Re: 82 GTV 6 turn signal follies

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

on 5/22/02 12:16 PM, alfa-digest at owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided wrote:

> 
> Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 13:45:24 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Richard Welty <rwelty@domain.elided>
> Subject: 82 GTV 6 turn signal follies
> 
> in trying to get my wife's GTV-6 ready for its return to the road, i've
> discovered that the RR turn signal (which i think worked last summer when
> it made its brief trip to the national in tennessee) is out. i've verified
> that the bulb is good, the plastic assembly that holds all the bulbs is
> good, and hosed the connectors down with contact cleaner. still no turn
> signal.
> 
> anyone have any suggestions on where in the wiring harness i should look
> next?
> 
> thanks,
> richard
> - --
> Richard Welty                                         rwelty@domain.elided
> Averill Park Networking                                         518-573-7592
> Unix, Linux, IP Network Engineering, Security

The problem is, most likely, still in the tail-light assembly itself as I've
had similar problems. Several possibilities come to mind: First get a
trouble light (these are available at almost any automotive shop like
Sherba's or Kragen's etc). The light consists of a bulb in a flashlight type
tube with a long pointed probe on one end and a pig-tail lead with an
alligator clip at the other. They are CHEAP and indispensable (IMHO) when
running electrical gremlins to ground. Turn the signal Right signal on and
ground the lead and place the probe on the bulb's tip contact in the bottom
of the socket. If it flashes, you have power to that socket. If you do,
check the bulb socket thoroughly, Pry up on the tip contact at the bottom.
These are easily 'mashed down' over time. Check the bulb with an ohmmeter or
try it on the left side (which, according your description is known to be
working). It IS possible for a bulb to look OK but to still have a
microscopic break in the filament which is not obvious to the unaided eye.
If there is no power to the bulb socket when you probe it, Then I suggest
that you remove the right tail light assembly altogether. This is not
difficult and the assembly is connected to the wiring harness via a
connector. With the assembly out of the car, you will notice that it is
mostly a big printed-circuit board with the sockets riveted to it. Slide the
board out of the housing (there are some tabs holding it in, I believe.
Spring those away carefully to avoid breaking them. Now, with the board
free, visually trace the tip contact for the turn signal bulb back to the
connector fingers on the edge of the board. Look carefully for a broken or
burnt trace. Am ohm meter or continuity tester would come in handy here.
Breaks often occur near the rivets and at the fingers for the connector,  If
you find a break or a place where the trace has burnt in two, its easy to
fix. Take a piece of steel wool and "brighten" the trace on either side of
the break/burn. Then get a piece of 16 AWG solid copper wire and solder it
to the trace on either side of the break, thus bridging it. Afterwards,
check for continuity again from the bulb tip contact to the connector
finger. If no break was found, try taking a piece of steel wool and
brightening all of the finger contacts on the edge of the board where the
connector plugs in. Don't forget the electrolytic grease when refitting the
connector. If this gives no joy,look at the ground plane on the PC board.
Find the finger that goes to ground and do a continuity check between the
barrel connector for the bulb and the ground 'finger' on the connector edge.
If there is no continuity, there might be some electrolytic corrosion
between the bulb connector barrel and the ground plane on the circuit board
where the two are riveted together. If so, try cleaning off an area of the
bulb socket barrel with steel wool or emery paper and then soldering a short
piece of 16-Gauge copper wire to the actual socket barrel and then to the
ground plane directly. Be sure to solder the wire to the barrel of the
socket in a place where it won't interfere with re-assembly of the tail
light. 

If all of this has failed to resolve your problem, then you do, most likely,
have a wiring problem and may God help you, but I cannot see that being the
case. Italian cars DO have looney-tunes electrical systems, to be sure, but
the vinyl-coated wire in a GTV-6 doesn't just fail over the winter. If the
front right signal IS working, then the problem just has to be at the
termination point where the wire connects to the tail light assembly OR
where it connects to the flasher relay under the dash. If the rest of the
tail light works (night-lighting, back-up lamps, etc.) then its unlikely
that its a grounding problem (common in these cars) as the ground for each
tail light assembly is common to all the lamps.

Good luck

George Graves
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