AFAIK, the grounds for each corner assembly are tied together and ground to the frame near each assembly. Of course, there's a zillion ground points in the car.

I guess if you think it may be a ground issue, you could do a continuity test with a meter and just use a known good ground or your battery ground or something, then go around and touch the ground point of each bulb socket and see if you have continuity.

Yeah, I like it too, especially as I just spent 30+ mins. cleaning the darned grounds (they really did need it) without success. I do have loose tail light sockets which I will address but I've been careful to make sure the bulbs all are seated well for the diagnostic phase. I also plan to check wattages/bulb numbers all around.

Gogar,
I thought there were like 6 or 8 main grounds spread around. Of course you're right that there are dozens in total.

My other biggest electrical problems are the left front signal socket has the wires disconnected because the diecast "socket" has "times" or stamped crimps (for lack of a better name) that don't hold the sliding plate with the wires on it - you've gotta see it. I think I've got to remove the whole bumper to get it out and decide if I can fix those stamped tines or if I need a new signal assy. I've tried over and over and can't get my fingers in there to fix.

Also my backup lights don't work. Hoping its as simple as a new switch on the trans?

And finally, my brake light pressure switches are losing it. Takes a little too much pedal pressure to activate them. They still work, but....puckers me up sometimes watching my rearveiw mirror to see if drivers see my brake lights!:eek: Otherwise everything's just great!

Yes, Dan. I'm not totally up on the specifics. Maybe someone who is can chime in.
As far as your front assemblies, they're not the same as mine, so I dunno.

My backup lights didn't work, so I put the car in reverse, took the lenses off, and wiggled the bulbs around and they came on. I lucked out, though.

The flasher needs to see a certain amount of current to work properly. I believe the inrush current causes the buld to draw enough current on the first flash, but subsequent flashes do not draw enough current to allow the relay to operate properly.

I am 99% sure you arenot drawing enough current through your bulbs, either due to resistance in the circuit, or the bulbs are the wrong wattage.

I got fast blinker fixed. It turns out the bulb was not making propper contact (as others have pointed out). I pulled it out, cleaned the contacts on bulb and socket and reinserted. Now it works. It may fail again because I can wiggle it and make it fail. There are two filaments in the bulb: I'll call them #1, closest to the socket and #2, taller and further from the socket. #1 is the blinker, #2 is the marker light. When the bulb is not making proper contact #1 does not light so #2 becomes the blinker and does so at a higher frequency. Hope this helps.

Root Cause(s) Identified, not yet fixed
 

Thanks to all the good help and advice in this thread, I've finally identified the causes of my fast left blink.

I was bummed this morning when the new hazard/blinker relay only yielded louder, faster blinking on the left side (apparently the blinker fluid in the new relays is reformulated and improved ;) ), so I decided to replace all the light bulbs as I could no longer read the numbers on several of them.

Through the bulb replacement process, I discovered that the PO had used the double filament stop/blinker bulbs in the front that are intended for the rears. I eagerly replaced those with the proper 7506 single filament bulb and was rewarded with no turn signal at all. Crap. On further probing, I saw that the rears were not working at all due to loose sockets. Once I tweaked the bulbs enough to work for testing, the signal ights worked perfectly. Now I just need to go back and read up on how to snug up those bulb sockets.

Thanks again for everyone's help nd advice!

Good info here, thanks everyone.

That's great and describes ALMOST EXACTLY my experience with my car (sans the relay part.) Congratulations! Now it's your turn, Dan.

BTW, the "solder blob" technique snugged the bulbs in the rear holders right up. I cut a hole in a small cardboard box to use as bulb holder while I soldered. Worked great.

O.K. folks let me throw another log on the fire. Just recently my turn signal indicators (79 SC) will both stay lit after completing a turn and cancelling. When I use the signal I hear a sort of humming noise. I'm thinking my signal relay is kaput. If that's the case, how do I get to the relay to swap it out? I'm guessing its behind the dash since that is where the noise is coming from. Thanks all.

Howie,

That's where it is. It's most easily accessible from the trunk. To locate, turn the key to "on" move the turn indicator up or down and follow the hum. Don't confuse with the door buzzer - they are close together.

Good Luck,

Thanks Mark. Got it!

No problem, Howie.

I see you're in Sacto - I got my replacement unit for $11 and change at Niello VW at Fulton and Arden if you need the part today.