Info needed: M38A1 flasher/signal unit on the steering column

[rob love]

You can get bullet connectors that are crimp on and will sorta interface with the military connectors, but you will have to tape the connections. They are likely available at Cdn tire, or places like NAPA etc.

I see where Wayne used the fuze holders for the little plastic fuses. To be correct for the time period of the Jeeps, you will want the inline fuze holders that use the glass fuzes.

[Les Kovacs]

Hi Rob....thanks for the connector pics (nothing better than a pic)...I have done some research and came up with Erik Military Supplies.....they have original Packard Military connectors male & female with the rubber casing....to look OEM....I have gone through the jeep and there were may exposed blinker wires that required a new connector or casing so I ordered a whole bunch which leads me to my next question...

As in Christmas light bulbs of the 50's to 80's, if one bulb was burnt out the whole tree went out and you had to find the bad bulb....question...could the whole blinker system have gone out due to exposed wires leading to their respective lights?

I will have a fuse put into the old harness like in Wayne's picture in a couple of days....then I will see if the flasher or lever is the issue. Right now, with power the lever light stays on.....does this mean that there is a short? If so, any hints on how to trace the bad connection?

Thanks again,

les

[rob love]

Les

You have to back and read my many posts in this thread. I have covered how to trace a short, and have mentioned that right now you may only have a bad flasher, or you may have a bad flasher because of a short. The short would be traced by removing the large connector at the signal controller, and then checking for resistance (ohms reading) between the 4 main wires (460, 461, 460-22 and 461-22) to see what readings you get. If all are similar (which they should be because they are all going through a similar bulb) then they are OK. But if one or more read much much lower resistance ( zero resistance indicating a perfect ground) then you know which wire was the problem. Note your problem may be intermittent....you may have to have someone wiggle the wires to find the problem.

So as to your new question: Yes, you can burn out the flasher with just one single wire shorted to ground. Let's pretend there was a ground in the wire leading to the left rear turn signal. Every time you applied the right signal, you would be subjecting the flasher to up to 25 amps of current. At the same time, everytime you applied the brake, you would be causing the little points inside the controller to 25 amps of current. Neither component will put up with that for very long.

All that said, your problem may still be just a bad flasher. An exposed wire is not necessarily a short to ground...it has to touch ground.

[Les Kovacs]

Thanks again Rob.....got it!

OK...right now I got a new a new harness....I have taken off the old one harness which is roached but I will rebuild it, check for shorts and keep it as a spare.

I now have a new issue....my wife was helping me with working on the jeep...as I was in the house she disconnected the flasher to signal lever harness connectors to the rest of the harness leading I assume to the 4 blinkers.....without recording what numbers went with what numbers or letters on the other harness. It appears that the 6 connectors leading to the blinkers are labelled as A, B, L, K, J and so on.....the harness from the flasher to signal lever have labels like 460, 461 and so on....would you have any source that can show me what connectors/numbers go where?

As well, on the harness to blinkers one wire is missing its connectors and was soldered to an open wire to the other harness.

Help would be appreciated.

les

[rob love]

Go to this thread: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=21154

There will be the wiring diagram for the CDN3. Use that as your guide. By looking at the pin on the plug at the controller, you can then discern which wire they should be. Not sure why your harness has letters on the wires rather than the normal numbers.

[Les Kovacs]

Hi Rob....thanks for the link and diagram....although I do have that diagram from a pic off of google and like that one when zoomed in it becomes too blurry to read.

Yes, the harness (old & new)from the lever to the flasher has numbers eg: (460-22) but the harness which carries the wiring to the four signal lamps have letters...go figure?

Thanks,

les

[rob love]

Those letters are likely the pin numbers at the controller connector. I can see most of them on the diagram, along with their wire numbers, so it should be easy enough to translate them into the wire numbers.

Alternatively, you can contact Dave/302 trooper, who posted those diagrams and ask for the full size to be emailed to you. Again, check that thread.