Brake lights & 4-way flashers

[Mike in Ohio]

My 69 is giving me fits with the wiring. I have no brake lights or 4-ways, my front turn signals work but the rear ones do not. I think my biggest problem is extra stuff added on that I can't identify. I will try to post a pic. I put power to the yellow and green wires at the last connection under the dash and the lights work. My 4-way switch looks nothing like any I find in the diagram or parts catalog. It is marked "flarestat mod #105 y136 signal stat". The flasher is mounted to it.

4 way switch.jpg

Also there are two other small boxes mounted under the dash that the rear turn signals go through I am wondering if this is some sort of booster for the rear turn signals, brake lights, & 4-ways for a trailer plug.

elec.jpg

Thanks a lot for any help, Mike

[bluef250]

The 2 boxes probably are relays. Power is routed through them and are switched by the emergency switch. The circuits that turn off and on go through the turn signal switch. If something is not working I would start trouble shooting at the turn signal switch. Have you tried to find out what the flarstat unit is?

[Mike in Ohio]

I must have explained badly. The flarestat is the switch that operates the 4-ways.

The two boxes in the other picture have 3 wires each, a hot scabbed into the fusebox, and 1 wire from the turn signal switch and the coresponding wire to the rear turn signal. It clicks when the turn signal is on. This is why I think it is some sort of power booster for the rear lights to power a trailer. I am just guessing at that.

Very little seems to match the wiring diagram, but very little of the truck is original.

Thanks again for the help, I have been staring at this for a couple of weeks trying to get it straightened out. I have cleaned up a lot of splices and other badly rigged stuff under the dash.

The origianal problem was a power drain that I traced to brake/4-way fuse. there is a dead short somewhere in this circuit when I put a jumper wire across the fuse for this circuit it glows cherry red in about 3 seconds.

[bluef250]

It sounds like the power comes from the fuse box and goes to the lights when the turn signal is activated. The relay is self grounding. The clicking is the relay switch closing. The relay is more robust than the turn signal switch. Does each side have its own relay?

[b]Does the turn signal switch self cancel? [/b] Many, many problems with turn signals, 4 ways, and brakes are because of a bad turn signal switch.

It appears that the flarestat is a product used by chevy. See Ebay -
67 68 69 70 71 72 CHEVY TRUCK SIGNAL STAT 105 SWITCH CONTROL FLASHER flarestat Ebay Item number 160919192615 Seems that P.O. was using the switch for 4 - ways.

Pull up the wiring diagrams and trace the turn signal and the brake circuits. Somewhere in the brake circuit there is a short. The short may be in the turn signal switch.

[Mike in Ohio]

The turn signals do self cancel, part of the problem is that it doesn't have the original steering column or wheel in it and I haven't yet been able to identify the column.It is a tilt/ telescope but who knows out of what.

[bluef250]

What a can of worms!!

Anything goes now. Can you do find any numbers on the column or its components? What about the steering box? How did they attach/assemble it?

All the turn signal switch does is direct power to the right circuits. I would develop a schematic based on testing. Find out where the power is, then trace each wire.

I would like to see some photographs of the installation. This might be an alternative for our trucks to get a tilt wheel!

[Mike in Ohio]

If I can figure all this out I will start a thread with all the info.

Right now all I want to do is get this truck on the road before my shoulder heals so when the Dr. releases me I can get to work.

I dislocated my shoulder and am trying to get it back in shape to get back to work. (if you have ever been stuck at home watching daytime tv you know why want to get back to work).

[bluef250]

[quote="Mike in Ohio"]I must have explained badly. The flarestat is the switch that operates the 4-ways.

The two boxes in the other picture have 3 wires each, a hot scabbed into the fusebox, and 1 wire from the turn signal switch and the coresponding wire to the rear turn signal. It clicks when the turn signal is on. This is why I think it is some sort of power booster for the rear lights to power a trailer. I am just guessing at that.

Very little seems to match the wiring diagram, but very little of the truck is original.

Thanks again for the help, I have been staring at this for a couple of weeks trying to get it straightened out. I have cleaned up a lot of splices and other badly rigged stuff under the dash.

The origianal problem was a power drain that I traced to brake/4-way fuse. there is a dead short somewhere in this circuit when I put a jumper wire across the fuse for this circuit it glows cherry red in about 3 seconds.[/quote]

Power goes from the fuse panel to the emergency flashed. Power then goes to the brake switch. Since the emergency flasher is not engaged, I would expect you have a short in the brake circuits. The brake circuit also goes through the turn signal on the stock configuration.

[Mike in Ohio]

The column seems to be from a 65-66 cadillac. Which makes me wonder if those boxes are part of the turn signal switch setup. Hopefully I will be able to find a wiring diagram for it some where on the internet.

Thanks a lot for the help,

Mike