Lights flicker with turn signals

[Christopher Hoffman <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Validation! So I'm not the only one who uses the alternator gauge to see if
the turn signals are operating in daylight! You truly cannot "read" the
fender-mounted indicators in bright sunlight, and if Dick does it, it must
be a good idea! (Though just to lovingly nitpick, there are six filaments
blinking with each left OR right turn signal, not counting the cornering
lamp which does not blink, but only five bulbs per side... the ones in the
bumper are dual-filament bulbs that oddly use both filaments for the turn
signal.)

I have long used the ammeter to tell me when things are working, not just
when they are not. When my brake lamps became intermittent due to the common
wear of the turn signal switch, I looked for the "drop" in the gauge to see
if the lamps were working with every stop.

I also have a Charger with a 318 that idles so smoothly and quietly that I
frequently check the oil pressure gauge while waiting at stop lights to see
if it has stalled. It has only stalled once or twice in all the years I've
owned it, but since one of those surprises was in mid-intersection on its
very first trip home (due to a faulty distributor that I replaced two weeks
later), the seed of doubt has always been there. And with no tach and no oil
light, the gauge is all I've got.

That's one more cool thing about Chryslers: full instrumentation, so you can
monitor your car, not just be made aware when something already went wrong.

Chris in LA
67 Crown 
78 NYB Salon

Dick Benjamin (DickB@xxxxxxxxx) wrote:

> However, changing the regulator to a constant voltage type as
> discussed here ad nauseum WILL eliminate the flickering because now the
> alternator will instantly compensate for the changing load as the turn
> signals blink (especially on the 67s, with 6 bulbs-a-blinking on each
> side!), but the car as designed works just fine with the old stuff, and has
> for many years, usually.
> 
> If the flickering bothers you, by all means change to the newer regulator.
> Your ammeter will still follow the changing current drain, as indeed it is
> designed to do (I mean it will still twitch in time with the blinker).
> 
> I kind of like it, in fact in daylight it is the only way I can tell if the
> blinkers are operating (looking at the ammeter), because I am color blind
> and can't see the fender top indicators in daylight.