Ground for Front Blinker

[Boaf 32]

Hello Fellow LCer's,

Question on Right (Passenger) front blinker.

I replaced my right front fender with a new and freshly painted one. However, blinker stopped working.

1. Light goes on, but won't blink
2. Bulb is good front, rear and dash.
3. Driver blinker works
4. Wires connected the way they were taken off (marked with tape before disassembly).
5. Voltage to blinker with volt meter is good

Is the blinker itself grounded to the fender? I am buying new bulbs anyhow but not feeling that will solve the problem. I will manually ground the blinker tomorrow but kinda at a duh moment.

Thanks.

Boaf

 

[73FJ40]

The light grounds to the fender, the fender must ground to the frame, and the frame must ground to the negative battery terminal.

 

[Eric_FJ40]

I had similar gremlins with both front blinkers years ago. Finally traced it to the grounds where the light housings sat on the fenders, so I ran a dedicated ground wire from inside the housing through the mount and attached it under the fender. Took care of my issue.

 

[73FJ40]

My solution to the grounding problem for the marker lights was to add a ground wire directly to the innards of the lights.

For the front lights, I threaded a white/black (OEM standard for grounds) 18 ga. wire through the stock wire loom. (16 ga. won't fit). I attached a ring terminal to the ground wire inside the marker housing, coated it with carbon conductive paste, and terminated it under the screw that holds the grounding connection. The pigtail end I attached a standard bullet (thanks @Coolerman ). When I rebuilt my wire harness, I included an 8 ga. main trunk ground wire, terminated at the bolt holding the starter ground to the frame, and spliced in 16 ga. female bullets for each and every component that needed a ground.

Pictures of the front marker below:

 

[Boaf 32]

I had similar gremlins with both front blinkers years ago. Finally traced it to the grounds where the light housings sat on the fenders, so I ran a dedicated ground wire from inside the housing through the mount and attached it under the fender. Took care of my issue.

Thanks Eric. My thought exactly. Will try and get it done this evening. Will follow up.

Boaf

 

[Eric_FJ40]

Good luck! It's an easy fix, if it works! You still need to have a good connection between the fender and the frame for that to work.

73FJ40's solution above is similar too - but he took it all the way to the main ground strap.

 

[Boaf 32]

Good luck! It's an easy fix, if it works! You still need to have a good connection between the fender and the frame for that to work.

73FJ40's solution above is similar too - but he took it all the way to the main ground strap.

Resolved! A little sand paper, clean washer and vundeba'. All fixxed. Grounds, grounds always grounds.

 

[fabiodaddy]

I also had an issue with ground on the front blinkers. Mine was, as mentioned above, not getting a good ground through the mount to the fender. Just ran a short dedicated ground from light to frame and 'waalaa' we have blinky!!!

 

[Eric_FJ40]

Right on!

 

[Tlb]

Right on!

The turn signal housing is plastic on a 77 fj40. Where do you attach ground wire to the housing?

 

[Eric_FJ40]

If I recall, there was a screw on the metal reflector inside. Either that, or I installed a screw or soldered the wire.
This was over a decade ago for me, my memory may be flawed!

 

[Tlb]

If I recall, there was a screw on the metal reflector inside. Either that, or I installed a screw or soldered the wire.
This was over a decade ago for me, my memory may be flawed!

Thanks
That should work. I will try when I get a chance.