Fast Blinker

[OxfordGreen95]

1987 325e

LH Blinker blinks rapidly. Bulbs are good. Any ideas / help?

Thanks,

Steve

[Manolito]

Fast blinking means high resistance andlow current flow, which is counter-intuitive to me, but I have never looked into how this blinker works.

If all bulbs illuminate, first place to look is corrosion in front sockets or between the rear sockets and the tail light assembly. Then the grounds between the rear tail light assemblies and the car.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

This can also be caused if you have bulbs from different manufacturers on the same circuit. Resistance values vary, and then the light blinks faster.

BMW's are odd that way. You typically want to replace both bulbs (front/rear)at the same time.

[mikecgolf]

Had the same issue, bulb looked good, replaced it anyway and that fixed it.

[fifftyninevwcab]

problem just came up with the front right blinker blinking fast on a 325 ci ,i was trying to take the lenses of but no luck that thing is hard to take off ,i called the dealer and was told it will be $60 bucks to change the light bulb , any one have a suggestion on how to take of lens .thanks for the help.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Originally Posted by fifftyninevwcab

problem just came up with the front right blinker blinking fast on a 325 ci ,i was trying to take the lenses of but no luck that thing is hard to take off ,i called the dealer and was told it will be $60 bucks to change the light bulb , any one have a suggestion on how to take of lens .thanks for the help.

look in the owners manual?

You should be able to access the bulb from inside the engine compartment.

[Manolito]

You could let my wife drive the car. She manages to get front turn lights to pop out just driving home from work. This could be related to the fact that she can destroy a set of rear Michelins in 20k miles and any object left on the floor of her car ends up jammed tightly up under a front seat.

There is a tab made of black plastic about an inch wide that protrudes rearward from the turn light assembly. It has teeth on the side of it that snap over a lip and hold the assembly in place when you press it back into its hole. If the assembly won't just snap out by pulling straight forward (or driving like my wife) then perhaps you can see the tab from under the hood and pry it sideways with a screwdriver to release the assembly from the car.

Use a bulb with a nickel plated base or it will corrode in the socket. You may need to replace both front bulbs so that they will match each other. European bulbs that came in the car are slightly different wattage than bulbs from US auto parts stores.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Agreed, change both bulbs in the circuit at the same time.

[fifftyninevwcab]

thanks for the info i will give it a shot.

[bostogrun]

It's an issue with a corroded bulb socket that causing the circuit to draw too much speeding up the blinking