Indicator Clicking Too Fast/one Indicator Dimmer Than Other/one Side R

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Bit of an odd one.

 

When indicating left the indicators are clicking rapidly, when it does this only the side repeater on the wing and rear light indicator works - the front indicator doesn't.

 

Now and again normal service will be resumed, and when this happens but the front indicator isn't anywhere near as bright as the driver side.

 

It soon goes back to rapid indicating on left, with no front indicator though.

 

In any situation my drivers side wing repeater isn't working. It's not the bulb.

 

When using hazard lights it clicks at a normal rate, not fast. driver side wing repeater still does not work with hazards.

 

 

Tried cleaning all connectors with contact cleaner.

 

Any ideas? Could this be an earth problem (yellow plug in engine on passenger side)? Or maybe a relay fault?

[j_turnell 137 3 Cars]

I'd clean they main earth block that connects to the front panel (yellow plug) and check the condition of the wiring.

[welshpug 1,666]

dirty connection from main indicator loom to indicator or side repeater.

 

"contact cleaner" never works for connectors this old, they need physically opening and scraping the corrosion off at the very least.

[jamie_1992 66 1 Cars]

this happened to mine i cleaned up the earth point best i could but didn't last long so i replaced the earth blocks completely

[farmer 328 1 Cars]

Mei I disagree, I have found contact cleaner helps quite a lot just on it's own.

 

Used it on my fan loom connectors and fixed the problem for years now without issue.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Mei I disagree, I have found contact cleaner helps quite a lot just on it's own.

 

Used it on my fan loom connectors and fixed the problem for years now without issue.

Yep, use this.

 

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/servisol-contact-cleaner-200ml-jp17t

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Right, I stripped it all out and cleaned up the earths by passenger headlight and all connectors.

 

Indicator was a dodgy bulb holder rather than earth etc so that is solved.

 

BUT my driver side repeater isn't working at all. It isn't the bulb.

 

Any ideas? I assume as indicators are working fine, we can rule out relay and hazard switch? and does it use the pass headlight earth?

[welshpug 1,666]

Wont be the switch, wiring goes to front indicator before side repeater, the main loom is no different to a car that has no side repeaters.

 

have you checked directly on the contacts with a power probe or multimeter?

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

I see, I wasn't sure how the loom operated so that majes sense now.

 

Good idea on contacts, what voltage reading should I be getting? Just use a multimeter on each prong of the brown plug that plugs into the bulb holder is it?

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Took it apart and stuck a multimeter on each wire that comes out of the hole in the wing and conbects to the bulb holder, the video below shows the voltage readings I got.

 

Swapped the bulb holder over to the passenger side one which is working.

 

Still no sidelight.

 

I'm lost now as the multimeter seems to show that there is power (the voltage reading goes up and down as the indicators obviously go on and off in sucession) yet the bulb isn't lightning up. Any ideas?

http://youtu.be/E_D4NyLy7Jc

Edited February 28, 2015 by ATK

[jackherer 543]

Plug the load (bulb) back in and I imagine you'll then see a much lower voltage. When you have resistance due to corrosion somewhere you will only see low voltage when there is some current draw due to the way Ohms law works.

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

what would a normal voltage be then? Struggling to figure out how to fix as the wiring is inside the wing!

[jackherer 543]

It should be battery voltage (~12v) with the engine not running or alternator voltage (~14v) with it running but as it is flashing your digital multimeter is struggling to keep up! If you look inside the inner wing you should see where the wiring emerges again, it is just a pretty crudely applied spur from the wiring to the main front indicator.

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Ok so it looks like I am only getting up to 4v on the meter (in the video).

 

To solve is it just a case of cutting the front indicator wires (x2 one green one yellow) and splicing in two new lengths of wire to run to the side repearer?

[jackherer 543]

I can see 2, 4 and 8 in the video I think, because the meter is slower than the indicators are flashing it is struggling to keep up! I have one the same as that and it is particularly slow to update. This is the sort of thing an analogue meter is better for, or a powerprobe type LED thing.

 

Yes, just cut the wiring back until the copper core is bright and shiny, you'll know when you've found it.

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Ok cheers will give it a go. Difficulty I can see is feeding it back through the wing!

[farmer 328 1 Cars]

It's not to bad to do at all

[dcc 855]

Tie a bit of wire to the plug you pull through, use that to pull it back the other way

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Good shout. Should I be using any particular ampage wiring?

[unariciflocos 49 1 Cars]

0.5 or 1mmsq will do the job fine.

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

This should be alright to use?

 

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/garage-equipment/auto-electrical-supplies/halfords-8-amp-cable-red-hef721

[welshpug 1,666]

I wouldnt be using halford toi buy wire, as youre in Ponty pop down to RS in treforest.

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Was going to use that Halfords reel as I have some in the shed!

[welshpug 1,666]

bit overkill really!

[unariciflocos 49 1 Cars]

Won't hurt if it's larger diameter, it'll just be heavier and bulkier, but electrically it will be perfectly fine. Just use whatever you have, chances are it will be larger than 0.5mmsq.

An indicator bulb will take up about 2A, but it's a short term intermittent load, so there's really no need for any oversizing.