Info needed: M38A1 flasher/signal unit on the steering column

[rob love]

My money says the flasher, but what do I know.

[Les Kovacs]

Hi Rob....you are most probably correct. I just replaced the signal lever and the blinkers still do not work. With the power on and the new lever placed in left or right position the green light comes on and stays on (no blinking)until it goes back to off. So, I now have two operable signal levers which suggests that it's either the harness or the flasher unit.....I have a flasher on order which should be here tomorrow-I will keep you posted.

As well, I am still stumped as to the oil consumption of about a liter/700-800kms seeing that there is no smoke anytime, the plugs show no oiling, the antifreeze is crystal clear now for over 800 kms and the oil is not a chocolate shake. The oil dripping may be 3-5 drops per day from the rear main seal & the front crank seal. So, I contacted the retired CFB Petawawa mechanic that rebuilt the jeep. I mentioned the oil consumption and details. He said that: 1. A long stroke engine does inherently consume more oil (he did admit that the oil consumption that I had was somewhat unusual) but that he has seen much worse. 2. On rebuilding, he put in new rings (oil control & compression), all new bearings, oil pump etc).....so he too was stumped as to the oil consumption as the jeep only had 1100 kms on it when I bought it after the rebuild. He did mention the PCV valve but I told him that I had that off & well cleaned. He lastly suggested that I change to a straight 30 weight oil for the summer. I also mentioned the engine temp....he said that he was told to keep engine temps down on all of the M38A1 jeeps he maintained so he pulled the thermostats to keep the fluid circulating and that maintained temps to about 130-140F. He suggested that I pull my new 160F thermostat out if I am seeing temps in the 180 F range.
Any thoughts?

Regards,

les
les

[rob love]

Is your flasher harness fused? You don't want to burn out your new flasher, do you?

I would leave the thermostat alone. Nothing wrong with 180°F. The engine should be at full operating temperature to properly burn it's fuel.

Overheating on Jeeps however is not a good thing. I have seen more than a few blocks cracked in between no2 and no3 cylinders.

[Les Kovacs]

Hi Rob....just got the new flasher unit...I have not installed it yet as I did not want to burn it out....not sure how to fuse it...old one is bolted to the upper driver side firewall....I just thought that I would disconnect the battery, unbolt old flasher and bolt in new one then attach harness at both ends then try it out thinking that it would be grounded to the firewall.

New lever light on but not blinking when put into left or right mode.

les

[rob love]

As I mentioned, it could well be a short or it could be a bad flasher. Quite frankly, I would say the odds are 50/50.

You will want to find wire no 460/461 as that is power in to the harness. On the M151A2, the fuse was installed ion the harness near the controller by cutting the wire and installing an inline fuse of 5 amps in that location. But the M151A2 had the harness integral to the main harness. On the Cdn2 and Cdn3 the harness was an add on, so there will be a source of power near to the end of the harness. Find the little tag 460-461 and unplug it. Now you can splice or if you have the material to install the rubber plugs on each end of the inline fuse, you can do it that way. I can tell you though that in service, it would have been cut and a couple blue crimp on connectors used on each end of the inline fuse.

Now when you install your flasher, if the fuse blows on operation of the controller arm, you will know hopefully on which side of the harness to be looking (left or right). If it doesn't blow and the signals work fine, then it was your flasher unit, but you now have the extra security of that fuse in the circuit.

There is a breaker within the light switch that controls all the lighting circuits, but if I recall correctly it is 20 or 25 amps. A little too much juice for the signal circuit to handle I guess.

[Wayne Hingley]

Les; attached is a photo to support Rob's description above. There is a local connection in the 460/461 wire in that area. I used that connection to splice in the fuse (note section with red wires), as I don't like the idea of cutting wires in my harness.

[Les Kovacs]

Thanks a bunch Wayne & Rob..

I have several questions....looks easy but...where do you get the rubber connections to connect to the male and female plug (when pulled apart) with the fuse in the middle?

Right now, when the lever is activated left or right the light turns on but does not flash....does this indicate the flasher or harness?

While the lever was activated (light on with old flasher unit)I checked all connections and wriggle the harness from top to bottom but the light was still lit.....so....

If I replace the flasher with my new one and activate the lever will the flasher burn out if there is a short?

Regards,

les