Turn signal Gremlins

[Crassis-Comanche]

Hi all, I have begun slowly working on the MJ again after having some of the those special life problems that keep some of us from our projects and and decided to address my wonky passenger side turn signal. When I was driving the truck I did the headlight harness upgrade but have always driven it with the passenger turn signal out of commission.  Both rear signals flash and both headlights (high beams too) work as they should and my left turn signal works up front but not my right. I have the solid arrow on the gauge. I recently spliced in a donor socket and now all four corner light up solid when I turn on the headlights which is great but I am still only getting three of the corners flashing when I use the turn signal indicator. That passenger side won't flash! Plus it's super bright now compared to the driver's side. Did I wire it up wrong?

 

Thanks everyone and I am hoping to get back to my build thread asap.

 

Chris

[Crassis-Comanche]

I should have mentioned that my original 1988 headlight harness on the right side has a brown, a blue and a black wire and the donor socket from a 1996 has a black, dark blue with red stripe and a green wire.

 

Thanks again

[gogmorgo]

Are you sure you've got the right bulb in the socket? Should be a 2057 for the front one below the headlight. The side one should be a 194. Check the grounds for both as well.

[zomeizter]

Ground, always problematic ground...

[Jeep Driver]

Sounds like you got the wire crossed with the new socket.

[carnuck]

Use a test light to figure which wire does which. A bad bulb will act up as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Crassis-Comanche]

 Hi all, just to give you an update I followed the great advice on this forum and managed to solve my electrical issues once again! So I wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped out. As usual this site has proven invaluable in helping would-be driveway mechanics like myself learn how to fix the MJ!

 I now have both a test light and a multimeter to help me figure out future issues as they crop up. It turned out I did in fact have it wired up correctly the first time based on what I thought I was reading on the electrical schematic. But I had made a bad crimp which prevented the circuit from being completed. So when I re-wired the socket I in fact crossed them up giving me the super bright always on abnormality. Fixed now.

 

Thanks again all! 🤘🏻

 

Chris

[HOrnbrod]

6 hours ago, Crassis-Comanche said:

But I had made a bad crimp which prevented the circuit from being completed.

 

Pick up a soldering gun and some rosin core solder, and an assortment of heat shrink tubing in various sizes. Crimp connections are unreliable at best and should not be used on automotive applications. 

[Minuit]

20 minutes ago, HOrnbrod said:

 

Pick up a soldering gun and some rosin core solder, and an assortment of heat shrink tubing in various sizes. Crimp connections are unreliable at best and should not be used on automotive applications. 

So then what say you about the hundreds of crimp connections the factory put there?

 

Proper crimps are as reliable, possibly more, than solder joints. The key word there is proper. Mashing the $#!&ty red and blue connectors you get from Autozone with a pair of pliers is not proper. My silver truck has about 30 crimp connections that I've made. My red truck has probably double that. No problems, because I make an effort to do it right with proper connectors and equipment. I've also practiced and adjusted my tools to provide good, consistent performance.

 

If you're going to use those plier-type cut, crimp, strip tools and junk connectors, don't bother trying to crimp things. Just like soldering, you need the proper tools and practice with them. A quality ratcheting crimper and connectors from a reputable brand should be considered the bare minimum for a quality repair.

[HOrnbrod]

No way any crimp joint is as reliable than a proper solder joint. It's a mechanical connection and it's more prone to loosen up under vibration over time.  But you do it your way mate.  

[Minuit]

We can just agree to disagree, honey. 

 

I play with electronics every now and then. Solder joints are a constant pain in my @$$. I have never once had a proper crimp connection come loose, and trust me, on my trucks, a LOT of vibrations have been pumped into them. That's not to say they're perfect, and don't take this as me preferring one over another - they have their places. But there's a lot more to crimping things than most people realize.

 

Here is an article that contains some valuable insights I think.

[HOrnbrod]

After 20+ years doing electrical and electronics work in Cal Labs, Avionics, and telecomms, I've done a little soldering. And there was no choice since we had to follow MIL-SPEC regulations for grounding, bonding, shielding and termination procedures. In a stretch test of a crimped vs. soldered wire butt connection the solder joint wins every time.

 

I know crimp connectors and procedures have improved, but as you say, to do it right you need quality specialized crimping tools and connectors, not the Autozone blue, red, and yellow junk and pliers. Too expensive. Soldering is a lot cheaper and is the best bang for the buck for non-critical automotive wiring. Besides, I'm too old to change.  

[HOrnbrod]

51 minutes ago, Minuit said:

So then what say you about the hundreds of crimp connections the factory put there?

 

Cheaper and faster.

[Minuit]

Just now, HOrnbrod said:

 

Cheaper and faster.

Cheaper, faster, and perfectly adequate for the requirements. Sounds good to me.

 

My argument has never been "crimps are better than soldering" - my argument is that, if held to a proper standard, they are just as effective, maybe more depending on the situation, as solder joints. If I needed a wire splice to hold my weight, even though I sound like a "crimp guy" (I'm not), I would use a soldered lineman splice. That would not be useful for pinning up a connector. Likewise, crimps would be absolutely useless for replacing capacitors in a radio. If I need a repeatable, relatively fast, and simple to use connection between exactly two wires of the same size that I could do just as well lying on my back under a dashboard in the middle of the night in pouring rain, I bring out my crimper.

 

I think we've $#!& up the poor guy's thread enough now 

[HOrnbrod]

The keys are both methods are fine for normal automotive wiring if done correctly using the proper technique and tools. And both take a little practice to do it right.  We be done now.