I put my money on the other phone guy's diagnosis (@Chuck Bridges ) & @GSX 554. These weird behaviors are almost (I left wiggle room with almost) always a bad ground that is back-feeding current. Sometimes it's as simple as one bad socket (these are chassis ground so it doesn't take much). I would pop out a bunch of bulbs in the tail lights and see if the issue occurs with just one or two bulbs?? It's never a bad time to look everything over anyway... rust and corrosion gets to these old sockets and connections from sitting so much... No downside to some inspections.
So I did pulled and cleaned the contacts on the 1157 bulbs. There wasn't any corrosion in the sockets as well. I wasn't able to see the chassis ground. Is it under the back seat or in the trunk itself. I was also wondering if there is a bad contact at the turn signal cam in the steering column.
By chassis ground I mean that each socket grounds itself to the body of the car. The metal clips on the socket ground the circuit. FYI the brown wire is the tail lights. dark green or yellow is the turn signal. Also that same brown wire also goes up to the two turn signal sockets in the front bumper. Those turn signals wires are light blue or dark blue. Check those. Try using the emergency flashers and see if the behavior is the same? That uses a different switch and flasher. If it’s identical you can assume the issue is in the wiring harness or sockets vs something under the dash… FYI if you check, the wire harness for the rear lights is tucked under the driver side rear quarter panel, in trunk There is a connector tucked under there that splits the harness. You could give that a look too for corrosion. @67 Electra Cvt
So I checked the front running lights and they are fine. They work as they are supposed to (come on when using only parking lights and go off when the headlights are on) I checked the rear main wire harness connection. It seemed fine, but I cleaned/lightly sanded the contacts anyway. Flashers are working fine as well. I’m guessing it might be some contact at the turn signal cam inside the steering column.
@67 Electra Cvt you also tried swapping the flasher between the emergency flasher and turn signals - yes?
Under the dash there are two flashers. You hear them click as the directionals or emergency/hazard flashers cycle on and off. Typically they are silver or occasionally clear plastic. They are round, maybe the diameter of a quarter or a little bigger. They are probably an inch deep. The emergency/hazard flasher is plugged into the upper left corner of the fuse box, two pins at a 90 degree angle. The directional flasher is electrically identical but it’s mounted on the bracket for the parking brake. It’s installed in a little clip with the back of the flasher in the clip and the pins are facing out. You’ll see the wire harness plugged into it. You can swap the flashers and see if the problem moves with the swap or stays on the directionals. Here’s a typical example of what they look like https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cht-58310?rrec=true
Thank you very much for posting this. I’m traveling for work the next 2 days and hope to be back in the garage on Thursday.
So I swapped out the 2 flasher fuses. The emergency flashers would not work and the problem remained with the same with the blinkers.
I had a weird issue with an RV, very similar. I hate to say it but trace the wires and look for anything funky. Check the grounds. The light housings/harness have a ground wire that goes to a mounting stud.
I'm thinking I will have to do that. Wiring is not one of my strong suits and the car needs other things first.
Yes. I checked the running, brake and turn signal lights. All are in the sockets and making contact. One was a bit greened over, but a light sanding took care of that.
So I replaced both the flasher fuses with new ones. Now the flashers flash faster, but the problem remains. Could it be in the steering column and a bad contact in the blinker cam or whatever it is call?
The simple test for that is to get a new switch unplug the one in your steering column now and plug the new one in and test .
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog...trical-switch+&+relay,turn+signal+switch,4832 If you determine that the switch cures the problem then you have the switch to install .
Lou, thanks for the part information. I think I'm going to try to chase down a bad ground first. I have never worked on the steering column before, so it will be my last resort.
