Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

This is a 1961 Galaxie Sunliner we rescued from a field in MD (orig owner).

Presently: We have front and rear signals but only one brake light. Signaling left or right (min 2 sec) either restores both brake lights or swaps them. There's a pattern but I don't recall it.

We've replaced the flasher and it didn't have any effect. I've looked over the wiring schematic (linked in another post) and the only likely culprit I see is the signal switch.

Should I be checking out anything else?

Originally: We had no rear signals and passenger brake light only. We checked and cleaned the sockets, soaked the signal assembly with contact cleaner. That restored the rear signals and started the brake light swapping. Pulled the steering wheel and poked around the signal contacts a bit but nothing changed from that.


Background: It sat with no top for months at a time. We've been restoring functionality and getting ready to daily drive it. The orig owner attempted restoration, some decades back. Drive train work seems good but the rest was less than expert. The wiring is pretty much intact, with just a bit of ingenuity here and there. We've shored up the dodgy connections.https://cdn-images.imagevenue.com/57...ME12OBYT_o.jpg

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

Check the electrical grounding of the tail-light housings to the body.
Lights switching from one side to the other is a very common symptom of a bad ground on one side.
It also happens with the front parking & turn signal lights and the high/low beam headlights. Easy to spot on cars with four headlamps, one will be normal brightness and the other three will be much dimmer.
Clean all the light fixture ground connections.

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Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

We checked with a meter but didn't pull and clean them. We did clean the sockets tho.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

X2 on the grounds. I've had more than one occasion where they read ok, but cleaning everything solved the problem.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

It may have something to do with the amount of current needed.
The current needed for an Ohm meter to function is quite small. The current needed to light the filament of a bulb is greater and a marginal ground connection could fail, almost similar to a thermal circuit breaker.

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Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

We just pulled the leads and cleaned them. No change unfortunately.

We can still reactivate & deactivate each brake light from the turn signal lever.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

Is there a dedicated ground wire from each tail-light socket to the body, or do the tail-light housings ground to the body thru their mounting screws?

If it's not the ground connections there may be a poor connection in the wiring harness or turn signal switch, as you suspected. (since it sat out in the open with the top off for a while)

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

Brake lights are involved directly with the turn signal switch in order to use the high watt filament in the bulb for turn as well as brake. If your ground connections are good, the turn signal switch is the next place to check.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

Yeshttps://cdn-images.imagevenue.com/30...ME12OC98_o.jpg

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

Updating the brake light outage pattern:

On start, the left brake light is out.
Activating the right signal restores the left brake light.
Activating the left signal kills the left brake light.

Other things we've tried effect - jiggling/reseating bulbs, sockets, tail-light grounds, shorting the brake switch connectors. Flasher is replaced. There's zero current to the back sockets, when not activating brake/signals. Wiring between the trunk and front seat is visible and looks good.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

On start, the left brake light is out.
Activating the right signal restores the left brake light. ..This is normal
Activating the left signal kills the left brake light...This is normal


My first guess is the turn signal switch has a dirty/bad connection in the resting position, to connect the output of the brake light switch to the contact for the left brake light.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

We'll pull the steering wheel tomorrow and see what we see.

If we can't fix it, I'm inclined to buy a replacement switch from FR Part Store - $29 shipped.
I haven't dealt with them before. I've seen a few purchases from members here, w/o complaint. One guy on YBF got a trunk pan that didn't fit tho.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

Except for the first sentence, that is how the brake lights work. Brake light will not go on when signal is on.


I would look at the switch. I have a similar problem with my 54 - it turns out that the switch must be tired as you have to get it centered just right or a brake light will not go on.


Have some work the switch very slowly (with someone in back) around the neutral (center ) point to see if the switch is sensitive in its connection

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

I think there's a misunderstanding. I'll restate.

The brake brake pedal is depressed for everything below

With turn signals off: The left brake light is dark & the right brake light is on.

Turn on the right signal for 2 seconds and then turn it off: Both brake lights are on.

Turn on the left signal for 2 seconds and then turn it off: The left brake light is dark & the right brake light is on.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

Sounds good. We'll get into it tomorrow morning.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

My '60 ford has a dodgy turn signal and if I don't manually make sure the left signal is cancelled good I get no L. brake light, R. will be OK.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

Don't ignore the front signal lights. Ground or filament problems could cause troubles.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

My 61 Starliner had turn signal problems from the day I picked it up. The only problem it showed was no r side brake light. Turn signal worked. Right away I knew it was the switch. Checking the circuit confirmed my suspicions. Looking for a new switch was another matter. All of the new ones I found were 250$/300$. I think the one your looking at for 29$ is just the short wiring loom from the switch. I don't think there's any turn signal that sells for 29$. I pulled my turn signal switch out, disassembled it and cleaned the contacts and it worked about a week. So I picked up a used one and guess what? The right brake light wouldn't work. Cleaning the contacts didn't work either. Finally found one online (don't recall the site) for 225$. The one I received was a bit different and I had to grind the housing so that it would sit flat. Brake lights and turn signals have worked fine since then.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

Your turn signal switch is the culprit. The same wire is used from the column to the bulb for both brake and turn. The 63 Bird column I installed in my 57 Ranchero had the very same issue. It is a real pain the disassemble the switch while still in the column ( even more of a pain to pull it out of the column ) but look at it real close. It has little springs that will help you learn new vocabulary that help the little switch contacts to make up.

Re: Brake lights swapping when signaling - 61 Galaxie
 

Okay. I was wondering about that. The part description on a diff site hinted it was wiring.

I was working from a Ford part # (B9A-13341-A), apparently not the one I want. Appreciate you getting me off the wrong road.


edit: I'm going to pull the steering wheel in a couple of hours. In the mean time, does this look like what you bought?


http://www.2040-parts.com/_content/i...515712/004.jpghttp://www.2040-parts.com/_content/i...515712/001.jpg