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MG MGA - directional lights - Help?

They work fine when the headlights are off. When I turn the headlights on, only the right side lights flash. When I push the switch to the left, the indicatior light flashes once but the outside lights do nothing. Any ideas? Thank you.
brucep

What year? Relay contact points dirty or bad ground.
Paul Hanley

It's a '57.
brucep

Hi Bruce. Check Barney Gaylord's website. It has considerable information on your specific problem. Cheers! GLenn
Glenn

The secret is in the headlight on/off condition. Check your ground (earth) connection in the fender harness. When the headlight voltage is on, it raises the electical potential (via a bad ground return) of the low side of the turn signal. Lucus flashers are load sensative and won't work if the electical load does not reflect two working turn lamps.

With the headlights on, use a voltmeter on low DC setting and read between the turn indicator shell and the return terminal on the battery (not the car frame). If there is any voltage, the ground retrun is corrupted, usually by corrosion. With the headlights on or off, you also might see a change in the state (brightness) of the running light, as well.

Larry
Larry Gray

Bruce,

I had another though (and it almost died of loneliness). If you have a poor ground, you also might notice a difference in brightness between the LH and RH headlights.

Larry
Larry Gray

Bruce - Helping a friend with a similiar problem in his MGA, we found that the bulb was not getting a good ground, even though we made sure that the light assembly was well grounded to the fender. We finally traced it to corrosion in the crimp where the socket was attached to the rest of the light assembly. He installed a new light assembly and all was well. Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

I had the same problem as David's friend. I sodiered a wire to the crimp assembly and ran it to ground. It was a pain in the ass to figure it out as I had to use a jumper wire to trace it out.
JEFF BECKER

This thread was discussed between 22/05/2005 and 02/06/2005

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