please help, turn signal not working

[wilson4]

have to drive my car to work tommorw so i was hopeing somebody knew what was going on and maybe i could fix it tommorw. anyway right turn signal works fine,however when the left turn signal is turned on instead of blinking like normal it just stays on, light on dash stays on, light outside on frount of car and back stays on, all of them turn off when signal is turned off. heres the weird thing i removed the fuse for the turn signals, surprizeingly the left turn signal (broken one) still work as described above!

please help me, i know abit about car parts but never heard of anything like this.

Thanks

[gouldie1903]

sounds like a short.

[GreyGoose006]

or a dead bulb

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by GreyGoose006

or a dead bulb

If you can event a bulb that still works when its dead, you could be a very wealthy man


Ill second the short.

[UncleBob]

technically, a dead bulb is an open, not a short

And yes, its most likely a dead bulb

[Moppie]

You yanks must wire your cars funny.

In the rest of the world when an indicator bulb blows the rest blink faster, not slower or not at all, because of the lower resistance in the circuit (it effects the flasher unit).

wilson4 has also mentioned that front and back indicator lights are working, and that when he pulls the fuse the indicators still work.

[UncleBob]

sometimes they go solid, sometimes the blink fast. I think its mostly a question of what flasher relay is in there. Doesn't really matter how it came from teh factory since they rarely keep them

as a general rule, when only one side stops working, its usually a bulb. I would suggest further testing if the bulbs are sure to be OK.....could be the combo switch.

(but I would suggest going over the bulbs more thoroughly )

[wilson4]

ya im thinking its some kind of a short maybe, weirdest thing happend today when i started the car, for about 5 mins when ever i tried the left blinker (broken one) the light flashed in the dash like it worked, however the whole back light system (all brake lights) flashed as well! and both turn signals on the frount of the car flashed! then after the car ran for about 5 mins i tried it again and its back acting the same way it did as described above!

my question now is how do i go about fixing this? is this home mechanic work? or should i just take it to a pro? i can only devote about an hour or so to fixing this on my own.

Thanks

[UncleBob]

if you have a trailer plug, thats where I'd look. You have running lights feeding into the turn signal circuit most likely. Another possibility is one of the bulb sockets is shorted, look for melting. Also pull each bulb out and look for melted contacts on the bulbs, sometimes they bridge between the running light circuit and the signal circuit

(aka, check your bulbs more closely.....sound familiar? )

[wilson4]

what blubs are you talking about ? you mean brakes lights and frount turn signal lights?

[UncleBob]

the thingies that are supposed to flash when you turn on the turn signal

[wilson4]

oh ya, ok ill check tommorw and see if that fixes it, thanks for help so far

[GreyGoose006]

at least in my car, there are two kinds of light bulbs in the back.
if you look, you see six lights. the outermost and innermost are dual filament and function as turn and brake lights.
if either of the filaments is burnt out, or the bulb is in backwards, the turn signals will not flash.
in some cars, usually in newer cars, instead of not flashing, the flash will be at double speed.
i'm sticking with either a bad bulb or a bad connection

[wilson4]

fixed!! for now.. ok so heres what i did, its been raining here like crazy for the past week or so , and big suprize there is water all over one of the light bulb sockets. when i take that light blub out the turn signal works perfectly again, the only problem is i am missing a light on the brake light panel, which is ok i guess if you have ever looked at the back of a buick centruy you will understand, there like 8 lights.

Thanks for help, people that said it was a dead blub (i.e. short) well done!!

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by wilson4

Thanks for help, people that said it was a dead blub (i.e. short) well done!!

Technicaly a blown bulb is an open in the circut, but water damage around the base of the bulb could cause a short (Bob ).

Well done on fixing it.