Check out the shop manual on pg 259 for a schematic of the turn signals and pg 269 for a color coded diagram of the push-in junction on the driverside inner fender.  The schematic on 259 will really help with installing the new turn signal switch and the other diagram shows exactly how these junctions serve to split the wiring as John mentioned.  I am sorry my scanner isn't working so I could post these diagrams.

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.

UPDATE-

Found the sockets on parking lights were loose, causing bulbs to work sometime (sometimes not) also found that one headlight bulb was causing a back-feed. Don't know how but it would show up only when bulb was plugged in. Going to fix these things then move on to turn signals. Still have dash apart and steering wheel pulled. I WILL BEAT THIS YET

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

OK- This has me wondering- If I check my headlight wiring without any bulbs hooked up everything looks good. 3 wires check out ground, low beam and high beam. But when I plug a bulb in and check wires both of the high and low beam wires have electricity. Tried a new bulb, same thing. Is there something inside a bulb that causes this?

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

Are you sure that you do not have 1 high beam and 1 low beam wire plugged into one of the siamesed connectors in the junction block on the inner fender?

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

I had everything apart and cleaned,  then put back together. Wires are 100% correct. Problem only occurs when bulb is plugged in. Both old and new. Unplug bulb and wires only show hot one at a time. I ended up taking meter to new bulb and it showed conductivity at connections. I had never even thought of doing this before in all my years working on cars. I just replaced bulb if it didn't work. This was a total shock to me but I guess I'm going to put it back together as is and see what happens. I still have the turn signals and brake lights to figure out. I'm in the process of figuring out how to replace sockets in 56 turn signal housings.

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

Is that a 3 prong bulb? Do you have the wires in the correct terminals. I think both filaments share a ground. If you have 1 hot wire going to the ground terminal of the bulb, maybe it will allow both to come on at either the hi or low setting. What happens if you hit the high beam switch?


Lawrenceville, GA

3 prong. If I had wires wrong only one side of bulb would work, both work. Like I said, I ran a meter on the bulb and it showed conductivity at all the prongs. Both new and old bulb.

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

The way I see it is if you have a hot wire going to the bulb ground terminal and the ground wire going to one of the bulb hot terminals then when one of the lights is on, it may be hi beam, it may be low beam, the common ground will complete the circuit and cause both filaments to light up. I'm not sure if that is actually how it might work. Anyone else see what I'm getting at?



Have you made sure that the wires are going to the proper terminals? Since it happens with different bulbs, I think you have wires crossed somewhere.


Lawrenceville, GA

This problem usually surfaces when you have an earth problem. If all the lights come on with reduced brilliance this is definitely the problem.

If they all come on and are full brilliance, it can only be one of three things.

The supply to the lights is wrong, the plug connections on the firewall are mixed up remembering that some plugs on the firewall are siamesed, the connection to the pigtails (to the lights) is wrong or you have a faulty headlight dip switch.

There is of course one other possibility and that is that if you have relays fitted to the headlights, these are faulty.

You say you have a meter or test light, confirm that only wire to each light has power when you turn the lights on. If that is the case it will be the earth problem or the plug to the light is wired incorrectly.

One other thing that I have experienced in the past is that if the light holder is not tight, it is sometimes possible to put the globe in the socket incorrectly and if this happens you end up shorting across both terminals in the holder with the soldered end of the globe. It then makes its own shorted connection in the lampholder. This is also possible, though I would think unlikely if everything worked before you started. This can happen with stop/light sockets -though not sure with the headlight plugs you are using.

Sometimes these problems seem to be a nightmare, but the solution is almost always very simple.

Hope this helps.

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

This is the LAST question to complete this puzzle-

Looking at the back of the bulb you see 3 prongs. 1 on top and the others at each side. Which one is ground, which one high beam and which one low beam?

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.