So I spent about 5 hours today messing around with my 72 Cuda's taillights, turn signal lights, and the turn signal cam...
I replaced the turn signal cam a few weeks ago...as I was pulling it out, there were two, thin, little pieces of metal roughly an inch long between the cam and the switch unit. They just fell out and I have no idea where they're supposed to go and I can't find any evidence that anyone has ever seen such things in their steering column before.
I left them out after much frustration and a few sparks, but I can't for the life of me get everything to work consistently.
Oh, I can get everything to work at one time or another, or even everything working for a little while...but the smallest movement of the turn signal lever can turn off one brake light or the other, cause my hazards to simple turn on and glow, but not blink and other times work perfectly. The running lights being on or off just add more variability to the possible combinations of lights that blink, go dark, or don't blink at all, one side or the other.
In another strange twist, my ignition light decided to come on just as its designed for a period of time during all this troubleshooting, and that wouldn't be so odd except that its never come on ever since I've had the car!
To make matters more variable, my rear tail light sockets are funky and seem to have loose connections into they housings...so they really should be replaced.
I'm nearly positive it's a combination problem between the turn signal cam (which can turn on or off lights with the subtlest movement...before you even click into the left or right turn signal position) and the day time running lamps. For the record, the operation of the turn signal lever is not crisp or discrete. It's like it's analog instead of digital much like a spark regulator on the column of a 1913 Model T (digital meaning it'd have three distinct positions: left turn, off, right turn).
Other facts: also tonight I installed illumin8's LED running lamps that change color to amber when the turn signal is switched...I don't think this affects the problem because I was experiencing it prior to installing them. And yes, I've installed the correct flasher units on both hazards and turn signals. I also have LED bulbs in back, but the problem doesn't care if my bulbs are LED or incandescent...so I don't think that has anything to do with it. Additionally, I have headlights with halo LED's that draw their power from the wiring harness of the front turn signal lamps...there's a slight possibility that a ground issue in the LED hookup is affecting it, but I doubt it since the issues are variable and inconsistent.
Question 1: anyone encounter those small, thin, metal strips underneath the turn signal cam before?
Question 2: any theories as to my issue or why the turn signal cam affects the whole system when slightly moved in the space between the two turn signal hold positions?
Question 3: do you think I should just replace the whole turn signal switch unit in the column with the hopes that since it comes fully assembled (cam and switch), I won't have to worry about the metal strips and that my issue largely stems from an old switch unit.
Help would be much obliged.
