My directional lights weren't working so I bought a new directional switch. I just put it in and have the same problem as before. I've never really done much repair and made the obvious conclusion that it wasn't the switch. I found out that when the headlights were on the switch was silent. When I turned the headlights off the right turn made the click sound and there was a faint blinking light in the back. When turned the left one on the front left blinker shined more brightly like a break light, but the back left light did nothing. As soon as I turned the headlights on nothing happened at all and no clicking sound either. Any advice would be appreciated I'm a real beginner.

Dead give away sign of a ground problem. First I would clean any and all plugs and sockets. It should get better. Then check for any exposed/spliced wires...this could cause major corrosion. Lastly, what I normally do and fixes the problem 90% of the time completely is just buy new sockets all around. You can get them for about $7 at O'Reilly's or order online from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard or Dennis Carpenter. Another sign of a ground issue, is if you have your headlights on, do you have any feedback light in your signals in the dash? IE, do your blinkers glow green when your headlights are on?

I'm with Ben on this one sounds like a bad ground or bad contact some place, i'd start at all the blinkers and work back from there.

x3 on ground issue

x4 on the assessment.

Sounds like something's grounding/shorting out

Sounds like a grounding problem to me also. This is why when I wired up my truck, I made it a point to have everything pretty much either grounded to the grounding bar that is on my new fuse panel or connected to a negative from the battery. I'm not messing around with grounding things to metal. It works, but faulty grounding can cause so many problems.

Hey Buck...you got any pics of your wiring process? If you do I would loooooooooove to see them...my wiring attempts are shoddy at best. But it usually works...haha. So if you have any step-by-steps, I'd really be interested in seeing how you wired your truck. If you do, I'll shoot you a PM with my email so you can shoot them my way.

My wiring is actually pretty basic. Most all of the interior is wired just as it would be from factory and the only thing I did differently in the engine compartment was the wiring for the lights. I had the wires supplied for headlights (HI/LOW dim), turn signals, park lights, etc. Instead of just using the ground pigtails from the sockets screwed to the core support which was factory, I just tied the headlights, park lights, turn signal grounds togther with one wire that leads back to the negative side of the battery. Right now I just have the main ground wire for the lights tied right on the negative battery cable along with the main ground wire for my fuse panel.

You have to be aware that these truck power and ground connections corrode a lot of the years never mind rust inhibiting the connection.

Also the bulb sockets themselves have a tendency to cause grounding problems so look for those as well.

Most common on 78-79's is the front T/S and Park lights

Great help from everyone. Problem fixed.

Dart81 said:

Great help from everyone. Problem fixed.

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No problem...that's what we're all here for. If you don't mind me asking what ended up being the problem, or what did you fix/replace?

Put new light sockets in the rear, all corroded as predicted.

Dart81 said:

Put new light sockets in the rear, all corroded as predicted.

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Figured...luckily it's an easy enough fix. Now if I were you, I would be sure to swap out all the remaining sockets and replace the turn signal switch in the steering wheel. The way I see it, if one was bad, they're all likely to be bad in the near future.

One of the things I do is use electrical 'jelly' in all my contacts and sockets. I throw plenty in there to ward off water and future corrosion.

TexasRho83 said:

One of the things I do is use electrical 'jelly' in all my contacts and sockets. I throw plenty in there to ward off water and future corrosion.

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You know...I used to use dielectric grease, but then one time I was at O'Reilly's and the guy behind the counter showed me a write-up on how Vaseline works even better, so I've been using that ever since, with ZERO problems. It's a little odd, I know, and I can't remember much of anything from the article, except that there was enough information there to persuade me to try it.

UTfball68 said:

You know...I used to use dielectric grease, but then one time I was at O'Reilly's and the guy behind the counter showed me a write-up on how Vaseline works even better, so I've been using that ever since, with ZERO problems. It's a little odd, I know, and I can't remember much of anything from the article, except that there was enough information there to persuade me to try it.

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I would think the advantages of either one would sway a person to use either one in whatever electrical assemblies they work on hehe

TexasRho83 said:

I would think the advantages of either one would sway a person to use either one in whatever electrical assemblies they work on hehe

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HAHAHA...now that was funny...reps given. I was strictly referring to electrical assemblies on my truck...but you're right, it does have many applications.

UTfball68 said:

HAHAHA...now that was funny...reps given. I was strictly referring to electrical assemblies on my truck...but you're right, it does have many applications.

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Hehe sorry - Jack & Coke talking

I'm suspicious of anyone carrying vaseline in their toolbox

HAHA...ok guys, poke all the fun you want, but I'm telling you it works.