at the headlight area, checked the pigtail that goes to the bulb and yup that was good, after research realized to get to next connection need to pull the washer fluid tank, yup that out check that connection, nothing. Crawl under dash and check at the beginning, and power, check next connection and wire going through the fire wall and power to that point. Manage to feed a new wire in the harness route. Go to splice it in near fire wall and the wire pulls out. Broken right were it went through the fire wall. Didn I mention I hate wiring.... Well now on to getting it inspected and small trip to gas station. More news to follow on this adventure.

[David T]

Very difficult to give advice to pull on wires in the wiring harness. We can only offer what is commonly found to cause the problems posted. Unusual things like what you found have to be found by the person trying to fix the problem. Because you found this wire cut you need to inspect the harness and figure out why this wire was damaged and if there are any other's.