Flasher unit faulty?

[IanMc]

Hi all,

I have hit a small snag in my attempts to get both NS indicators working again.

Both of the OS ones work fine, both on the switch/stalk and when you hit the hazard switch.

Unfortunately though, the NS ones do nothing when you do either of these things.

Things I have done/checked:

- Checked both bulbs using a continuity tester - both are fine.

- swapped both bulbs to the other side - both work.

- 'hot wired' power from the OS to the NS front indicator then hit the hazard switch - it works fine.

So is it the flasher unit? - the only reason I doubt this at the moment is the fact that the OS works OK, surely if the unit was defective neither side would work?

Looking for your help please.

[wayne ingham]

Check the earth wiring on the N/S ,Brown wire secure by a screw 

[IanMc]

17 minutes ago, wayne ingham said:

Check the earth wiring on the N/S ,Brown wire secure by a screw 

Thanks Wayne.

Unfortunately is doesn’t seem as simple as that. The rest of the lighting in that corner (side, dip and main) and share the same earth all work ok.

Plus when I ran power across from the OS indicator it worked fine.

Edited December 29, 2017 by IanMc

[wayne ingham]

Sorry did not read it correct.    No live feed to the n/s indicators

Ok check that you have a live feed on the wiring,l whoud start at fuse box indicator arm ,looking like a corroded wiring ,Dos the indicator work on the front wing (if it has one)

may be the indicator arm.Or the wiring block to the arm

hope this helps.Cheers Wayne 

 

[IanMc]

Some good pointers there, thanks again Wayne.

I will check all of those out and report back.

[cam.in.head]

Hi. If the right side all works fine but nothing on the left side with either the hazard switch or the indicator stalk then it sounds like either a bad contact in the hazard switch or a bad connection or wire off coming from the hazard switch down to its connector by the steering column. If you have a haynes and a voltmeter you should be able to confirm power not appearing where it should on this connector. One silly thing to try first thou is to repatedly turn the hazard switch on and off many times whilst someone watches the left side . They do have a habit of playing up .lets face it .its a switch that may only get turned on once a year for the mot test. 

[IanMc]

OK, spent some time trying to diagnose and track this fault down a little further today.

After much digging around, prodding and using 'patch' leads to test different scenarios, I can advise as follows:

The flasher units is definitely not faulty - how do I know this now? - well:

- There is power (to earth) at the switch contact for the LH indicator on the stalk assembly (White and Black wire).

- Using patch cables I rigged up power from that LH indicator stalk contact to both front and rear bulbs (AFTER first disconnecting their loom cabling) and both worked normally on the stalk and the hazard switch.

So.... to my simple mind this says that there is a fault in the wiring from the switch and flasher unit to the light units themselves - but only on the LH side - do you all agree?

If so, I will now start a series of continuity tests to try to establish where the look fault is. I'm thinking that this is most probably a joint where both front and rear meet before going off to their separate destinations - the wiring diagram in the Haynes manual indicates that their is such a joint.

All comments, help and advice welcomed!

[cam.in.head]

So if you run a wire from indicator switch to the connector on the steering column where it plugs in do they work ? . If not then its downstream from that . If so then its somewhere in the big multi switch under the steering wheel. Usually a fault with the hazard switch getting dirty but they can gofaulty as well. Obviously anything can.thay are dismantleable if you can trace the bad contact but sometimes easier to just change it?

[IanMc]

53 minutes ago, cam.in.head said:

So if you run a wire from indicator switch to the connector on the steering column where it plugs in do they work ? . If not then its downstream from that . If so then its somewhere in the big multi switch under the steering wheel. Usually a fault with the hazard switch getting dirty but they can gofaulty as well. Obviously anything can.thay are dismantleable if you can trace the bad contact but sometimes easier to just change it?

I haven’t tried you suggested jumper wire yet from the switch to the far side of the large multi connector, but that will be my next job.

Many thanks for your help CIH, greatly appreciated.

[IanMc]

And.... fixed!

it turns out that it was nothing more than a loose connection in the multi plug under the dashboard.

With CIH’s suggestion in my head, I made up a jumper wire, but didn’t need it in the end. As soon as I touched the offending cable/connection the indicators started working.

So I simply pushed it together a bit tighter, then cable tied the multi connector to the column and everything is fine.

So another free fix, must be my lucky day!

Thanks to you all for your help and advice, much appreciated.