Hazard Relay Upgrade

[my66cruiser]

Last summer I decided to fix my hazard lights. My car is a '66 town Landau (has overhead console with lighted, rectangular hazard switch). The problem was the two relays in the trunk. Both coils were rusted and open. I was going to buy the original style but the old drawn can types were too costly. My solution works well and uses three modern (inexpensive and very popular) relays in place of the original two. If you can solder and crimp, this solution works well and should a relay die in the future, they are about $4.00 a relay so you can keep a spare in the car. I attempted to attach a schematic (pdf) which shows how I used the three relays in place of the original two. Also, if you buy the new style relays, get the sockets with the attached wire harnesses too. This makes replacement easy should you need to replace one "down the road". Then you just solder the car's original harnesses to harnesses of the relay sockets because you need the orignal connectors.

The relays I used are common 5 pin, 40A style easily found on online auction sites or any auto parts store. These are typically used to control electric fans or air conditioning components. Good luck and keep in mind you can still get a defective modern relay so be careful.

I also used the same style relay for my brake lights - the one that sits between the sequential relay and the cam switch on the rubber pad - Consolidation Rules.

[65BLUBIRD]

So this is the fix you came up with for a dead emergency flasher switch in the dash? I am not big on the electrical know how and would like to get my flashers working on my 65. Any obvious places to look before going to this step? Also, any suggestions on a easy to use volt meter, amp meter? Like I said, not really electrically inclined but don't mind tinkering around.

[my66cruiser]

Hi 65BLUBIRD,

My hazards did not work so I came up with this solution because the old hazard relays in my trunk were bad and I did not want to spend about $40.00 each for the original style relays which are both costly and unreliable. My car is not all original so I can experiement with new solutions. But if your car is a totally original car and you want to keep it that way, then you'd have to go with the original style relays. the Birdsnest in Oregon has them as do others. My hazard switch (and its light) works fine (and it is located in the overhead console on my car). My problem was bad relays - corroded and open coils mostly was the problem. Yours, too, could be bad relays, poor ground connection to chassis from relays, or non-functional flasher unit. Easy to change out the relays in the trunk as they all plug in via the attached harnesses and ground to the chassis. But changing the flasher too makes sense. Make sure you get the right ones for your car - I think some have three wires and others have four I think. Also, I fixed my sequential signals first, then the brake lights, and then the emergency flashers. As far as a meter, I use a $12.00 digital meter (I think Tenma is the brand). You can get these at any Autoparts store or online. All you need is to use the DC voltmeter to make sure you are getting 12V where you should be. Once you have the relays out, you can use the resistance setting of the meter to see if the relay coil is open. If it is open, you will read OL (overload) or something similar. My solution requires that you cut the old harnesses from the old relays and solder them to the new sockets as shown in my schematic. But don't do this if you are not comformtable with it. It is pretty straightforward though. I would start at the relays in the trunk, and make sure you are getting voltage back there. If you are, then the relays could be bad. Good luck.

[65BLUBIRD]

Thanks for the info. My bird is not 100% orig and I like it more as a driver. So if need I can pick up breakers or relays at local auto if I can just match up a few specs? Work got in the way this week so a little late in checking the forum.