Well it has taken me nearly 20 years to finally fix these lights. I have a 1966 Continental and I believe most of what I am about to say may relate to 67 too. I am aware that there are some differences between both years. It seems that the indicator light issue is between these years only. Basically Lincoln was trying to develop a safety feature letting the driver know when a bulb is out. With a sequence of relays this feature was to halt the inside turn indicator in the even there was a exterior bulb failure. Somehow age has taken its toll and degraded the circuit. If your indicator lights do not work I can almost bet it is not a broken wire or short in the dash but instead a relay under the hood. Before doing anything you should make sure your flasher is in good shape. It is best to use a heavy duty unit as more power is best to feed the circuit.
There are two relays on the left bank for 1966 cars. One has three wires (White, Blue & Orange/Yellow Stripe). This relay is the brain for the whole turn signal system. It operates the outside lights and sends power to the relay that operates the dash indicator lights. The key wire is the blue one. With the turn signal on this wire pulsates power to the other relay. With a test light you can connect one end to the blue wire terminal and the other side to a ground. The test light should pulsate with the outside signals. If the light pulsates then power is going to the other relay. If there is no pulsating than the relay needs to be opened and the contact should be cleaned. At the same time try to adjust the contacts with the area of the arrow indicated in the picture. The closer the magnetic is the easier the relay can magnetically pull the contact down. This is key. I believe that as our cars age there may be some resistance with wiring and switches. With this resistance it becomes harder to pull the contact down not to mention the extra heavy coil in this relay.
The second relay is a four wire relay that must be grounded to the fender apron. It has a (Yellow, White/Black Stripe, Blue & Brown wire.) By this time the power should be getting to this relay. (Keep in mind that this relay does not need to work in order to make the outside signals work.) By this time if your dash indicator lights are still not working you have to take this relay out and clean the internal contacts. The inside of this relay serves two purposes as it has a top and bottom contact. When depressing the turn signal stalk to actuate the left signal it creates power that pushes the contacts to the White/Black stripe wire contact. Pressing the stalk to the right repositions the contacts and will reposition the contacts to the Yellow wire contact. This creates power to the right indicator light. You can use a test light on the contacts and you may see a pulsating at the blue wire. Next try the other two terminals. I had one side work than the other. It took several times to create a close space between both contacts. Also the lower you can make the magnetic field between the contact arm and the electromagnetic plunger makes it operate better. There is a brown wire but it doesn’t seem to serve any purpose according to the Lincoln shop manual.
Again this is what I did and my lights work perfectly. Good Luck!
The first relay is the current sensing relay. That's why the coil wires are so big. All the current for the bulbs goes through the coil. If there's not enough current, the relay won't pull in.
This is the relay Cashman bypasses when he "fixes" peoples cars. It eliminates the bulb-out function. But since it's not working properly anyway, it's no big deal. This relay has a blue connector.
I spoke to John Cashman yesterday. He stated that he never bypassed any of the turn signal relays. The only thing he bypassed is a faulty neutral safety switch when the tops wouldn't work. He said someone got confused and started spreading this information that he was bypassing the signal relay. He told me to inform others on this site to not try and by pass it as it cant be done and could cause damage. He stated to clean and adjust the contacts. I called Baker's and they said the same.
Dan you shouldn't have any issue getting this system to work correctly. It took me an hour to clean and adjust everything. Everything is now perfect. The only issue that could hold you back is if the relay itself is dead.
The problem I can see if the fact that the bulb-out relay is a current-based relay, not voltage.
The typical switched current for a fully operating turn-signal system is about 8A at 12V, more when the car is running. The relay should work when all 8 bulbs (3 rear, 1 front) are working, and not when there are 3 or less bulbs (6A or less). My guess is that increases in resistance in the connections and wiring are driving that current down to less than 7A (a 12% reduction from 8A) all the time even when all 4 bulbs are installed.
If the relay contacts in the bulb-out relay are toast, it will NEVER work. What I need is a current-sense relay with an activation current of around 4-6A.
Adjusting the tab on the top of the current sensing relay sets the bias as it brings the armature closer to the coil meaning less current is needed to pull it the rest of the way in. One solution is to adjust it to be as close as possible to the coil without actually connecting the circuit. The current will do the rest. As long as the contact is good, the interior TS lamps will illuminate.
I agree with Dan. Although it would be nice to just get the circuit working again by cleaning the relays, it's not a 100% guarantee. I tried that myself just 6 months ago, and the circuit did not improve one bit. I'm all for coming up with a rerouting that will get those bloody dash lights working like they should. I'm sick of realizing 5 miles after I signal a move that my signal is still on (although the faulty circuit is an excuse for me, unlike the potato-heads who DON'T have that excuse with their newer vehicles and STILL drive down the freeway signaling a left turn they'll never make)!
But thank you, Anthony, for expanding on that issue! That helps me in my own desire to explore alternate routes. The "bulb-out" circuit means nothing to me anyway; I check my lights at regular intervals, again UNLIKE the potato-heads in newer vehicles who never notice when one side flashes faster than the other--and wouldn't have a clue what to do if they did even notice!
---Tony
"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet, just because there is a picture with a quote next to it." (Abraham Lincoln, 1866) "Question Authority!"
1966 Continental Sedan, affectionately known as "Frankenstein" until body restoration is done (to be renamed "General Sherman" on that event)
I just performed a "recalibration" of my bulb out relay. I opened up the relay.
It's three wires with a black connector. Mine was mounted on the bottom, rear-most position under the relay box.
I had to not only bend the tab that holds the relay armature closer to the normally open contact, but I had to reduce the pull-in tension by bending the back of the armature closer to the contact. Finally, it starting closing enough to activate the interior lamps.
I thought of a solution, but it's kind of a kluster-f*ck fix. Add an extra lamp somewhere inside the trunk to increase the current.
My bulb sockets are all rusted in the back and need to be replaced. This is probably why mine didn't work.
I may still work on a current-sensing circuit, but the truth is if adjusting the relay works, it is the simplest for all to try. When that doesn't work, then we need a high-tech solution.
I'm going to copy & save this and try it out myself on Frankenstein. His right dash light works part-time, the left doesn't work at all (no, the bulb is not burned out--I know that for a fact because it flashes with the hazard button). I wanna fix this myself; I hate lights that don't work as they should!
---Tony
"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet, just because there is a picture with a quote next to it." (Abraham Lincoln, 1866) "Question Authority!"
1966 Continental Sedan, affectionately known as "Frankenstein" until body restoration is done (to be renamed "General Sherman" on that event)
That helps me in my own desire to explore alternate routes. The "bulb-out" circuit means nothing to me anyway; I check my lights at regular intervals, again UNLIKE the potato-heads in newer vehicles who never notice when one side flashes faster than the other--and wouldn't have a clue what to do if they did even notice! 