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  #1  
Old 11-12-2006, 10:23 PM
retmil46's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Mooresville, NC
Posts: 344
Open Circuit RH Rear Turn Signal?

Back on Friday got my '87 300D Turbo back from the body shop. Back about a month ago had a semi pretty well trash the LH rear quarter panel, including completely demolishing the LH tailight assy and bulb socket panel. After unhooking the harness to the LH side, all the lights on the RH side still functioned normally and were still working when I dropped it off 3 weeks ago for repair.

Last Wednesday I stopped by the body shop to check on their progress. They had progressed to the point where the car had been reassembled and painted, all that was left was to clean off the masking residue, buff it out, clear coat it, and generally clean things up. They had went to a salvage company and procured a used LH taillight assy and bulb socket panel.

While there, the owner of the shop asked me if my RH turn signal and backup lights had been working when I dropped it off. Told him that they had been. He said that he had replaced the bulbs, the backup light now worked , but that the RH turn signal still wouldn't function. He said that he would do some further troubleshooting on it.

When I picked the car up on Friday, he said that he still hadn't been able to chase down the problem with the RH rear turn signal.

The LH turn signals and all bulbs front and rear operate normally. And all bulbs on the RH side, with the exception of the rear turn signal, operate normally as well. When the lever is put over for a RH signal, you get the rapid quick blinking/clicking that usually signifies a bad bulb. The RH front turn signal will blink rapidly in time with this, but nothing from the RH rear.

Same story when the hazard light switch is activated, bypassing all the turn signal circuitry. Lh front and rear, and RH front, function normally, but nothing from the RH rear.

I hooked up the Rh bulb panel to the LH side harness connector, and when I did this all bulbs functioned normally. This looks to rule out any problem with the bulbs, the socket panel, and it's included wiring.

Using a multimeter and activating both the turn signals and then the hazard switch, I checked for power at the pin socket for the turn signal bulb at the RH harness connector. Nothing, dead as a doornail.

I opened up the harness connector to see if the sockets had become corroded or the wire had broken off. Nothing there, everything was in good shape and all the wires firmly soldered to the sockets.

Looking at the wiring diagram, the RH front turn signal splits off prior to connector X 18, in the bottom part of the fuse panel/relay box in the engine bay. After this connector, the diagram shows one continuous run with no other breaks until the circuit reaches the RH tailight connector in the trunk.

To me, the problem appears to be a break in the circuit between connector X 18 in the fuse/relay panel and the connector at the RH taillamp.

Two possibilities I can think of - the harness was yanked around and stretched when the quarter panel was damaged, and with subsequently being moved around during repairs the wire parted somewhere along the harness. Or, while the body shop was doing repairs, they inadvertently did something to damage the harness (such as running a trim screw thru the harness).

Three things I can think of to check offhand -

1. Do a continuity check between the pin socket on the RH taillamp connector and vehicle ground. If a screw was run thru the wire, it could show up as having a connection to ground.

2. Disassemble the fuse/relay panel and eyeball connector X 18, make sure it's in good shape and do a continuity check to ground there as well.

3. Where the harness enters the trunk from behind the rear seat, open it up and check the appropriate wire at this point to see if power is present. If power is present, then the circuit is broken somewhere in the trunk area, and I would be able to splice a replacement wire into the circuit. If not, the problem is further forward in the vehicle, which means it could be a nightmare chasing it down.

Actually, also 4. Go back by the body shop and have them walk me thru everything that was removed/disturbed/reinstalled for fixing the quarter panel.

I'm open to any other suggestions as to what the problem might be.

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club
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  #2  
Old 11-14-2006, 12:39 PM
retmil46's Avatar
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Mooresville, NC
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Problem Solved

About halfway along the harness, where it runs along the bottom of the lh quarter panel, there was a tear in the plastic sleeving about 1" long. The wire for the RH turn signal was broken away completely, the wire for the RH backup light was hanging on by a few strands, and the insulation for a third wire had been nicked. I tested the vehicle side of the break in the turn signal wire by activating the hazard flashers, and had power. Tomorrow morning I'll be able to do a quick splice job aand be back on the road again.

Now all I have to deal with is that blasted vacuum control valve.
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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club
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  #3  
Old 11-14-2006, 01:35 PM
a famous author's bathtub
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Southern NJ
Posts: 68
i guess

i suppose your wire problem is due to your accident, however i have had a few 'bare wire' episodes myself. all of my episodes pointed to fatigue in the insulator causing bare wire to eventually touch the car body. this happened in the group of wiring running along the trunk hinge and through the b-pillar into the rear driver's side door. caused some pretty spooky problems :fork_off:

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1987 300D Turbo, 225K
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