turn signal problems

[LittleHoov]

Ive done a fair amount of searching, and found a lot of information, but I guess I still have a few questions.


My mom's venture has an apparently common problem in that the right blinker blinks very fast, and also blinks some of the other bulbs in the tail-light as opposed to just the bulb its supposed to. Also when you apply the brakes while the turn signal is on, everything stops blinking.

She also was getting an intermittent ABS light, which I believe is on all the time now. The turn signal problem was intermittent, but is also a permanent fixture at the moment.

Ive read a great deal about a circuit board back there, even found the part on Ebay....my question is do I need to replace that circuit board....I admittedly havent taken apart her van yet, so I don't know what all is in there.


Is it possible just to find which wires go to what and splice them together, bypassing the board? Or is that little piece of plastic-looking thing really crucial?

[lesterl]

Check the thru the floor junction of wires, they tend to corrode and cause goofy issues.......

[LittleHoov]

Apparently a mechanic told my parents a while back that it was the small plug that goes into the tail light circuit board that was causing a problem.

Does anyone know where I could get a new one? I need to take the thing apart so Im familiar with the setup.

The circuit boards are ok, because my dad swapped the right assembly over to the left side and it works fine.

So I guess that plug might be a culprit.

lester do you know where the floor junction is located?

[lesterl]

IIRC, it is under carpet infront of passenger seat to the right? Someone correct me if I am wrong......

[AJT1961]

The burned out tail lamp plug was so common that Chevy dealers sell a replacement wire harness kit that is very inexpensive. It consists of the plug with about 8 inches wires. You simply cut off the old plug, strip the old wires and solder on the new ones. You can tell if the plug is your problem by simply unplugging the tail lamp assembly and looking at the connectors. If it is bad, you can clearly see that one or more of the pins and sockets is burned up. If the car is near the end of its useful life, you really do not need to actually replace the plug or even the tail lamp assembly is most cases-- you can simply cut the plugs out and solder the wires together. Of course you would want to tape each connection well, and after reinstalling the tail lamp, reach from the inside access panel and pull the wires into the vehicle compartment so that the connection is inside the vehicle and not exposed to the elements.

[LittleHoov]

Does anyone know the part # for that kit?

I might go into the dealership, but I usually get the "youre in your 20s and look like you dont have much money, I think we'll all but ignore you" treatment when I go there.

[LittleHoov]

Just posting back in hopes of helping someone later.

Took things apart back there, ground pin had burnt the surrounding plastic on the connector on both the circuit board, and the harness plug, both looked and even smelled burnt.

Ordered a new circuit board off Ebay for 24 dollars, and the wiring harness connector off RockAuto for 37 dollars (ridiculous, but about the cheapest I could find) installed and everything is as it should be.

The circuit board are pretty easy to find, and at the moment are all over Ebay. I did not bother getting a part # for those as they are pretty easy to find.

The harness plug is a bit more obscure and took a little digging to find and verify I had the right part.

The plug is GM part #12101854 and AC Delco part #PT246

I could not find anyone who makes this part besides AC Delco.

[lesterl]

Personally I would have gone and gotten a generic M/F plug and soldered the wires to the PCB..... But that is me and I am cheap on most things.....

[LittleHoov]

I probably wouldve rigged up something similar. Im fairly concerned about that bottom line myself

But in this case I was helping out mom and dad, and they wanted the right stuff, no "ghetto rigging" or whatever you want to call it. So thats what they bought.