Painless wiring issues.

[Stutsmo]

I am having an issue with my painless harness front signal lights. The turn signal works fine untill I turn the park lights and/or the headlights on. When I do that the front turnsignal lights gets super bright. Only thing I have checked is to see if the light harness has a good ground. I am not sure where else to look for an issue.

I am also having issues with my guage cluster gauges. When I turn the key on the fuel and tem peg.

 

[Glass Pony]

Wires on the turn signal buckets are probably reversed. Are the turn signal buckets new also?

 

[Stutsmo]

Wires on the turn signal buckets are probably reversed. Are the turn signal buckets new also?

Ok thanks, I'll check that out. The turn signal buckets and painless harness, if I remember correctly had the origional connectors that will only go on the correct way but I suppose it is possible they routed the wires in them backwards. Yes, All bought at the same time about 5 years ago when I did my origional build. Full disclosure it has been like this the entire time but we hardly ever drive the Bronco, mostly because of a bunch of small issues like this making me nervous.

 

[Stutsmo]

I pulled my guage cluster out yesterday and did some testing with my multimeter. I am not sure what this means but I found the "hot lead" for each guage and tested it using the body of the cluster as ground. if I tested just the hot leads I was getting around 12v on all three guages. if I put the lead back on the guage and tested I would get between 3v-4v. I know there is that little resistor thing at the bottom of the cluster that reduces the current but dont know if it is doing it correctly or not. Any thoughts?

 

[Glass Pony]

Ok thanks, I'll check that out. The turn signal buckets and painless harness, if I remember correctly had the origional connectors that will only go on the correct way but I suppose it is possible they routed the wires in them backwards. Yes, All bought at the same time about 5 years ago when I did my origional build. Full disclosure it has been like this the entire time but we hardly ever drive the Bronco, mostly because of a bunch of small issues like this making me nervous.

It was about 10-12 years ago when I was wiring up my 74' I found my new turn signal buckets were wired backwards.
I was MFing Painless the whole time before I found the bucket issue.

 

[DirtDonk]

Last I checked it was still an issue. When we get the lamps (front and rear by the way) from a certain manufacturer, we automatically test and reverse all the sockets before putting them on the shelf.

The 12v on your gauges might be due to the cluster not being grounded anymore when it's removed from the dash. Or did you attach a jumper to ground the case?
The IVR needs to be grounded. Don't know if it will mess it up, like connecting an alternator voltage regulator will, but it might be worth checking.
You can often fry an unsuspecting voltage regulator if you connect it to power before bolting it to the fender. Maybe an instrument voltage regulator has the same problem?

Is this an original, or original replacement instrument voltage regulator (called a "constant voltage supply" by Ford) that pulses it's output? Or is it a modern IC type that puts out a simple voltage output of something like 5.5v or 6v?

Paul

 

[Stutsmo]

Last I checked it was still an issue. When we get the lamps (front and rear by the way) from a certain manufacturer, we automatically test and reverse all the sockets before putting them on the shelf.

The 12v on your gauges might be due to the cluster not being grounded anymore when it's removed from the dash. Or did you attach a jumper to ground the case?
The IVR needs to be grounded. Don't know if it will mess it up, like connecting an alternator voltage regulator will, but it might be worth checking.
You can often fry an unsuspecting voltage regulator if you connect it to power before bolting it to the fender. Maybe an instrument voltage regulator has the same problem?

Is this an original, or original replacement instrument voltage regulator (called a "constant voltage supply" by Ford) that pulses it's output? Or is it a modern IC type that puts out a simple voltage output of something like 5.5v or 6v?

Paul

Ok I will see about reversing the sockets tonight.

This is all the original stuff on this guage. I have a different guage cluster being refurb right now to be put in this Bronco. I am hoping to eliminate my rewiring from when I installed the painless harness as the reason that it has been acting up before I put the new one in. Sounds like I should just run a ground to the back of the cluster to make sure it is grounded.

 

[DirtDonk]

Don't reverse the wires or socket until you KNOW that it's the problem. Maybe it just needs a better ground point?
Check the wires with a volt-meter in the different positions. Verify that the power is getting to the correct filament of the bulb.
Make sure that the housings are well attached and that any ground wires are attached to a clean spot on the core support sheet metal.

And first of all, make sure that your body is grounded directly to the battery. You should have the main battery ground to the engine of course, but you should also have a good 10ga wire from the battery to the fender apron.
And if your truck has rust and/or new paint and/or multiple paint jobs over the years, you may need to jumper a new ground wire from the fenders and battery directly to the core support.
More than a few times Broncos have lost a good bond between the metal panels and needed a good ground wire to get the headlights and turn signals to work correctly.

Paul

 

[Stutsmo]

Looks like the wires are in fact switched. Looks like to me the best way to fix it would be to cut the socket end off and re terminate it correctly. Any idea where I can buy the terminal ends? the high school kids behind the counter at O'reillys couldnt help me.

 

[DirtDonk]

I think the factory style is still available, as witnessed by the fact that the Painless harness has them.
But the generic ones are probably to be found in the trailer wiring section of an auto parts store like O’Reilly’s.
They should have two, three and four prong versions, and even though they might not be exactly the same as yours, they come in pairs, so you just have to cut and splice both sides.
Maybe…
They might actually fit and you’d only have to splice the lamp side, leaving the Painless side intact.
That would be the best and that way you only have to buy one pair.

 

[Stutsmo]

I want to find the terminals for the socket end, If painless can get them they have to be out there somewhere. But in the mean time I did go to the trailer section at advance and bought 2 sets of connecters. I brought them home and cut them down and just spliced the opposite wires together and made my own adapter for now. It will work untill I find the parts to do it the right way.

 

[EPB72]

Lamp Socket Brass Terminal Contact Replacement Repair Connector

Automotive Electrical Repair Connectors and Tools

www.repairconnector.com

Do you mean these/\/\/\.. so you can swap the wire positions in the socket and install new button contacts like in the link...

 

[Stutsmo]

Yes! Thank you!