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turn signals don't work

H

Horace

Member
City
Monticello
State
MN
I'm in the middle of rewiring my jeep with an aftermarket harness. I got headlights and front running lights. The brake lights stay on. The brake light switch looks is new and adjusted right. My question is if the switch is pushed in to far will they stay on? Thanks for any help
 
Hmm...as in “pushed in too far and then released”? I have never seen that happen but it’s possible. Easy to test. Disconnect both wires from the switch and check continuity between the terminals. If there’s continuity the switch is bad. If there’s no continuity then check for power in the wire heading to the brake lights with the wires still disconnected. If there’s power there with the wires disconnected, you need to work towards the bulbs to find the source. This will take you into the column and the turn signal switch.

Sounds like a power feed got spliced in somewhere it shouldn’t have.
 
Randyzzz said:
Hmm...as in “pushed in too far and then released”? I have never seen that happen but it’s possible. Easy to test. Disconnect both wires from the switch and check continuity between the terminals. If there’s continuity the switch is bad. If there’s no continuity then check for power in the wire heading to the brake lights with the wires still disconnected. If there’s power there with the wires disconnected, you need to work towards the bulbs to find the source. This will take you into the column and the turn signal switch.

Sounds like a power feed got spliced in somewhere it shouldn’t have.
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ok I will check that thanks
 
I have power to one side of it in the fuse panel. I have the lights getting bright when you turn the switch on but they don’t blink. Going to try a new flasher
 
Horace said:
I have power to one side of it in the fuse panel. I have the lights getting bright when you turn the switch on but they don’t blink. Going to try a new flasher
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That make a sense.
 
I’m hoping. It’s been a great pain in the butt trying to get the wiring done. I will keep you posted.
 
Have you replaced the turn signal assembly in the steering column? It's a cheap and easy job and can make a mountain of difference. When that's faulty it causes grounding issues which are pretty similar to what you're describing. The ground is what causes the relay to open and close. It can also cause the brake lights to act erratically.
 

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Just put the new flasher in it and I got driver side turn signals. The passenger side just light up but don’t blink. I’m going to check the grounds and maybe try the turn signal switch. Any ideas
 
Have you got the correct wattage lamps in the lights?, if there isn't enough load then the blinker wont work properly.
 
If one flashes but the other doesn’t, the switch is doing it’s job at least half the time, so I’m guessing it is not the problem. On to checking grounds out at the non-working bulbs.
 
That’s kinda what I was thinking. I will hopefully get back on it tomorrow night. Thanks
 
In the turn signal unit, you'll see that each side is it's own connection to ground; one could be perfect and one non-functioning. Having said that, I agree that I'd also check that both front and rear turn signals are properly grounded, especially if the rig is freshly painted.
 
Horace said:
Just put the new flasher in it and I got driver side turn signals. The passenger side just light up but don’t blink. I’m going to check the grounds and maybe try the turn signal switch. Any ideas
Click to expand...

Grounds would be my vote. I had the exact same problem arise out of the blue last summer at SandBlast: intermittent turn signals and when working only having one side working.

At SandBlast, spankrjs offered up grounds which turned out to be the problem (at home, I finally found the culprit: one or both front turn signal reflector housings not grounding correctly which was addressed with some emery cloth). I also found one of the turn signal assembly wires (see Chamba's post above) had melted insulation on a wire entering the pig tail connector (I want to say it was for the same front corner that was not flashing). I replaced that turn signal assembly also.
 
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