TURN SIGNAL Loss

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Well,Ya might know when you put an old vehicle on the road ,theres bugs to work out. .....As i was heading to the store for gas,It went smoothlyu with the exception of my driver rear brake drum slightly rubbing faintly.
But along the way I lost turn signals completely. Fuse is good. I have headlights & taiullights, just no turn signals at all. Are there any other reason why the Turn signals would just quit working?

[spdfrk78]

I wanna say there is some type of relay on the fuse block. It's been so long since I've dealt with this issue that I'm not quite sure.

[4x4Dalton]

Check and make sure the wire for them hasnt corroded.

[spdfrk78]

Ok it's called a flasher not a relay. It's the round thing located on the fuse panel. But when it goes out the turn signals stay on. May be a wiring issue. Sound like it's time to bust out the multimeter and wiring diagram. I really despise tracking down electrical problems.

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Since i posted this,I went out & verified that when i press the brake pedal,both "arrows" on the dash light up . When i let off the brake they go out. And I have no hazard lights.So Im assuming the little bulbs are good. And all other lights all the way around the truck are good too. Just no flashers now as of about 3pm today. Hopeing i can track it down,because as stupid as it may sound to say this, It will be a crunch having to buy the round flasher relay thingys for the fusebox,yeh Im that broke*. I just need to figure it out before i get pulled over for no turn signal somehow.

[4.3LXJ]

More than likely it is the switch in your steering column, but I would investigate the flasher first. They are cheap.

[88AMCOMANCHE]

when i rebuilt the column about 8 months ago,I tried the lightly clean the points if i remember right. Been a while. Ihope its not that, i cant afford the cheap flasher relay things,but i sure cant afford a new swicth in the column cuz theyre probably 25$ or more. Ty though. willl keep trying to figure this out. Wish there were a way of knowing if in a case where the flaher arrows come on but dont flash,if that would tell if it means its the flasher relay or not, but who knows.

[4.3LXJ]

Well, the way it works is if the arrows come on and stay on, it is the flasher. If the arrows come on when stepping on the brake, then it is in the column.

[Niac]

Before you tear into the column take your tail lights off leave the bulbs in the sockets. Run a wire to a good ground. Sometimes I just run one up the neg. on the battery using my jumper cables. Find the ground wire on the bulbs. I think it's the black wire on my 2001. Turn your turn signal on to one of the tail lights. Hook up your ground wire to the ground wire on the bulb. On mine I pushed a pin into the bulb wire and then just held my new ground wire to it. If the bulb starts flashing then you just have bad grounds. It could be in the sockets or where the ground wire is attached to the body.
I've seen both tail lights flashing, the other brake light going out when the turn signal is flashing, dome lights flashing with the turn signals, and other things. Because the bulb has two elements and they are in a vacume, one element can feed back into the other when there is not a good path to ground. This is the same principal that a vacume tube works on.

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Ugh * Well, My steering wheel isnt dead centered anyway when sitting in the seat, wheels straight forward. The Jeep Horn logo has about a 20 degree turn towards the left.Must have somehow happened when i did the column rebuild a while back. maybe i could kill 2 birds at once if thats the case.

[steph74]

Yep changing the flasher solved all my turn signals problems....
Mine would work on one side and stay on (not flashing on the other and just in the front...) and work good with lights on....
Turn signals are weird sometimes

Does your warning signal works (that to eliminate any wire and bulb problem ?)

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Nope, No Hasard lights at all , plus the turn signal arrows on the dash only light up as I push the brake pedal.

[Weldmen]

Sounds like a bad ground to the body to me.

[uberxj92]

bad ground either at the lights or at the fuse block. or even at the battery. try re-grounding the ground wires by the sockets, & add a decent ground from battery to frame. also, check all of the bulbs for corrosion

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Ive ran an extra ground from the Neg terminal to the fender bolt & made sure to scrape it to bare metal before adding the wire. .All my lights work as far as parling lights front & back & headlights and reverse lights & brake lights go. guess i will have to buy a flasher relay thing. The round ones for the fuseblock.

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Still have no trun signals. I did check though to see if my Voltage gauge does ANYTHING at all when i hit the left or right blinker & it does nothing at all. No twicth,no movement whatsoever. does this mean anything?

[88AMCOMANCHE]

Still have no trun signals. I did check though to see if my Voltage gauge does ANYTHING at all when i hit the left or right blinker & it does nothing at all. No twicth,no movement whatsoever. does this mean anything? All my lights in back are all good. all the lights everywhere are good. EXCEPT turn signals in the dash & hazards in the dash. wish someone knew for sure because im so wiped out of money that it is a stretch just to go buy a 5$ flasher relay thingy. which im about to do within a day or so.

[88AMCOMANCHE]

well, hope i havent frusterated anyone due to my ongoing Turn signal problem. Tonight,I noticed in addition to the dash "arrows" both lighting up when i hit the brake ....the front parking lights ALSO light up too! this is weird. I removed my taillights few weeks ago,but was sure to not pinch any wires when reinstalling them. gawd this is Frusterating!!

[oderdene]

check the connectors went to headlight. Mine was just behind driver side headlight. Photos here, http://www.xjtalk.com/showthread.php?t=2406

[BlueXJ]

check the connectors went to headlight. Mine was just behind driver side headlight. Photos here, http://www.xjtalk.com/showthread.php?t=2406

Good suggestion. Most XJ/MJ electric problems are either caused by corrosion or bad grounds. The older the vehicle the greater the problems.:sign0181:

[steph74]

well, hope i havent frusterated anyone due to my ongoing Turn signal problem. Tonight,I noticed in addition to the dash "arrows" both lighting up when i hit the brake ....the front parking lights ALSO light up too! this is weird. I removed my taillights few weeks ago,but was sure to not pinch any wires when reinstalling them. gawd this is Frusterating!!

Don't worry, i am sure that everybody here on this forum agrees that no question is frustrating even if it is repeated 200 times. The only frustration that we get here is when a problem is hard to solve;)

I personally share your frustration because electric system and me don't go to well together ;)

[saar]

Since you have no hazard and no turn signals, I would check for a short circuit in the connectors.
(The hazard/turn signals use different flashers/switches, so the problem is probably not there....)
If the connectors are fine, check the wiring from them back.
Saar.

[Niac]

Your most common thing to these lights is the grounds. Just one bad ground on one of the lights, probably a brake light, will cause this.

[oderdene]

read on other forum, brake lamp is causing a problem. it is a time factor, filaments lengthened and contacted each other, making wrong circuit

[88AMCOMANCHE]

As soon as i can I will be getting another camera to replace my broken one .....pics always help i know. ....but for now i wanted to add .... One strange thing that seems weird to me is ..... The previous owner ,for some reason..ran a single wire ....from the brake pedal "switch" (hot) and plugged it into the far top left corner of the fusebox in the hole marked "ACC" ....the ACC is NOT a2 hole slot that can take a fuse. Its just a single hole and just says ACC ? theres also one marked "power acc" ...but this one they have the brake pedal switch plugged into just says ACC. Anyone know if thats werid or not? maybe thats causing conflict *

[88AMCOMANCHE]

My connector which is also behind the driver hedlight ,looks fine. its plugged in & has no sign of any exposed wires anywhere. Tomorrow i will go out & unplug it & inspect the contacts closely & maybe clean them,thanx.

[xj4life2]

Before you spend the cash is there another vehilce around you could use the flashers out of to try ?? Most all the older vehicles take the same ones

[88AMCOMANCHE]

i have a 99 ford escort ....doubt theyd work, but e3xcellent idea still.

[88AMCOMANCHE]

I sure feel like a DORK!! After sitting nearly on my head in the floorboard for about 30 minutes & inspecting Everything ,looking for ANYTHING unusual & moving things around..... I hear a faint ""dink-donk dink-donk" a few times , sounded like Eflashers ......so I inspect closer & press on it & WAHLAH....they work! just a short,dirty terminal .....but still no FLASHERS!! lONG STory long .....I inspect the fuse in the slot "B/u Stop" and the fuse was fine (20 amp but i had a 25 in it,was all i had) .......now dark is about to set in .....and out of my left eye,I see movement .....wouldnt ya know its a little feild rat calmly walking into my garage,taking his time looking around. To which i put on my old Lineman gloves and picked him up( he was calm but cautious) ...and i carried him out in the woods & hope he dont come back /SO.....i am now out of ideas,as its starting to get dark,so without giving much thought...I grabbed a 15a fuse & stuck it in place if the 25 that was in there. Turned the key on & hit the turn signal & I hear " dink-donk-dink-donk" ...yeah Blinkers work fine. / Moral of the story.....EEVEN IF A FUSE LOOKS UNBURNED & APPEARS GOOD.....It might Not be good,as ive spent 2 weeks tracking down a problem that wasnt anything but the fuse to begin with.

[ParadiseXJ]

The flasher on lower left is for blinkers, the flasher on the upper right is for hazards.

The picture is of an MJ and the only difference from the XJ is that there is no heated window or rear wiper, otherwise identical.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u196/chasdwitt/ALL%20JEEP/fusebox.jpg

[88AMCOMANCHE]

is that YOUR Comanche? if it is.....seems like youve went thru the same 100s of PITA things as I have.Maybe not the same,but still ....same level of frusteration lol looks Good!