96 Taurus - Turn signal & Emergency Flasher moody

[jelsey]

I am trying to get my mother's Taurus ready for inspection. The emergency flashers do not work at all. If the emergency flasher button is in the 'on' position, the turn signals will not work either. If the emergency flashers are in the 'off' postion, the left turn signal works all the time, but the right signal will somtimes work fine and other times it flashes rapidly (normally this means that a bulb is burnt out, but not the case here. All of the bulbs are good). Sometimes when the right signal is flashing rapidly, if you move it down from the lock on position and just hold it in place before it would normally lock on, it will then work fine; other times this makes no difference at all. At no time do the emergency flashers work. The fuses are fine and I replaced the flasher and it made no difference. Someone told me that there are two separate flashers on the 96 Tuarus, but the Ford garage says there is only one and the schematic shows only one. Has anyone encountered this problem that could maybe provide some insight? Thank you for all assistance. JEE

[muzztard]

I have exactly the same problem. I didn't get to figure the solution out completely but if at any time the turn signals dont work because you pressed the hazard lights switch, I'm thinking it's a wiring problem. Put the turn signals to either left or right and if you just keep on yanking the hazard switch, you'll find that there's a 'sweet spot' for the signals to work. If you try hard enough, you could also turn the hazard lights on too.

[PumpItUp]

My Ford Windstar /basically a frame and left overs from the Taurus had the same problem. My windshield wipers and washer stopped working or ran speratically also. I figured it was in the control arm and it was no good.. But, I found when I took apart the under carriage /beneath the steering column and took off/unclipped the arm assembly it was the wire harness at fault from the connector to the main harness under the dash. There were cut wires ??? no idea how but looked like fatigue or was cut with a razor from factory?? Anyways.. went to wrecker picked up a arm assembly to test and that wasn't the problem ($30.00 later yet cheaper then $285.00 + tax at Ford) with a quick plug and test once wiring was out there anyways.. I then went to a wreck and pulled out the wire harness I needed installed and "BAM" worked like a charm.. wire was free of charge! Good luck undoing all the bolts and screws and the like from the column to access but I did get to the bottom/top of the problem! Have fun

[jelsey]

Thank you Muzztard and PumpItUp for your input. I will try to get at the wiriing harness, but it sounds like I want to leave myself plenty of time to explore. Will advise. JEE

[Dinger1]

Same thing but neither work at all. Fuses good etc. A really good mech. tells me I need a new turn signal switch. I think he is correct but haven't gotten to it yet