Is my signal flasher broken?
 

I have a 74 Road Runner, and ever since i got it 2-3 years ago, the signal lights were weird. sometimes they would blink really really slow, sometimes they would blink at a normal pace. The hazards always blink at a good fast pace. Yesterday i started up my car and the blinkers would flash like every 15 seconds, so it would stay on for 15 secs, blink, then go on again. Today i pulled the signal flasher and wire brushed the ends and put dielectric grease on the tabs and the left blinker was almost as fast as the hazards but the right one blinked every 5 seconds or so. Does this mean my flasher is broken?

Check to make sure you have all the rite bulbs in place...
Check and clean all Grounds...
Check to make sure you have the proper output and Voltages...

What do you mean by all the right bulbs in place? Check the grounds behind the gauges? And the output and voltages of what? Sorry, I'm young and dumb.

Get this book and start learning.... :) One of the best Book Ever !!!!!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/45054356/A...dheart-Willcox

Get yourself a good shop manual for you car.....

No...Check the Shop Manual and make sure that every Socket has the proper bulb installed in its rite socket.... If it has the wrong bulb in the socket.. Signals have been known to act funny....
There are grounded all threw out the car. Clean and make sure there all good and tight.

Could be as simple as that?

And Dont say Your Dumb... Just say I'm Green to this... :)

:)

Check the bulbs and replace them if not sure it should have 1157 bulbs in the rear and 1157na in the front...alot of people mix and match bulbs but the candle power is different. Get yourself a new solid state flasher they are a little bit more but well worth the money under $20...It sounds like one of the bulbs are blown...Bill

Why do you think that one of the bulbs is blown? All four corners light up, its just that they dont blink properly.

If there are two bulbs in the tail lights and one bulb is blown Or any bulb that side will blink real slow...A flasher work on resistance which heats up a spring steel tab with a contact on the end...When it gets hot by the resistance it opens the contact (lights off) when it cools it closes completes the circuit and turns the lights on...Very simple...if a bulb is blown it doesn't have the resistance to heat up the spring steel tab....Bill

I have a tail light out, could that effect it at all?

Actually, its a reverse light, not tail light

It will be a turnsignal/brake light bulb turn signal on front....You can turn the 4 way flashers on to see if all the bulbs work...Bill

Alright, ill check all my bulbs and try to check all my grounds and then see what happens. If it doesnt work then it looks like ill try a new flasher.

As pro-tech was getting at, you need to dig in and get dirty

The fronts and rear bulbs are all dual filament bulbs. There's a small filament for park / tail, and a large filament for turn / brake.

The original 1034 / 1157 bulbs have the bayonet pins offset........one higher than the other, to keep you from putting into the socket wrong, but if the sockets are rusted / eroded, etc, it is possible to jam them in there the wrong way 'round

So wrong bulbs and wrong insertion are TWO possibilites

Now the next possibilities are related. They are bad, corroded connections in the sockets, and bad socket grounds. This can cause all sorts of malfeasance

http://www.altfg.com/Stars/f/fargo-p...ve-buscemi.jpg


For example, let's say the socket on one side, say, the left rear, becomes corroded and no longer has a good ground. This can happen either between the bulb and socket, or between the socket and body. Here's what happens

With the parking / tail lights OFF, all the parking / tail lights have no power and go to ground (except for the bad socket)

When you hit the brakes or make a turn, the left rear side SIGNAL filament tries to light, but it cannot go to ground because there's a bad connection.

HOWEVER the two filaments of that bulb are connected together through the bulb grounding base, only "it ain't grounded."

So what happens is the current goes through the signal lamp filament, across the bulb base and through the tail lamp filament, and then that filament is connected to the other three bulb filaments which are grounded.

So the current finally goes to ground through the other three park / tail filaments.

And the result is that the signal / brake filament "works" but DIMLY.

=======================================

NOW let's CHANGE the problem by turning on the park / tail lights.

NOW the left rear TAIL filament has no ground, at it lights, dimly, because it's finding ground through the signal filament, up through the signal switch, back to the right hand side, and finally to ground. So the left rear tail lamp glows DIMLY

=========================================

NOW with the park / tail lights on, we call for a left signal. NOW both filaments have power, that is, the left signal lamp and the left tail lamp filaments.

Because there is now power on BOTH filaments, and no ground, the entire left side light ...............just goes completely out.

==========================================

Hope this was not too confusing, this is what happens in "real world" automotive problems.

===========================================

The front sockets normally have a separate pigtail ground at the sockets, that is, three wires from the sockets. One for park, one for signal, and ground. You have to tear the lamp apart, clean and scrape it clean, replace the socket pigtail if necessary, and re--grease and put it back together with a good bulb

Learn to solder...........If the rear sockets aren't grounding, you'll have to solder wire pigtails to the socket shells and run the wire over to a grounding bolt, such as the trunk latch mount.

Sounds like a plan..... :)

Which one, the malfeasance, or the other, LOL?

http://www.grolschfilmworks.com/medi...ges/fargo1.jpg

What the hell is going on in this picture???? Caught in the act of what?????Looks like a female foot to me....But Im not talking...:laugh::laugh::high5:..Bill

:laugh:

440RoadRunner........ :argue:......... We need to have Coffee.....

http://plaza.ufl.edu/johnaris/PDFs/P...gFlowChart.pdf

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

BOB, LOVE THE FLOW CHART now that is some funny chit right there and 100% correct...Bill

Ha!!! I figgurred 'afore I looked that is what it was. Don't remember the last time I saw that

"malfeasance." Those are photos from the movie "Fargo." You should see it. I still have not figured out if it's dark comedy or light terror, LOL

LED bulbs will also screw things up

Very True Lynn !!!!!!!