Turn signals

[RX8Guy]

I could use some advise. I've wore myself out trying to find this problem. When I turn on my left, or right turn signal, both front come on and blink. Park lights are working fine and to my Suprise both the rear blinkers work correct. I've check grounds, cleaned bulb sockets, looked for "messed with" wiring, but still cant find the problem. BTW neither interior indicators work at all, if that has anything to do with it. I havent followed that trail yet. Anyone have any sggestions?

[mfg]

5 minutes ago, RX8Guy said:

I could use some advice. I've wore myself out trying to find this problem. When I turn on my left, or right turn signal, both front come on and blink. Park lights are working fine and to my Suprise both the rear blinkers work correct. I've check grounds, cleaned bulb sockets, looked for "messed with" wiring, but still cant find the problem. BTW neither interior indicators work at all, if that has anything to do with it. I havent followed that trail yet. Anyone have any sggestions?

Question…. We’re they working normally and then this issue suddenly appeared?

[RX8Guy]

Negative. I just purchased this car. Very little was working on it when I got it. I've got the power windows working now, headlights and tail lights had a wire burned under the dash at a connector that I repaired. One of the front blinkers didnt have a bulb in it so I replaced it and discovered that they both blink at the same time. I do not have a wiring diagram and cant seem to locate one. Im sure its some kind of GM harness. Camero, Chevelle, or such as, but I dont know for sure so that makes it a bit difficult to trace out the problem.

[RX8Guy]

Should the park lights work without the headlights on? All my lights come on with the headlamps, but the park light switch seems to do nothing

[mfg]

1 minute ago, RX8Guy said:

Should the park lights work without the headlights on? All my lights come on with the headlamps, but the park light switch seems to do nothing

The parking lights come on with the head and tail lamps (and side markers), but they should also come on without headlamps with switch in park position.

What model year is your Avanti?

 

[RX8Guy]

1980

 

[RX8Guy]

Good to know. I will start looking into the park light switch and system. my blinker problem could be there 

[Mel]

Make sure your emergency flasher circuit is not stuck in the 'ON' position, the switch is well grounded, etc.  In these fiberglass bodied cars, bad grounds cause all kinds of problems and the more grounds you have the better.  Welcome to the world of fixing things that others probably screwed up.  Good luck and keep us posted.

[ronmanfredi]

If you brought me your car and told be the problems that you were having, I would forget your current diagnosis and start with one problem at a time using a volt/ohm meter.  First are the running/head lights. The rocker switch on the left side on the ceiling turns the power on to the headlight/running light circuit.  The next switch turns on or off the headlights with the running lights on.  If it isn't doing anything, then you need to pull those switches to inspect their operation and wiring. Previous owners/mechanics may have done who knows what to the switches. If everything looks good and the switches are working, then look at the wiring harness at the driver's side upper kick panel and inspect the wires with the same color codes as at the switches to see what has happened.  You need to solve this problem first.  (note, you need to use an ohm meter on the switches to verify that they are actually working)

Grounds (white wires from Avanti), Black wires on GM supplied harnesses/components.  On all park, side marker, and tail lights, remove the bulbs.  Get an 8-10' length of 12 volt wire and connect one end to the negative side of the battery.  Run it close to each light fixture one at a time.  Take the volt/ohm meter and set it on ohms or continuity setting.  Now connect one lead to the 8' wiring and the other lead to the ground wire "at the light fixture body".  It should show continuity.  If not, then you have a ground problem with that light.  It could be the ground wire to its grounding point, or its connection at the light body.  Once you have fixed or determined that all grounds are good, then you have eliminated that being a problem.  Be sure to note that most bulbs ground through the bulb base body, so the inside of the socket must be clean.  You can get a small wire brush made for this at an auto parts store if you don't have one.  There is no need to go any further until the grounds are good.  For rear lights, the harnesses run under the fuel tank, under the rear seat and up the rocker panels.  I've had all of those interior parts out tracing down a ground problem before.

On the upper driver's side kick panel are a couple of relays and there is a ground bar there where a few wires connect for grounding purposes, plus the gauges use the dash support frame above the steering column to ground to.

Once you have all known issues with the park/head/tail lights fixed, then you can attack the turn signals.  You have to remember that the turn signals/hazard flasher switch are all electronically combined, so sometimes you have to check each turn signal circuit independently of the rest to find the problem.  If each circuit is good, then the turn signal/emergency flasher switch is most likely the problem.

I've found that 1/2 of the time, that a lot of problems are caused by connections or poor grounds.  I've also seen a lot of "previous" repairs that were the root cause of the problems too.  Here are some 1980 diagrams which should be good to help you sort this out.

[RX8Guy]

Great info, thanks. I've cleaned all the sockets, and all the lights are operating correct. except the front blinkers. emergency flashers work correct also. I did notice today that the right side blinker (rear) blinks slower than the left side. Since there's only one flasher they should be the same. Funny story now. I'm driving myself crazy trying to find this problem. In the middle of everything the right side (rear) stopped working. So now I spend a couple of hours looking for what I've screwed up. It took me a couple of hours to ck the friggin bulb. that SOB blew the bulb while I was doing my testing. Nothing wrong with the system. What are the odds of a bulb blowing out in the middle of all this. Just lucky I guess.

[Gunslinger]

While it may not have anything to do with your problem…I would swap out every light with a LED replacement along with a flasher made for LED lights.  You’ll get brighter illumination…longer life…less heat to fade the lenses…and it uses less power draw on the electrical system. 

[RX8Guy]

54 minutes ago, Gunslinger said:

While it may not have anything to do with your problem…I would swap out every light with a LED replacement along with a flasher made for LED lights.  You’ll get brighter illumination…longer life…less heat to fade the lenses…and it uses less power draw on the electrical system. 

I have LEDs that I tried in the tail lights, and the overhead switch illumination lights. To my surprise they will not work. I was assuming the Avanti just wont work with them. reverse polarity or whatnot. I've got the in my Tbird, Corvette, Buick, and AMX without any issues. I was surprised they wouldn't work in the Avanti.

[RX8Guy]

Just now, RX8Guy said:

I have LEDs that I tried in the tail lights, and the overhead switch illumination lights. To my surprise they will not work. I was assuming the Avanti just wont work with them. reverse polarity or whatnot. I've got the in my Tbird, Corvette, Buick, and AMX without any issues. I was surprised they wouldn't work in the Avanti.

O, BTW, I did put them in the front park lamps and they did work. Weird. I've been switch those in and out chasing my blinker problem, but they seem fine up there.

 

[Gunslinger]

I put LED lights in the '70 Avanti I had with no issues at all.  Interior...exterior...they all worked fine.