The Ford Barn

Marshall V. Daut · 09-17-2017, 01:41 PM

I drove my 1928 Phaeton yesterday about 15-20 miles to check the carburetor switch progress. O.K. there. But last night I happened to look out of our 2nd floor kitchen to the carriage house driveway below and noticed that the car's rear turn signals and taillights were on, albeit rather dim. They are connected so that when the turn signal LED's flash, so do the drum light lights (duals). But neither was flashing; just glowing. I went outside to see if somehow the turn signals had been left on and had drained the battery during the intervening five hours. Surprisingly, the front flasher bulbs were not on and I couldn't get the signals to flash at all. Good headlights, even though the battery was a little low by then.
I disconnected the battery with the intention of checking the wiring today. Thinking that the turn signal head had shorted out internally, I re-connected the battery today and disconnected the turn signal head's power lead. The rear turn signal and taillight bulbs still were on! WTF??? No matter which position I moved the light switch, the lights remained glowing. I then removed the light bail and wires and checked that. Yup - the rear turn signal and tail light bulbs remained on, even though the power to them running through the light bail area was disconnected. In other words, no matter what I disconnected (except for the battery), those lights remained on. Now I was really stumped.
For no particular reason other than to see if the new carb still was functioning properly, I started the engine and revved it up a couple times. Upon shutting it off and checking the lights, they were now OFF! The turn signals function properly again. Super WTF???
Do you electrical gurus have any suggestions about this situation? No wires were touching metal to short out and everything was tight and clean. There is an alternator, however. I wonder if somehow the alternator was sending power through the electrical system due to an internal malfunction that was cleared up by starting the engine and revving it up. Otherwise, I am stumped for an explanation why this happened. I flunked 8th grade electrical shop class because I am a complete dunce when it comes to electrical issues. I have seen a great deal of them with Model A's over the years, but this is a new one on me!
Marshall,
no electrical competitor for Thomas Edison or Nicola Tesla

09-17-2017, 01:41 PM	#1
Marshall V. Daut Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Davenport, Iowa Posts: 2,631	An odd problem for you electrical gurus I drove my 1928 Phaeton yesterday about 15-20 miles to check the carburetor switch progress. O.K. there. But last night I happened to look out of our 2nd floor kitchen to the carriage house driveway below and noticed that the car's rear turn signals and taillights were on, albeit rather dim. They are connected so that when the turn signal LED's flash, so do the drum light lights (duals). But neither was flashing; just glowing. I went outside to see if somehow the turn signals had been left on and had drained the battery during the intervening five hours. Surprisingly, the front flasher bulbs were not on and I couldn't get the signals to flash at all. Good headlights, even though the battery was a little low by then. I disconnected the battery with the intention of checking the wiring today. Thinking that the turn signal head had shorted out internally, I re-connected the battery today and disconnected the turn signal head's power lead. The rear turn signal and taillight bulbs still were on! WTF??? No matter which position I moved the light switch, the lights remained glowing. I then removed the light bail and wires and checked that. Yup - the rear turn signal and tail light bulbs remained on, even though the power to them running through the light bail area was disconnected. In other words, no matter what I disconnected (except for the battery), those lights remained on. Now I was really stumped. For no particular reason other than to see if the new carb still was functioning properly, I started the engine and revved it up a couple times. Upon shutting it off and checking the lights, they were now OFF! The turn signals function properly again. Super WTF??? Do you electrical gurus have any suggestions about this situation? No wires were touching metal to short out and everything was tight and clean. There is an alternator, however. I wonder if somehow the alternator was sending power through the electrical system due to an internal malfunction that was cleared up by starting the engine and revving it up. Otherwise, I am stumped for an explanation why this happened. I flunked 8th grade electrical shop class because I am a complete dunce when it comes to electrical issues. I have seen a great deal of them with Model A's over the years, but this is a new one on me! Marshall, no electrical competitor for Thomas Edison or Nicola Tesla