Directional bulb keeps malfunctioning.

My front , right directional keeps malfunctioning.The bulbs filiment is OK, its the leads on the plug that seem to get hot and melt the plastic then fail.
I replace about one bulb per week or shorter. Iv'e tried dielectric grease on the connection but to no avail.

Iv'e read that the intrigue has had electical nightmares to some relating to ground wires. Is that the case with mine or is it just a bad bulb socket? What can I do?:banghead:

Replace the bulb socket. I replaced mine about 3 years ago.

Try www.gmpartsdirect.com or www.rockauto.com for your best prices. Or you can get the part at any GM dealership. I bought it from the dealer for $34. It will take you about 5-7 minutes to replace.

The design of the DRL system is not very good in these cars. They use the turn signal filament to burn all of the time while the DRL is on. The bulb burns too hot and melts everything near it.

What I did, was ordered a pair of Amber 3157 LED lights for mine. There was a bit to the installation though. When I put them in and turned on the lights the fuse blew. What I had to do was take the bulb apart and put the leads to their proper locations, keeping in mind the polarity of the contacts on the bulb and in the socket. The reason for this is because on the filament bulbs it does not matter which way the current runs through them. On the LED it does.

The other trouble I had was when I did get them working, the turn signals flashed as though it had a light burned out. Unfortunately, you cannot just change the flasher relay because it is housed in the hazard light switch. What I had to do was add a pair of 3157's in the trunk in the turn signal circuit to compensate for a load that the LED's no longer supplied.

No more burnt sockets, and hopefully no more replacements of the front turn signals. A bit pricey to do, but figure the savings in replacement sockets and 3157 bulbs.

Finding the bulbs is hard in Amber. I ended up ordering them from digikey.ca

heres what you do

Go buy 2 new bulbs, then take out your REVERSE lights and put those in the front signals, and put the new bulbs in the reverse lights. The factory bulbs use a pure glass connector that wont melt, aftermarket bulbs use plastic and it melts because they are always burning hot in the daytime. For some reason GM loaded dual filiment (hi/lo) bulbs in the reverse lights, and unless they have been changed in the past they will still be the original glass bulbs.You can also get GM OEM bulbs at the dealership but you will likely pay quite a bit more for them. Another option here is to pull the DRL fuse and turn those lights off in the daytime.

Both of my front signal lamps are aftermarket bulbs, have been for at least a year or better, in the OP's situation, Im thinking its more likely the bulb socket instead of the bulb itself. My mom's Venture went through a similar situation, kept burning up and blowing bulbs left and right.

Here's a cheaper fix, and one that I finally did after spending who-knows-how-much on replacement bulbs - go to your local junkyard and get a new socket off of their Intrigue (look for a burned out bulb in it before you buy and don't buy it if it has one, obviously) - mine was $5 about a year ago and I haven't replaced a bulb since then.
Hope this helps...

heres what you do

Go buy 2 new bulbs, then take out your REVERSE lights and put those in the front signals, and put the new bulbs in the reverse lights. The factory bulbs use a pure glass connector that wont melt, aftermarket bulbs use plastic and it melts because they are always burning hot in the daytime. For some reason GM loaded dual filiment (hi/lo) bulbs in the reverse lights, and unless they have been changed in the past they will still be the original glass bulbs.You can also get GM OEM bulbs at the dealership but you will likely pay quite a bit more for them. Another option here is to pull the DRL fuse and turn those lights off in the daytime.

Just pulled the DRL fuse. Very good advice. Turn signals are way more important than daylight running lights. Thanks.

I have all original lights all have worked fine since 05 I've only added 2 lights in the outer rear tailights that were burnt out for a while, 194's like the interior never knew it was their till 07

So you rather deactivate a safety device then spend $20+ and 10 minutes of your time to fix the problem properly??? Unbelievable!!!!!

with the DRL fuse pulled your headlights/tail lights wont come on at night, so you will have to turn them on manually (no big deal).....personally i hate driving in low light when the DRL's keep going on and off depending on the amount of light. Another little quirk of pulling the DRL fuse is the photo-cell will not work for the horn honk when you lock your doors....not many people know about this feature but if you turn off your car, and hit the lock button on the door the car will make 3 beeps from the dash letting you know you locked it, and about 5 seconds after you close the door the doors will lock and if its daytime the horn will honk but if its night time the horn will not honk...well now i wake up my neighbours because the horn honks every time. oh well...no burned bulbs.:cool:

So you rather deactivate a safety device then spend $20+ and 10 minutes of your time to fix the problem properly??? Unbelievable!!!!!

believe me, if you replace the sockets, they will just melt again guaranteed. Not right away, but i have been through several myself. In GM's infinite wisdom they burn the signal lights on all day for drl's...causing them to overheat/melt and at the very least have a shorter life span. Then you have no signal lights and THAT is 100x more dangerous than no DRL's. This is why most vehichles use the high beam bulbs powered down for DRL's (not very dangerous if your high beam burns out, more dangerous missing a low beam..and way more dangerous than missing a signal light!)

I know it is a bad design by GM. You can put this with the Intermediate steering shaft design, the alternators, and oil burning engines. My socket has lasted over 3 years now. Hopefully it will last as long as the original socket, 5 years. While I'm sure it is a pain to keep changing the socket and bulb, it is a very, very easy fix. LIke someone mentioned, go to your local junkyard and pull it off an Intrigue or other mid size GM car. No reason to kill a safety feature and the other features you mentioned. Plus you still will have the other DRL on. Remember only one socket seems to have problems not both.

Agree that they should have went with the dimmed high beams like other manufacturers. The funny thing is I see so many GM cars that use the same DRL system with the same problem.

I'm hoping my Intrigue can last another 4-5 months without a major repair. Depending on how bad winter is here, I plan to get rid of my Intrigue sometime in January or February.

with the DRL fuse pulled your headlights/tail lights wont come on at night, so you will have to turn them on manually (no big deal).....personally i hate driving in low light when the DRL's keep going on and off depending on the amount of light. Another little quirk of pulling the DRL fuse is the photo-cell will not work for the horn honk when you lock your doors....not many people know about this feature but if you turn off your car, and hit the lock button on the door the car will make 3 beeps from the dash letting you know you locked it, and about 5 seconds after you close the door the doors will lock and if its daytime the horn will honk but if its night time the horn will not honk...well now i wake up my neighbours because the horn honks every time. oh well...no burned bulbs.:cool:

Hmm... What package do you have? My 2000 GX doesn't do this. It does the 3 ding thing, but doesn't honk when it locks.

Mine honks when I lock it with the remote, but not when I just lock the doors.

Somewhere in the owners manual it tells you how to set the behavior of the keyless entry/door lock system. I think there are like 4 options. I discovered it one day because I wished my horn honked. Now after following the procedure, my horn honks and my headlights flash.

Yeah, one of the first things I did when I got the car was set it to option number 4. I like having audible feedback.

not sure how to change it, but i know if its dark my horn did not honk and in the daytime it did 5 seconds after closing the door and hitting the lock button in the car (not on the remote)

heres what you do

Go buy 2 new bulbs, then take out your REVERSE lights and put those in the front signals, and put the new bulbs in the reverse lights. The factory bulbs use a pure glass connector that wont melt, aftermarket bulbs use plastic and it melts because they are always burning hot in the daytime. For some reason GM loaded dual filiment (hi/lo) bulbs in the reverse lights, and unless they have been changed in the past they will still be the original glass bulbs.You can also get GM OEM bulbs at the dealership but you will likely pay quite a bit more for them. Another option here is to pull the DRL fuse and turn those lights off in the daytime.

Actually, the Wagner brand bulbs also have a glass base. Also, it is better to use 4157 bulbs instead of 3157 bulbs because they have a much longer life expectancy. I also wound up buying a couple used sockets from the junkyard. It cost me a whole $5 for both sockets including the bulbs. This was about 3 years ago and the stealership wanted about $50 per socket at the time.

Actually, the Wagner brand bulbs also have a glass base. Also, it is better to use 4157 bulbs instead of 3157 bulbs because they have a much longer life expectancy. I also wound up buying a couple used sockets from the junkyard. It cost me a whole $5 for both sockets including the bulbs. This was about 3 years ago and the stealership wanted about $50 per socket at the time.

The first time I used a junkyard socket, it had the OEM bulb and so I used that also. The socket lasted about 3 years. It came from a low mileage Intrigue. The 2nd junkyard socket lasted about 2 weeks and it came from a high mileage '99. Junk Intrigues are getting harder to find where I live. Finally gave up and bought a new socket from the dealer for $34. Frankly, I'm sick and tired of the problem and turning on the headlights is not that big of deal if it solves the problem. I don't drive much a night anyway so I won't miss having a horn at night either. As for not having daylight driving lights, I can turn on the parking lights if I feel the need for same. The bottom line is that even driving a few days without the left turn signal is dangerous.

I tend to think that the problem is with the plastic in the socket or the electrical circuitry that overload the driver's side bulb/socket, and not in the bulb itself.

The design of the DRL system is not very good in these cars. They use the turn signal filament to burn all of the time while the DRL is on. The bulb burns too hot and melts everything near it.

What I did, was ordered a pair of Amber 3157 LED lights for mine. There was a bit to the installation though. When I put them in and turned on the lights the fuse blew. What I had to do was take the bulb apart and put the leads to their proper locations, keeping in mind the polarity of the contacts on the bulb and in the socket. The reason for this is because on the filament bulbs it does not matter which way the current runs through them. On the LED it does.

The other trouble I had was when I did get them working, the turn signals flashed as though it had a light burned out. Unfortunately, you cannot just change the flasher relay because it is housed in the hazard light switch. What I had to do was add a pair of 3157's in the trunk in the turn signal circuit to compensate for a load that the LED's no longer supplied.

No more burnt sockets, and hopefully no more replacements of the front turn signals. A bit pricey to do, but figure the savings in replacement sockets and 3157 bulbs.

Finding the bulbs is hard in Amber. I ended up ordering them from digikey.ca

Measure the resistance of the original bulb and the led then match (led + resistor in series) the resistance with a piece of wire or a resistor (must be able to handle the wattage of bulb x2).

Never had a problem with my DRLs.

I dont feel DRL's make any difference in safety during the day either...If it gets dark/stormy Ill turn on my headlights. The main problem is none of these bulbs are designed to be burned high for an extended period of time. Only to flash on/off. Once the leads on the bulbs heat up a bit they melt the plastic they rest on and sink into it, and soon after the bulb looses contact. This is influenced by old sockets that may have dirt/corrosion on the tabs. This is easily cleaned off with a small file. The resistance climbs so more current is required to keep the bulb glowing, which creates too much heat. Unless the socket has melted and cant be used, there is little need to replace the socket. Make sure the contacts are clean, also you can bend them out a bit to make a tighter connection. Even then, the heat will eventually get to them and you will loose a signal light. This is why I did away with the DRL fuse. Best option IMO. Next best is what hoppy said about the LED lights. Get the ones with the resistor built into them ($10/each) Use either white or orange. (theres alot of LED's around most are red or blue)

Just pulled the DRL fuse. Very good advice. Turn signals are way more important than daylight running lights. Thanks.

Where is this fuse? I can't find it on my 2002 Intrigue..

I did not find a resistor big enough for the power drop required for running the LED lights. What I did was hook up bulbs in the trunk of the car to provide enough load to operate the LED lights properly.

I couldn't measure the resistance with my meter either. Every setting measured infinate resistance because essentialy the filament is a short across the terminals.

The fuse is located on one side of the dashboard. I can't remember if it is on the passenger side or drivers side, but that is where it is.