drove for 3 miles with blinker on - no more

[qikcpa]

the 911 that i drive is a 76 with a 3.0 and modified exhaust targa to cab conversion. i have found myself driving with the blinker on far more times than i care to admit. between the bulb being lame the indicator being a little milky, the patina on the lens and the wind and engine noise competing with the radio i find my blinker on for no reason way too often. its very strange. sometimes it works (the blinker canceling part), others not. it actually works enough percent of the time that i forget that it doesnt work and then of course at that point it stops working.
not that im embarassed but rather its a safety concern...really.

phase 1:
First thing you always do when fixing stuff is to buy more stuff. since its the blinker not working properly it most likely is the turn signal assembly (flasher relay seems to works fine). I find one on ebay. $75 wont break the bank.

it arrives as promised and looks just like the one in the car. i briefly take a look at the signal wires and the wires under the dash and put it on a shelf for a few weeks.



after a few more blinking cruises i get involved in the el-wire light upgrade and figure now that im in there i really need to replace this thing. big nut, couple of screws, pop the clamshell cover off and im almost done. except for the wires. ugh. tracing them under the dash i practically pass out from the blood rushing to my head. the plug that the plug plugs into is easy but the wires (4) all head to the light switch (its the high-low circuit) i realize theres no way ill be able to get those wires on and off the light switch. i contemplate how to get my hand in there or maybe remove the knee pads, when bzzt i get a quick spark...oh yeah disconnect the batter first. i get back under the dash for a few more minutes of blank staring and the pretty star show. i check bentley to see how hard it would be to remove the light switch...easy. out it comes. i used a pair of needle nose pliers to rotate and remove the retainer. (it said to use a spanner wrench but i have no idea what that is). i cut the 4 wires to the light switch then one by one based on color i replace them. i put it back. hook everything up and test.
nothing.
apparently there is another plug which plugs in up higher that goes to the flasher relay. it had come undone. i put it in and the blinkers seemed to work.

i tested the operation of the little cancellation switch on the old and new turn signals and the newer one seemed to operate more consistently. but the blinker still intermittently continued to to flash after a turn. i figure that if i cant fix it i can either not use turn signals or make it so i dont miss the blinking. on to phase 2

[qikcpa]

so the flasher relay wasnt very loud. i did some research and found that a new one was like $50...i'm too cheap. i didnt want to take the chance on one that was not designed for the car. that compounded by the fact that after 40 years the flasher was stuck in the base..i just didnt have the heart to replace it. it was a shame i couldnt hook it to the stereo. it would probably make some sort of noise. i looked into signal generators but couldnt find what i wanted. maybe i could wire a 12v tone generator directly to the speaker. couldnt find that either. searching in radio shack i ran across a 12v dc buzzer...



a quick trip up the street and $2.99 later im back at the guage. to test it i just put the stripped ends of the buzzer wire into the spade connectors. at first it didnt work but then i realized it was dc not ac. i swapped the wires and hit the turn signal to get a lovely monotone shriek.



a little too loud. i put a piece of duct tape over it to quiet it down. i put it all together and jammed it back in the dash. definetly louder than the flasher. you cant hear it over the stereo at full blast but you can easily hear it at 30 mph with the top off. that was the left side, next time im at radio shack i will get another for the right side.

it was great but not perfect...on to phase 3

[fxeditor]

Thanks for the tip on removing the headlight switch to get to the wires for the turn signal switch replacement! I've been pondering how I was going to gain access to them for about an hour now!


Take care,
-Michael

[Peter Zimmermann]

Sometimes, when a T/S cancel system has an issue, it's not the switch, it's the cancel part on the hub of the steering wheel. If you have an after market wheel, is the cancel device installed correctly? If you have an o.e. wheel, is the cancel device tight, and not tweaked?

[Howard M]

Another use for those Radio Shack buzzers is to hook one into the shift light (or rev limiter) circuit of an aftermaket tach. I've found it to be much more noticeable than a shift light....no eyes needed.

[Charles Freeborn]

...or just move to Florida....

[al lkosmal]

Originally Posted by Charles Freeborn

...or just move to Florida....

or Ballard

(sorry , regional PNW humor)

[Joe Bob]

Don't USE the blinker like most people.....