My turn signals haven't worked FOR YEARS. Help me.

[nkotselas]

I haven't been able to figure this one out, neither has my mechanic. I'm working on bringing the car back to life and this is one of the big things on my checklist, any help would be appreciated! Here's what we've got:

Front left, front right, rear left turn signal lights all turn on, the rear right does not turn on at all. All bulbs are good and all fuses and connections seem to be in good working order. The working bulbs turn on but do not work normally.

When I press the emergency light switch the working bulbs all light up but do not pulse. The rear right light does nothing.

When I activate right turn signal the front right light pulses once and stays on (same time as when I activate the switch). It stays on until I turn off the signal. The rear right light does nothing. When I activate the left turn signal the result is the same except both front and rear left lights pulse once and stay on.

On the gauge cluster I when I activate the turn signal either way both right and left turn lights turn on and stay on. I'm pretty sure this is standard to let you know a light is out. Is the rest normal for a lights being out? They haven't worked for so long that I've forgotten.

I think I may have mixed up some wiring behind the gauges long ago. Is that a possibility for not getting any response from the rear right signal? What else can I look for if all the bulbs wiring and fuses seem good?

[Joe Bob]

Check the relays.

[proporsche]

Hi..check your ground connections.Also do your brake lights work?
Check the plugs in your engine bay area ,if the are clean and there you can check the signal on the male plug it self.
Yup, also replace the turn signal relay....

Ivan

[nkotselas]

Brake lights are working but fog lights are not, they went out around the same time, unsure if its related. I think my mechanic would have gone through the relays but I"ll get some and try that again just in case.

[proporsche]

there is only one relay for the turn signal ..right behind the left 2 gauges...

Ivan

[T77911S]

make sure you have the correct bulbs.

start with a new turn signal relay as mentioned

[Porboynz]

You need to get that right rear working as well, probably an earth issue.

[T77911S]

use a test light for testing, not a MM.

[tobluforu]

Holy crap does this sound like a cluster f... Took me at least 4 hours just to get the darn tail lights to work properly and all I was dealing with was funky grounds and loose wiring at the rear. Good luck, get that wire tester out and have at it.

[SpyderMike]

The pulsing of turn signals and emergency flasher are the same single relay. Check the ground from it - the brown wire at terminal 31. May sure it is a real good ground connection.

That is most likely problem in back right too - as others have said, check your ground there.

[Gretz]

I have a similar problem. Front and rear right turn signals do not work. Just purchased the car. Left turn signals work fine. Flashers/hazard works but only flashes the left front and rear signals. It’s not the bulbs. Should I start by checking the turn signal relay? Seems as though people recommend a test light instead of a multimeter? I guess I need to get one.

What’s the basic overview of troubleshooting this? Start with the bulb and check backward in the system?

[911 Rod]

I had some issues and had to go back into my lenses 3 times to make everything perfectly clean. Half azz clean did not work.

[7783911]

Same issues (well, not nearly as extensive as yours..sorry)..turned out to be bad ground to one parking light affected emerge flashing and turn signals....its all about tracing the grounds in these cars

[Bill Douglas]

There is a blinker unit under the hood, around near the wiper motor and arms are. These die occassionally.

[High Life]

Out of blinker fluid?

[BlueWing]

^^^^^ H.L. how did you get your Pelican name?

Terry

[garment]

Got a part number for this blinker unit (relay?).

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

There is a blinker unit under the hood, around near the wiper motor and arms are. These die occassionally.

[Gretz]

Originally Posted by Gretz

I have a similar problem. Front and rear right turn signals do not work. Just purchased the car. Left turn signals work fine. Flashers/hazard works but only flashes the left front and rear signals. It’s not the bulbs. Should I start by checking the turn signal relay? Seems as though people recommend a test light instead of a multimeter? I guess I need to get one.

What’s the basic overview of troubleshooting this? Start with the bulb and check backward in the system?

I should note also that when I switch the left blinkers on (the ones that work) the dash turn signal indicators do not illuminate at all, but when I switch the right blinkers on (non-working), both dash turn signal indicators flash at the same time. Should that tell me something?

[911tracker85]

I am working on a turn signal issue also.

everything seems to work fine, blinkers, emergency flashers, etc with headlights off. BUT if I turn on the headlights, the pass side no longer blink, front or rear. did a little work pulling all the lenses and checking bulbs. have not gone farther yet.

I need to read through this thread carefully as the answer may be hiding in there some where.

wanted to take advantage of this thread for ideas.

[7783911]

Tracker

are headlights on a separate relay (recommended) ?

sounds like the light switch is your culprit since thats the trigger to failure...maybe check its wiring and chase those for problems?

Gretz

when both indicators light at same time thats intended to tell you that one circuit is problematic..in your case RT side. When I had this, it reid all connectors in the front turn and parking lights and found a bad ground on one of the parking lights..when i corrected that..it corrected everything...very finicky setup with a lot of co-dependence of circuits