The green turn signal indicator light in the tach gauge on my '74 1.8 stays dimly light whenever the ignition is on. The turn signal lamps all work correctly and the indicator light flashes brightly with the relay when the turn signal is on, but it always glows dimly when the signal isn't on. I have no idea where to begin to diagnose the problem. Anybody else have this/fix this on their car?

Ground wire?

Misconnection at one of the lights?

Not sure what ground wire you mean, but everything on the car works normally, except that the indicator light glows dimly, but otherwise it works as well. The car is very original-one owner before me, and nothing looks like it was ever messed with, so I don't think anything is mis-wired, but if you have anything specific I should check, let me know.
Thanks!

Mine does the same thing....as soon as I get around to screwing with it, I will let you know.

I'm going to change the flasher unit first, in case it has an internal fault. Then I will look at the connection on the front turn signal for correct polarity and then the rears for the same thing.

Then I'm going to douse it with petrol and throw a lighted match at it

I'm not up to the fire cure yet, but give it time . I was wondering if it wasn't the flasher unit as well, but don't have one to test it with. Was hoping someone else has already been through this and would know the magic spell to fix it before going the parts replacing route.

I had a bunch of wierd quirks in my turn signal / flasher system that disappeared when I cleaned all the contacts. The worst offender in my case was corrosion at the bulb contacts in the rear tail/turn lights. A bit of a different scenario, but it's not a bad idea to clean things up with some fine sandpaper and a little WD40 anyway... If it doesn't solve your problem, it's still worthwhile PM on a 30-year-old car.

That's a good suggestion. I looked at the contacts for the signal bulbs, and while it works, there is a fair amount of corrosion in the left rear bulb socket. I'll clean that up tomorrow and see if it helps.

My turn signal light has done this since I got the car (in '89), too. I believe I once read that it was due to having the wrong flasher unit. Apparently it changed between 72 and 73. Although the flasher is quite accessable, I've never really felt the need to fix it, since it is a harmless quirk....

hmmm. this all seems so familiar. just buy a 911 and all your problems will go away.

I think ground. Check the battery. Here's a similar problem, I had 2 weeks ago. It was the ground...
Both turn indicators on, Just after putting a new battery in???? 914 ground problem
Rgds, Michael

My main grounds are fine. It is not the actual turn signal bulbs that are on, just the instrument panel indicator light in the tach (green dot that flashes with turn signal activation).

Make sure you have the right bulb in every socket. These damn things are finicky! I've had strange electrical problems that wound up being solved by replacing the bulbs, even tho they looked fine. Coulda been bad connections, but cleaning didn't solve it. When I first rewired Dad's Car, I had dash problems that went away when I fixed the lic plate lights. Go figure. Had a glitch the other day that was a fuse that looked fine, but wasn't.

It's the Flasher...Mine did the same until I changed the Flasher...I tried cleaning contacts , light bulbs, chased grounds and harnesses, even took the flasher apart...All to no avail...Just buck up and change the flasher...$35 ...Or just live with it, it doesn't get any worse and it doesn't hurt anything...

2-OH!

QUOTE (2-OH! @ Mar 9 2005, 07:25 AM)

Or just live with it, it doesn't get any worse and it doesn't hurt anything... 2-OH!

It keeps you company on those dark nights in the middle of nowhere drives!

I don't mind spending the money on the flasher if it has a hope of fixing the problem. Agreed, it hasn't gotten any worse over 4 years, and sometimes gets a little better! Was looking for some confirmation that the flasher could be the problem before just replacing it, since it seems to work correctly otherwise.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice.

This is a great forum!