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Yes - am aware of the other current signal problem thread, but do not wish to hijack the OP's thread. I mentioned this weird behaviour before in somebody else's thread but with no takers for an answer; if you feel deja-vu and think you already read it, you probably did.
Here it goes:
- Grote LED taillights, normal front turn signals, lollipops with LED bulbs
- on startup, 99% of the time the flashers work left/right/4-way correctly, with correct flash intervals and no problems switching on/off and from one to another. Completely normal.
- the flasher unit is near-new and I re-did the ground connection, to ensure it is good
- after "minutes" into the trip, driving with the turn signal off, the turn signal will no longer work when the turn signal switch is activated
- removing the green plastic cap reveals that the indicator lamp will glow faintly when the left turn signal is activated, but there is no flasher action or lighting up of turn signals that I can see. The indicator lamp will not glow in any other stalk position.
- when continuing to drive (or park with engine running) with the stalk in the "left turn" position, the turn signals will **eventually** come back. It can take from a few minutes to half an hour, but so far, they always spontaneously started flashing again. On a side note, that means that by the time I hit heavy downtown traffic, my turn signals no longer work, which makes for truly interesting driving.
- when the turn signal does come back, the flash cycle is sometimes quicker than normal and settles to a normal pace over a few minutes.
- from then on, the turn signals usually work flawlessly, even if left off for a while during the drive.
This has me stumped because it seems so illogical. Obviously, the lights all work, the wiring must be ok, because when the turn signals work, they work well.
Question: What causes this temporary outage? How do I fix it?
If it was a breaker (there is a self-resetting one in the turn signal switch, correct??) then the indicator light would not glow, would it? No juice at all if the breaker tripped.
It is very un-electronic to say, but it "feels" like the unit needs to overcome some internal resistance until it can work again. I already ruled out Gremlins, invisible dwarfs and demonic possession of the truck.
Sure, I could drop another $50, put in yet another flasher unit and keep my fingers crossed - but I'd like some assurance that this is in fact a likely candidate before throwing parts at the truck. If you all think that's what causes it, I'll jump at it. Any chance it could be the turn signal switch itself? I had it apart and cleaned/sprayed the contacts with electronic cleaner but it did not seem to do anything, one way or another.
Here it goes:
- Grote LED taillights, normal front turn signals, lollipops with LED bulbs
- on startup, 99% of the time the flashers work left/right/4-way correctly, with correct flash intervals and no problems switching on/off and from one to another. Completely normal.
- the flasher unit is near-new and I re-did the ground connection, to ensure it is good
- after "minutes" into the trip, driving with the turn signal off, the turn signal will no longer work when the turn signal switch is activated
- removing the green plastic cap reveals that the indicator lamp will glow faintly when the left turn signal is activated, but there is no flasher action or lighting up of turn signals that I can see. The indicator lamp will not glow in any other stalk position.
- when continuing to drive (or park with engine running) with the stalk in the "left turn" position, the turn signals will **eventually** come back. It can take from a few minutes to half an hour, but so far, they always spontaneously started flashing again. On a side note, that means that by the time I hit heavy downtown traffic, my turn signals no longer work, which makes for truly interesting driving.
- when the turn signal does come back, the flash cycle is sometimes quicker than normal and settles to a normal pace over a few minutes.
- from then on, the turn signals usually work flawlessly, even if left off for a while during the drive.
This has me stumped because it seems so illogical. Obviously, the lights all work, the wiring must be ok, because when the turn signals work, they work well.
Question: What causes this temporary outage? How do I fix it?
If it was a breaker (there is a self-resetting one in the turn signal switch, correct??) then the indicator light would not glow, would it? No juice at all if the breaker tripped.
It is very un-electronic to say, but it "feels" like the unit needs to overcome some internal resistance until it can work again. I already ruled out Gremlins, invisible dwarfs and demonic possession of the truck.
Sure, I could drop another $50, put in yet another flasher unit and keep my fingers crossed - but I'd like some assurance that this is in fact a likely candidate before throwing parts at the truck. If you all think that's what causes it, I'll jump at it. Any chance it could be the turn signal switch itself? I had it apart and cleaned/sprayed the contacts with electronic cleaner but it did not seem to do anything, one way or another.
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