Mystic_350

Both of my front Turn Signal sockets were badly corroded/burned, though my driver's side signal still worked my passenger side front was totaly out and my drivers side DRL was out. I bought two new sockets and spliced them in, now the driver's side DRL and signal work (though the signal is SLOW) and the passenger side DRL is on but no blinky blinky. I'm thinking it's the flasher, I'll pick one up tomorrow and swap in but am hoping someone here might help me sleep tonight by saying "yup, that's definitely it". Or conversely... steer me in the right direction.

Thanks,
Chris

Z28SORR

Only 1 turn signal flasher for all four turn signals. So, if any of them flash it is not the flasher. Have you swapped bulbs, got new ones? Is there any problem with the rear flashers? If only one blinker is working it can cause the flasher to be slow or come on but not flash at all.

97FormulaWS-6

Sounds like a bad bulb and/or bad ground somewhere with the lights. Could be front or rear.

Mystic_350

So here's where I'm at with this:

Replacing the flasher got the passenger side rear turn signal to blink, but the front still does not. The front DRL (same bulb as turn signal) is on, so I know the bulb and socket is good... what would keep it from blinking?

Do I need to trace one of the three wires that terminate at that socket back to the firewall? If so, which one of the three controls the blinking?

Thanks,
Chris

Z28SORR

I would say your definitely at the point of checking wires. Don't have my manual here so can't tell you which wire. Start checking them with a multimeter, there's only three. And don't for get the grounds.

Mystic_350

I made a major mistake by saying the DRL is lit. I've been doing all of this troubleshooting at night and mistakenly thought the DRL on the pass side was working when it was not.

So to simplify the situation/symptoms, everything on the car works except for the "high" filament in the passenger side front bulb (3057s have dual filaments).

We had company over today so I didn't get to do any work on it but I'll take a look tomorrow. I'm assuming it's not ground due to the fact that the low filament works fine in that socket. I'm going to check ground first since it's easiest, I might swap sockets in the front to see if the problem follows the socket or stays on the passenger side. If it stays I'll start to chase the "blue" wire back from the socket as that is the wire that lights the DRL.

For sake of information, I disconnected the DRL module a few nights ago and the problem persisted. From the looks of the wiring diagram it looks like there is both a passenger and drivers side flasher relay in that module and that the rears don't pass through the module, so I'm wondering if the pass side relay in that DRL module could be bad? Does taking that relay out of the loop actually prove that it does or doesn't work?

I'm suspecting a cut/chafed wire or perhaps the stalk or "chassis-to-column" connector is bad. That reminds me, I forgot I had the Helms manuals for this car... once I found the wiring diagram the whole thing made a lot more sense to me! Between that and the suggestions above (and taking a look during daylight today), I think I can get to the bottom of it. I just hope I don't have to chase that frigging blue wire from the front bumper to the steering column.

Chris

Mystic_350

Just got a chance to pick this up again and here's my update.

I jumped the "blue wire" (the DRL and signal wire, or high filament lead) from the drivers side to the passenger side and the high filament on both sides lit up. So the passenger side socket/ground/bulb are fine, it's just not getting the signal.

I traced the wire through the loom, it crosses in front of the radiator, under the CAI, along the inner fender well on up to the firewall. I found a blue wire under the steering column that is presumably the same (same color blue). IT terminates in a bank. I *think* it then goes onto the DRL module behind the radio, then back to the steering column.

Since the passenger side rear is blinking, I'm assuming that the signal lever itself is not the problem and that the issue is in line. Anyone have any cool ideas/tools to help figure out where the breakdown occurs?

Z28SORR

Obvious question, but you don't hav ethe "light sensor" on the dash covered up? Or maybe it's bad.

Mystic_350

Just wanted to close the loop on this in case someone else searches this topic in the future. Turns out my DRL Module went bad. It's the black box behind the radio, $20 to replace it from a local salvage yard and all is good.

Chris

97z28k&N

This isn't true. I had the same problem and I replaced ONLY my flasher unit and it fixed the problem completely.