Chris
Absolutely that would be what burns out your contacts in the signal switch. Without a short in the equation, those switches will last decades. I can count on one finger how many of those switches I had to replace in the 40 years I have worked on SMP vehicles. The same is not true for the solid state flashers however. They do not like the heat, yet on several vehicles the military mounted then under the hood. The MLVW has it in very close proximity to the exhaust manifold.....poor planning in my mind on an otherwise stellar truck (in it's day). The flashers are also very much adverse to short circuits.
Wire no 460-461 (IIRC) is the power wire from the light switch to the signal controller. A wise man would put a fuse into that line of about 10 amps or less. That was an authorized modification to the M151A2 in Cdn service. At most, you should be illuminating 6 bulbs max of the 1683 trade number. That is only if you put on the 4 way flashers while towing a trailer. Those bulbs draw just over 1 amp a piece, I'm not sure what the flasher unit draws but being solid state my guess is it's negligible. The fuse will protect your signal controller as well as the flasher. Both are somewhat expensive, and both are likely going to be in US dollars when you do order one.
The first indication that you have a short will be that when you turn the signal arm, the indicator light will stay on.
As to your original question about the indicator lamp causing the lights not to work, no,that little lamp has no bearing on the remainder of the system.
Last edited by rob love; 14-10-17 at 02:01.
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