95 Escort Wagon-Signals

When you turn on the signals,the flashers come on.Not rapidly,just normal.We have replaced the 'multi-function' switch to no avail.Is there another problem,and can we bypass the flashers and JUST have signals???Any help is appreciated!

Hi, welcome to the forum. You're saying that when you switch on the turn signal indicators to indicate that you're turning left or right, all of the hazard flasher lamps come on instead, yep? If so, and if you've already replaced the multi-function switch then your problem is likely to be in the region of the electronic flasher unit - that controls both the turn signal and hazard flasher functions.

There is a single connector which plugs into the electronic flasher, containing seven wires, so I'd start by unplugging that and giving it a careful visual inspection, looking for damaged wires or any signs of physical damage at the connector, including signs of overheating and melting.

If you have a 12V test lamp or multimeter then you can make some electrical checks:

With the connector unplugged and the ignition switched on, set the turn signal lever to the left turn position - you should have a constant 12V on the dark green/red wire but not on the dark green/yellow wire.

Then set the turn signal lever to the right turn position and you should have a constant 12V on the dark green/yellow wire but not on the dark green/red wire.

The black/red wire should have 12V at all times, even with the ignition switched off.

If the two turn signal outputs from the electronic flasher were shorted together then that might cause your fault, but testing for that would require a multimeter and it wouldn't be so straightforward as the tests above, so I'd do those first, starting with the visual inspection.

Here is the wiring diagram - it's in two sections but you're only interested in the first one, and also a couple of location diagrams for the electronic flasher unit.

To help you identify the flasher unit, it should have a single connector with seven wires, the colours of which should be:

black
brown
dark green/yellow
dark green/white
dark green/black
dark green/red
black/red

'95 Turn/Hazard Lamps - wiring diagram 1 (http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x64/Selectron/Escort/95-all-turn-hazard-01.png)
'95 Turn/Hazard Lamps - wiring diagram 2 (http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x64/Selectron/Escort/95-all-turn-hazard-02.png)
'95 Electronic Flasher location (http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x64/Selectron/Escort/95-all-flasher-location-01.png)
'95 Electronic Flasher location - detail (http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x64/Selectron/Escort/95-all-flasher-location-02.png)

As for disabling the hazards but retaining the turn signals, that would be easier said than done - it depends on what's causing the fault. There is a red/brown wire which runs from pin 2 of the flasher unit to the hazard switch, the other side of which connects to ground - disconnecting that wire at any point along that path will disable the hazard function, but if the fault is internal within the flasher unit then the hazards might still flash even if it's disconnected. Also, if the two turn signal outputs from pins 4 & 6 of the flasher unit are shorted together then it probably wouldn't help any. There are two fuses in the first diagram, but if you remove either of those then you would lose the turn signals (even though one of them is called the 'Hazard' fuse), so there's nothing to be gained by pulling a fuse. It looks like you'll have to track down and rectify the fault. If the connector looks undamaged and if you're not in a position to do electrical testing then I'd pick up a replacement flasher unit from a scrapyard if you have one nearby.

Okay,we've done all of this,and it is still screwing up!Any other tips????And thanks for the input.

Prob solved...Thanks so much for your help Selectron.It was a wire in the back that was grounding out.

That's good that you found it - thanks for letting us know. In that case then, it was never anything to do with the hazard flashers. Problem was that the circuit for the left side turn lamps and the right side turn lamps were shorted together, beyond the output from the electronic flasher unit.

Just for future reference and in case the problem happens again, the easy way to have identified that would have been to unplug the connector from the electronic flasher - get a short length of wire and bridge the black/red wire to the dark green/black wire - that applies 12V to the left side turn lamps, so they should then light up - not flash, but just stay lit so long as you hold the bridging wire in place. If all the turn lamps light up instead - the left and the right - then you know that you have a short-circuit beyond the output of the electronic flasher unit. That just occurred to me about thirty minutes ago so I was coming to let you know, but of course you've already fixed it.