cornering lights

[Larry Rees]

Neither of my cornering lights are working. I started by focusing on drivers side. I removed the entire assembly and cleaned it up, replaced the wire to the socket, cleaned and lubricated the socket and spring. Made sure light now worked by attaching directly to battery terminals. Reinstalled assembly and plugged it back in and no work. Attached a separate ground directly to the battery terminal and still no work. I checked orange power wire coming in and no power. I have the ignition turned on, signal on, headlights on and still no power to orange wire. Everything working but the corner light. Passenger side does not work either but have not done anything on that side yet. Figure one side at a time. Where should I look next. I have a manual. Thanks Larry

[Larry Rees]

Also my tail/stop lights work which the manual says the corner lights fall under the same fuse.

[Russ Austin]

Power comes from the turn signal switch. Check the connector at the steering column for power.

[C. Van Tune]

Larry, I agree with Russ that the problem might be the turn signal switch. Those get dirty, brittle, and problematic. Tilt wheels tend to make them wear even more. 

But also, it might be related to a headlight switch problem, even though you said that the headlights & tail/stop lamps work fine.  

Do the turn signals work properly? 

To troubleshoot, I'd try this:

1. Start engine.

2. Turn on parking lights (not headlights for now.)

3. Activate turn signal lever (both directions) and check that all associated lamps are working. If your car has tilt wheel, move that adjuster through the detents, and see if anything changes. Also, slowly turn the steering wheel fully lock-to-lock. 

4. Turn on headlights and repeat above sequence. Pull/push headlight switch on/off several times. 

If still no illumination at the cornering light(s), then the orange wire itself might be the problem.  

Remove the bulb and make certain the positive contact point in the socket is securely touching the positive terminal of the bulb. Maybe the spring tension on the socket is too weak to make for a solid connection.

Also, make certain the bulbs are the correct ones for cornering lights. The diameter of the base of the bulb is also important. Too loose-fitting in the socket, and you'll have a problem. 

BTW: Cornering light bulbs are similar to backup light bulbs: Single filament, high output. 

With everything else electrical on the car running as it should, there's really not a ton of things that could go wrong:  Bulb, socket, 12V wiring, ground, turn signal switch, headlamp switch, ignition switch, and other connections within the steering column. 

Run the above troubleshooting sequence with the passenger side lights, and let us know what you find. 

Hope this helps, 

Van

[Larry Rees]

Thanks guys for the info. It will take a few days but I will update you on the progress or what the issue turned out to be

[Larry Rees]

Checked the 3 prong connector at steering column coming down from signal and i got power on green but nothing on orange or yellow. So is it the signal switch at top of column then?

[Jason Edge]

Tilt columns have a switch down on the column then a jumper harness to rest of harness under dash. It is fed by an turn signal actuator yoke up in the column.

Non-tilt columns have the switch up in the column. I am of both types but if that ends up being your problem and cannot find one let me know and will put on my Wait List. I will have at least one non-tilt switch coming out of current parts car.

[Larry Rees]

I have a non Tilt column. All i can see is the turn switch at top of column

[Larry Rees]

Also I forgot to mention that both cornering lights have now been tested with an independent power source and they both work but when hooked back up to system the cornering lights don't work. Everything else in the system works normally. I have a spare steering column with switch and am trying to take the turn switch out. The switch is loose but can't seem to figure out how to manipulate it out of steering column housing. Any tips?

[Mike Travers]

Neither of my cornering lights were working when I purchased my '63 Coupe de Ville. I'm pretty good with electrical so I thought it would be a super easy issue to fix. It wasn't. MANY hours later, I realized that the light bulb sockets are crimped into the cornering lamps. The sockets get their ground via the cornering lights being screwed into the fender/bumper. All of that showed as being grounded and with no issues but my lights still wouldn't work. The issue ended up being where the sockets are crimped into the cornering lights and the metal lip on the socket is rolled over to hold onto the cornering light. That socket lip to cornering lamp is the only continuity to ground. Over the years, water and road dirt get in that lip and corrode thus breaking the continuity. If this is your issue, you can verify by taking a ground wire (preferably straight from your battery for testing) and touching it to the corner light bulb socket itself, not to the corner light housing. If it lights, then you know that's your issue. I sprayed the heck out of my socket where the socket crimps into the cornering light and I even got to where it would spin. I ended up flushing a bunch of dirt and corrosion out of there. Once cleaned, I smeared some dielectric grease around the lip, hoping to keep out future water & road dirt.

I hope this helps.

[Jason Edge]

Just a quick trick on the crimped in light sockets. First, Mike is correct, they lose contact from corrosion over the years. The quick fix, which I have found has lasted over a decade on my 64 CDV, is to turn the bulb base back and forth so you wear through the grime leaving metal to metal contact. To get it started you may spray a bit of lube around the rim. And once turning you really don't need to round and round, just enough to bite thru oxidation, grime, etc.

On light fixtures like the tail lights, and front park light where the bulb base comes out through the rear, I use channel lock pliers to grip and start turning the light bulb base back and forth.

With the cornering light bulb base which goes up through the inside of light fixture I take a long stiff putty knife and insert into the slits and firmly and slowly turn back and forth. This usually really only takes a couple of turns but you can turn a bit but make sure you don't use to much force and bend the sides of the bulb base.

See picture below as an example.

[Larry Rees]

Thanks guys all great tips. I am doing all the tips so that even if not the problem it will save future issues since I have them all apart

[Russ Austin]

There is a green wire on the turn signal switch that usually breaks. With the steering wheel off, you can see the green wire on the switch. test for power. If you want to remove the turn signal switch, it can be troublesome to remove. I use a small screw driver to angle the edge up that is closest to the steering column shaft. Then is slides out once cleared of the recess that it sits in. 

Be sure to remove the wire cover plate that is on the bottom of the column.