[david2376]

Just recently my turn signals would only work intermittenly (sp?). My temper caused me to do a little "fist check" of the underside of the dash and they began working again. It's been going on and off like this for a couple weeks now. I figured it was a loose wire or something, but when I pulled the steering column apart I couldn't find anything awry. I'm going to replace the flasher relay because it's cheap and easy to replace and may be the problem. Was wondering if anyone else has had this happen?

[ June 27, 2001: Message edited by: david2376 ]

 

[00ChryslerIntrepid]

I had a similar problem once on my old 95 Intrepid. I took it to the dealer and they said it was just a short in a wire under the hood. Not sure if that's of any help to you, but just thought I'd share that bit of info.

 

[Bart]

OK, I'm not sure if all intrepids are like this, but my flasher relay is also the actual mounting bracket for a ton of wires, and the harness for the flasher relay just stays in place by holding onto the flasher/bracket. Really smooth engineering I must say... of course, just another reason to buy straight from the dealer right? Because of my LED tail lights, I have to use an electronic flasher so I just have the flasher hanging on the end of the harness and then I just use a good ol' plastic tie-wrap. Also, the stock flasher has 5 terminals. A two terminal flasher relay will work. The other 3 terminals I think deal with the blinkers only working while the accessories are on. My blinkers work without the ignition on now, so I think that's because of the aftermarket flasher relay.

 

[Wildcat]

Be careful when using somthing other than the correct flasher in there..

I did somthing simular about 3 years ago when the flasher died in my Eagle. About 6 months ago, they died again. I thought the replacement flasher died too, but the flasher drew too much current from the wrong circuit and killed my Multi-function switch.

So, I could have bought a $18 flasher once, but I bought a $3 flasher. 2 and a half years later I ended up having to buy a $135 switch AND a $18 flasher to fix it.

So the moral of the story is...GET THE CORRECT FLASHER!

 

[1mz-fe]

my windshield wipers don't work right. they always come on but sometimes the intermittent speeds don't work, they are either off, on, or fast. when they do work right they don't turn off unless i jack with the knob for a few minutes, usually well after the rain is gone or the wash fluid is dry. then i get streaks. any thoughts as to what might cause this kind of problem?

 

[MadTxn]

Originally posted by Bart:
Because of my LED tail lights, I have to use an electronic flasher...

The regular flasher won't work with LED's? Why not? If I replace my bulb with an LED bulb, it won't flash anymore?

 

[david2376]

Well I finally got around to buying a replacement flasher relay from the local (2 hour drive) dealership. Cost me about $35 after tax and didn't fix my problem. I have a feeling I'm going to have to have my steering column pulled apart to find the porblem and it'll become expensive. I pulled it apart myself and couldn't find any loose connections but the signals still aren't working. Anyone wanna buy a very slighty used flasher relay? ;]

 

[Bart]

MadTxn, sorry for the delay in response. LED's take up a fraction of the current that incondescents use. A flasher relay's blinking is based on the amount of energy used up... Some blinkers blink faster and faster (the intrepid's blink faster with LED lights), but my dakota didn't blink at all when there wasn't enough current. The speed of the flash also changes in conjunction with the power from the alternator/battery. After my first attempt at LED blinkers, I added more to make it brighter. It became borderline enough to make the blinker blink at a normal rate, but while sitting at intersections, it would start to blink faster and faster until I revved the engine a bit. I think there's a certain ratio of power available versus power being absorbed by the lights that help the blinker blink at a certain rate as well. Anyways, an electronic flasher is usually used for loads that exceed the recommended current for normal flashers, yet won't change the blinking rate when the current changes (ie: a trailer that isn't always hooked up). Electronic flashers will also work when there's not enough current being used. Right now I am using incondescents again for my blinkers because amber colored LED's just aren't bright enough yet and I can't get my hands on the really bright ones they use in the cadillac catera's rear yellow blinker. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the ones used in the cadillac deville's tail/brake lights. Anyways, if you use LED's, at least the OEM replacements on the market right now, it will just blink really fast (like the ricer blinkers). To me, it gets annoying. You might like it, and if you do... go for it. It's cheaper that way anyways

 

[MadTxn]

That's pretty funny about the turn signal getting faster sitting at a light... Anyway, thanks for the info. I'm not too worried about the siganls being fast. I don't user them that much anyway. I mean, sitting in the left turn lane, you know I'm turning, so... and on the highway, it doesn't mean "Can I get over?", it means "I'm coming over." and I don't pause for very long. We'll see how it works out.

 

[jlhawkinson]

My left blinker started blinking really fast, but when we checked it out, our rear left blinker wasn't working. Does that mean it is just the bulb that needs to be replaced? If so, can you tell me how to replace it? I am trying to learn to make minor repairs myself instead of paying bookus on a mechanic.

Thanks