TURN SIGNALS

Whenever I signal left or right with the turn signal switch, the indicator lights (left/right) both blink. Am I looking at a short here or is that SOP?

Tim

72 911TE

On mine that problem was a short right behind the gauge....

Tim:

Try checking all of your turn signal bulbs. Just turn on the ignition (but not to START), click on the left turn signal, then the right, and see if they all work. When one goes out, often you will experience either a more rapid clicking or both of them on at once.

Otherwise, you might have a short.....Andras

Wait, are we talking about the interior indicator lights? The ones on the tachometer? I have a 73, and I had been told that they were SUPPOSED to both blink simultaneously. It looks like I was misinformed.

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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T sunroof coupe
http://members.rennlist.com/jackolsen/Jalopy.html

I have a 72 as well and mine does the same thing.at first just the side that im using comes on,then after a few seconds both gauge light will flash.All my bulbs are working so thats not the problem. If anybody solves the problem be sure and post it because it looks like there may be a few of us with it


P.S. Jack great looking car,are u still interested in the rear window?

Michael

Michael, thats exactly what happened to mine and the problem was a short in the wires behind the gauge....

I had a similar problem with my car, which was fixed by my mechanic. He said this was caused by either a blown globe or electrical fault in the circuit, often due to dirty or corroded contacts in the globe holders. After the initial fix I cleaned the rest of the contacts and have had no other problems. I of course defer to the wisdom of those much more experienced than I, but hope this helps.

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Paul
911T'69

[This message has been edited by Paul W (edited 06-14-2000).]

Thanks for the posts gang! Yes,...the indicator lights I am talking about are on the gage and yes...when I signal left or right the indicator comes on individually at first then they both start blinking. So.....back to troubleshooting.

Tim 72 911TE

Hey Guys,

Its definitely something wrong. In my car, this sometimes happenes in rainy winter conditions.
When I go out of the car checking, usually one indicator is "dead".
Removing corrosion from all bulbs, housing, and spring contacts, bending the spring contacts for tighter fit does the trick-for about 1 year.
I assume, that any other fault current due to corrosion, bad insulation, or bad ground connection will have similar results.

Good luck

jens
76 CIS with 73 body conversion

I've had this problem too - caused by corrosion in the bulb-holders.

One moronic question: How do you remove the wires from the blinker/parking light assembly?

I could never find out eactly where the connector was, so always ended up working on the units in situ, which is hard on the knees...

- roGER

On my '69 I removed the lenses, to find the lamp unit was secured to the body by two screws. Removed these, which enabled me to pull the whole unit out of the car, as there was plenty of slack cable. The back of the lamp unit itself is secured by two screws, which gave access to the brass contacts. After cleaning remember to coat the contacts with some sort of corrosion inhibitor so you wont have to do it again in the near future. Hope this helps.

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Paul
911T'69

You can unplug the turn signal lights where the wires go through the body to the interior of the car.

My 2 cents:
I presently have a low idle speed (especially when engine is cold), so my generator light often comes on at stoplights. My blinker works fine when generator light is off, but switches to both-sides-blinking mode when generator light comes on. So I guess something in the switching reverts to this mode when the voltage sags.
-Tobin


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1972 911e

I fixed this problem on my '69 by ensuring that each turn signal housing was grounded to the chassis. On one of the rear light housings I actually drilled and tapped a hole so I could attach a new ground lead. I constucted the lead with 16 AWG stranded wire and used ring terminals on either end and bolted it to the chassis and housing (use star style lock washers to get a good electrical bite).

Also, as mentioned in some of the earlier posts, corrosion between the bulb and housing will cause this too. I actually used a fine grit sand paper and with my little finger was able to clean up the walls of the bulb receptacle (the grounding surface) in the housing. Add some conductive grease or paste around the circumference of the receptacle and install your bulbs.

I did this about 5 years ago and haven't had any problems since.

My indicator lights have just started to do that too. Sounds common. I'll use the tips posted.
Tobin: how low is you idle? Mine was reall low too- and hunting wildly- (hand throttle helps if it's working) but I richened the idle mixture one or two notches and the whole thing ran a hell of a lot more stable. It also stopped stalling after a constant fast run. I think you can set these things to do what you want with a bit of creativity....

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'72 911 TE