1955: Reduced Speed of Blinkers and Radio Volume While Driving

[fornaroj]

To All

I have a question that I hope is not complicated but I am scratching my head.

Recently, I noticed that after 10 minutes on the road, the speed of my blinkers gets slower and slower, and the sound on radio becomes almost non-existent for the rest of the ride. If I shut the car off, let it sit for awhile, and re-start it, the cycle happens again.

The car starts up on 1 (maybe 2) cranks. The coil, voltage regulator and battery are fine and are about 1 year old. The generator was rebuilt last year. This issue started about 1-2 months ago and never happened in the 9 years that I’ve owned the car.

I would appreciate any thoughts you may have.

Regards

Jim

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[zeroroadkill]

To All

I have a question that I hope is not complicated but I am scratching my head.

Recently, I noticed that after 10 minutes on the road, the speed of my blinkers gets slower and slower, and the sound on radio becomes almost non-existent for the rest of the ride. If I shut the car off, let it sit for awhile, and re-start it, the cycle happens again.

The car starts up on 1 (maybe 2) cranks. The coil, voltage regulator and battery are fine and are about 1 year old. The generator was rebuilt last year. This issue started about 1-2 months ago and never happened in the 9 years that I’ve owned the car.

I would appreciate any thoughts you may have.

Regards

Jim

Hmmm, sounds like a voltage drop? Can you measure the voltage at the battery or under the dash to the radio when it does this? Is the car still 6VDC? Do the headlights dim? Check for good grounds or lose wires. Can you check generator output before and after symptoms? Did you check the voltage regulator? Is the battery charging? Maybe you're just running off the battery?

 

[Ward 57]

High resistance in the bulbs and sockets will cause a fast flash and when driving, the vibration may help the connection. One reason you can tell a bulb is burnt out when it flashes fast.
As far as the radio you may have some tubes that when warm are not working up to snuff. Make sure the ground is good.

 

[CSPIDY]

Does the gen light come on when this happens?

 

[fornaroj]

High resistance in the bulbs and sockets will cause a fast flash and when driving, the vibration may help the connection. One reason you can tell a bulb is burnt out when it flashes fast.
As far as the radio you may have some tubes that when warm are not working up to snuff. Make sure the ground is good.

FYI
It is 6 volt, positive ground.
The generator was rebuilt last year and the gen light does not come on when this happens.

I’m thinking it’s a grounding issue.

 

[74 Harley]

Don't forget to check your belt tension.

 

[fornaroj]

The tension on the gen belt is fine.

Here is voltage information for the battery which I just gathered:

• Before cranking = 6.5 volts
• After starting and while idling = 7.5 volts
• After putting on the lights and radio while idling = 6.7 volts
• After 15 minutes, with slow blinkers and almost no sound on the radio = 6.7 volts

Neither the gen light nor battery light came on.

Is this helpful?
Thanks

 

[zeroroadkill]

Does the blinker relay slow down if the radio is off? Do the headlights dim? Did you measure the voltage under the dash or at the ignition switch? There is the possibility of a poor ground (high resistance) somewhere under the dash that feeds voltage to all chassis connected components which is causing a high amperage & a voltage drain due to bad connection as the connector heats up? The higher the amperage draw the lower the voltage at the device.
Check for loose connections or abnormally warm wires.

 

[CSPIDY]

In most cases you would tend to believe there is one problem causing both problems since as you said they happen at the same time.
that being said you may want to try and isolate one system at a time.
Checking the grounds and connections
Try replacing the turn signal blinker if all else check ok
Cheap and easy