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By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago Problem: Turning signal wiring is messed up. Followed the diagram in the manual, all wires in the top match the wires in the bottom (see diagram) But, when you put the RH turning signal on, both taillights and the licence plate light start flashing on and off. Pull out the orange/blue wire and only the RH front turning signal works. LH signal works no matter, no problem with the LH side. Any suggestion as to what the problem could be ? Regards, Tim Central Florida 33706 By panel driver - 4 Years Ago My guess would be to check and make sure the ground is good for the right side.  Connect a test light to ground and touch the housing with the light turned on. The test light should not light.  Just an idea.   By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago Thanks, I'll try that. Might mention that when I hit the brakes, the RH brake light flashes while the LH brake light that used to flash at the same time, stops flashing. Real mystery here. But one that can be solved with help from the Y-block Help Group. Regards, Tim Mud Key Fl 33706 By MoonShadow - 4 Years Ago Commonly with everything wired correctly it a ground problem. There is a cross wire in my 56 Vicky and I've checked and rechecked it way too many times. Wires are correct but the parking lights come on with the brake lights. The rest is fine. By paul2748 - 4 Years Ago Double xcheck the junction block.  Some of the holes are connected to others and some are single.  A mix up might cause your problem.  Make sure you don't have the top and bottom confused. By 55charliebird - 4 Years Ago .Nothing worse than a "man made" wiring error.  It defies all logic.  I would start from scratch.  Disconnect all wiring and start putting it back,  one "leg" at a time'.  At each point, re check the function until the problem comes back.   By MoonShadow - 4 Years Ago In the dark recesses of my faulty memory I think I remember the front parking lights with brake lights being a fairly common problem. It seems that the "old guys" knew which wire to switch to fix it easily but no amount of checking or rewiring the connection has worked for me yet. At least the people in front of me know when my brakes are on! By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago THANKS FOR YOUR HELP TIM By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago Did all that, will do again. Thanks, Tim By DryLakesRacer - 4 Years Ago Everything worked perfectly in my 56. I removed everything I could for a body strip and paint. I tested as I went back together. The rear turn/brake acted crazy. I added a ground to everything and no better. I found a poor connection in the fuse holder going to the flasher. (One of the few fuses they have) After the connection was good everything worked perfectly. I didn’t need to fix any grounds... By Hoosier Hurricane - 4 Years Ago Tim, you don't happen t have a single contact bulb in the RH tail light, do you.  That would short the brake/turn wiring to the tail light wiring. By oldcarmark - 4 Years Ago Or U may have a double filament Bulb with one Filament burnt out. I would replace all 4 Bulbs in Parking and Tail Lights with new known good Ones. See if that changes anything. By NY59F100 - 4 Years Ago Tim, I wasn’t sure what year vehicle you’re working on, but I may have missed it. I’ve attached a wiring diagram for a 59 car which I used when I was having a number of issues with taillights, brake lights and turn signals on my 59 F100. Hopefully it will help you to know which wires go where. Looking at the diagram you’ve supplied, the colors seem to match up with the 59 wires, so Ford probably stayed consistent. For example, you said disconnecting the blue-orange wire caused only the front right turn signal to work. Blue-orange runs right rear turn signal/brake. I won’t go into all of the unexplainable things I ran into over two weeks chasing the electrical issues. I did have a ground issue, a light bulb socket that wouldn’t light up because of worn-out contacts even though power was going to the socket, and lastly, a loose connection that kept the right taillight from illuminating. I don’t know if the car has a flasher, but that was keeping the turn signals from consistently working. All is good now. Let me know if you want any specifics. By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago I'll check that fuse today. By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago Light bulbs are LED and we switched 'em, right to left. By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago Sorry, should have mentioned that it is a '56 Crown Victoria By oldcarmark - 4 Years Ago Tim Quinn (5/26/2020) Light bulbs are LED and we switched 'em, right to left. Tim try the System with standard Bulbs instead of LED Bulbs. Get it working properly before using the LED. Are U using LED Bulbs in the Dash or just the Front Parking  and Rear Taillights? I suspect part of your Problems are the LED. By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago LED bulbs are only in the tail lights. I'll test your theory of using original bulbs and let you know what happened. Thanks for the advice. Tim By oldcarmark - 4 Years Ago As I understand it the LED Bulbs are Polarity Sensitive. Not sure how that works with double Element Bulbs but getting it working with regular Bulbs eliminates that Possibility. By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago Took your advise and pulled out the LED's from the tail lights. For some unknown reason, I looked inside the bulb housing on the right hand light. BOOM/BANG !!! THERE WAS THE PROBLEM !!!! In the housing, the green wire had worked it's way out and was shorting out against the other wire. Put the green wire back where it belongs and PRESTO CHANGEO NO MORE PROBLEM. Want to thank everyone who responded to this problem, YOU GUYS ARE PRICELESS !!! Tim Mud Key Central Florida 33706  By oldcarmark - 4 Years Ago So are the Lights working with the LED Bulbs? Thinking about doing Mine especially the B/U Lights. Glad You figured it out. Electrical Problems are a Pain. Give Me mechanical Problems anytime before  Electrical. By MoonShadow - 4 Years Ago I tried a set or two of the led's. In my 56 with the faux Mercury tail lights  they don't really look any brighter. Same thing in the roadster with regular round hot rod tail lights. They didn't work at all well in my Dodge van. The brake lights had a habit of stopping to function. If I removed and flipped the bulbs they would work for a while and the quit. Rather than take the chance of running without brake lights I removed them. I've been told that the wiring and grounds are probably the culprit. Who knows? By charliemccraney - 4 Years Ago A problem with LED bulbs has to do with the nature of the LED.  They are much more directional than an incandescent bulb.  With incandescent, light is output nearly as a sphere, which allows light to be, in part directed at a target, but also reflected and focused in a particular way.  An LED emits light only in a cone shape, which is fairly narrow.  Output from an LED can be very bright straight on but you'll notice that the intensity diminishes not far to the side.  The result is that a poorly designed LED bulb will not utilize the reflector properly and be able to direct the light as the engineers intended.  The technology is advancing so there may be a good solution eventually so don't write them off entirely. I have LED headlights in my car and truck and they work very well so far BUT they were designed as such, not a retrofit of something like an H4 assembly - the down side, if one does go out, I have to replace the entire headlight.  It's like a sealed beam but a lot more expensive. By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago I put the LED's back and they are working perfectly. Day time brightness is great, much brighter than conventional bulbs, good safety feature. Again, thanks to you and all the Y-Blockers who gave advice. Tim Waiting Room for Heaven Florida, 33706 By 55charliebird - 4 Years Ago Good job.  As I said before "man made problems are the worst to find"...……….IBM engineer,,,,,,,,,,,,, trust me, I've been there. By DryLakesRacer - 4 Years Ago Tim, did you change flashers? Is yours the old round one? I saw a you tube on a problem using LEDs because of the way our flashers are wired and worked. How about your LED brand and cost? The you tube guy said something about using cheap ones.. thanks.. By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago Hey Mr D.L. Racer, It has been about 3.5 years since the LED's were installed. I'll have to look through my receipts for the last 3.5 years for an answer to your questions. I'll get back to you if and when I find what I'm looking for. Later, Tim HOT 'N HUMID, FLORIDA 33706 By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago RE: LED's for tail lights. They came from, SUPER BRIGHT LED's INC 4400 EARTH CITY EXPRESSWAY ST LOUIS, MISSOURI 63045 TEL:  314 972 6200  FAX: 314 972 6202 PART 3 1157-919-WV RED 100 DEGREES..... $3.95 EA X 2 =$7.90 = FREIGHT $3.02 TOTAL $10.92 N.B. (NOTE WELL) These were what they cost 3.5 years ago Good Luck Tim Florida By DryLakesRacer - 4 Years Ago I asked because I, like others, here are always looking for something better and if it can protect our cars from an accident that’s even better. I’ve put lights in my rear upper reflectors hoping that will help too. After 3-1/2 years and no electrical problem on yours it looks like a good idea... Thanks for the info.. By marvh - 4 Years Ago I have found helpful to brighten the lights is to spray paint the inside  of the  taillight reflector with chrome paint.  By DryLakesRacer - 4 Years Ago Factory is chrome and so are the replacements. My son just rebuilt his 40’s and painted them white. A difference there too since the lenses are glass. By FORD DEARBORN - 4 Years Ago Greetings everyone:  I tried many different combinations with incandescent, LED's, painting the dull reflector bowl white, then tried "chrome" paint. What worked the best for restoring the reflector bowl was "chrome" tape. I believe it's a plastic/acetate material very similar to what a typical potato chip bag is made of.  I actually didn't buy the tape, a friend gave a roll to me to experiment with. Google "chrome tape" and the stuff will come up, I'm told. It's sticky on one side and can be cut to shape with scissors and because I was concerned about the adhesive quality of the tape, I smeared a thin coat of clear RTV along the edges.  I found that a 2357 in place of the 1157 bulb worked best, even better than the LED bulbs that were tried. The two LED panels seen in the picture are wired into the running light circuit, they are white and show very well through the stock red lens. When the lights are switched on, the two LED square panels are on also. With the brake applied, the large element of the 2357 is about 50% more brighter than the standard 1157 bulb and draws about the same current. The drawback to the 2357 has a shorter life but I haven't had one burn out in going on 3 years since I concocted this hybrid tail light. After someone almost rear ended my truck is when it became time to do something about these old dismal lights. I also attached a short red LED strip at the right and left side of the back glass that serves as a high mount stop light and turn signal. I believe everyone is conditioned to "see" a 3rd stop light mounted up high. One more safety enhancement was installing a mechanical stop light switch on the brake pedal to provide an instant "on" the moment the brake pedal is pushed. I'll try to post a few pics but the picture doesn't truly demonstrate the terrific effect of these tail lights.. This is something that can be done very inexpensively. Hope this helps, JEFF.......... By DryLakesRacer - 4 Years Ago Stop wattage for a 1157 is 28 and a 2357 is 40. That’s a 25% improvement. Thanks for the information.. Dearborn. By Tim Quinn - 4 Years Ago Probably used AC duct tape that is highly reflective and easy to find at any hardware store.