3 prong. If I had wires wrong only one side of bulb would work, both work. Like I said, I ran a meter on the bulb and it showed conductivity at all the prongs. Both new and old bulb.

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

Is that a 3 prong bulb? Do you have the wires in the correct terminals. I think both filaments share a ground. If you have 1 hot wire going to the ground terminal of the bulb, maybe it will allow both to come on at either the hi or low setting. What happens if you hit the high beam switch?


Lawrenceville, GA

I had everything apart and cleaned,  then put back together. Wires are 100% correct. Problem only occurs when bulb is plugged in. Both old and new. Unplug bulb and wires only show hot one at a time. I ended up taking meter to new bulb and it showed conductivity at connections. I had never even thought of doing this before in all my years working on cars. I just replaced bulb if it didn't work. This was a total shock to me but I guess I'm going to put it back together as is and see what happens. I still have the turn signals and brake lights to figure out. I'm in the process of figuring out how to replace sockets in 56 turn signal housings.

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

Are you sure that you do not have 1 high beam and 1 low beam wire plugged into one of the siamesed connectors in the junction block on the inner fender?

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

OK- This has me wondering- If I check my headlight wiring without any bulbs hooked up everything looks good. 3 wires check out ground, low beam and high beam. But when I plug a bulb in and check wires both of the high and low beam wires have electricity. Tried a new bulb, same thing. Is there something inside a bulb that causes this?

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

UPDATE-

Found the sockets on parking lights were loose, causing bulbs to work sometime (sometimes not) also found that one headlight bulb was causing a back-feed. Don't know how but it would show up only when bulb was plugged in. Going to fix these things then move on to turn signals. Still have dash apart and steering wheel pulled. I WILL BEAT THIS YET

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

Check out the shop manual on pg 259 for a schematic of the turn signals and pg 269 for a color coded diagram of the push-in junction on the driverside inner fender.  The schematic on 259 will really help with installing the new turn signal switch and the other diagram shows exactly how these junctions serve to split the wiring as John mentioned.  I am sorry my scanner isn't working so I could post these diagrams.

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.

Started at junction box - found out of the 8 pins only 6 were hot. 4 for headlights, 2 for parking lights, 2 dead- no front turn signals. At the rear of car I have both tail lights and only right turn. Forgot to check brakes.

I think my next step is to install new turn signal switch in column, since these wires were cut off when I bought car.

Hopefully I will get this repaired this weekend! Then on to new carb and install alternator to replace generator. My wheels have been sand blasted and are at powder coater. New tires and I should be on the road.

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

I have not replaced the turn signal assy yet. But I do have a new one to put in. Old one had wires cut off (maybe a problem) and I repaired them while hunting for new unit.

As for the pins on the fender--- there is an idea! I never knew some fed miltiple pins. That would account for trouble with headlights and maybe front markers.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR BOTH OF THESE SUGGESTIONS

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

Just a thought.  In the junction block on the inner fender, some of the connections are singles straight through, some are doubles, which can make a 3 or 4 way connection.  Might be where things are crossed up.

On a job like this, we always want the problem to be caused by one snafu, and fixing that will fix all the problems.  This is not necessarily true.  Sometimes you have to attack one problem at a time until they are all solved.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"