Turn Signals Malfunction in the Rain

[NickyV]

It's been raining pretty heavy where I live and my turn signals have been acting up. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with water, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had this experience.

 

The Symptoms:

- Turn signals stop flashing entirely. The lights themselves don't flash and the interior indicators don't flash. I can hear a buzzing electrical sound down near the turn signal relay.

- After driving for a bit, they start working again (signals and dash indicators). Like maybe something has dried out?

- Hazard signals work -- both the indicators and the signals themselves.

- All exterior lights work. It's just that the turn signal isn't working.

- One more thing to mention: My turn signal stalk doesn't work quite right. When I turn left, I have to manually return it to the neutral position after completing the turn. When I turn right, it returns to neutral position on its own.

 

The Background:

- Imperfect Wiring Job: I've done a fair amount of work on my turn signals over the years. A few years back, I replaced the sockets for the bulbs, because I had the thing where the turn signal indicators on the dash stay illuminated. That was due to a bad ground in the socket. When I did that job, I don't think I did a great job insulating the wires. I only used electrical tape.

 

- Upgraded to LEDs: More recently, I upgraded to LED on all exterior lights except the headlights. I also upgraded the relays to electronic relays with the pigtail ground wire. When I did that job, I had to replace one of the sockets, because I broke it during the job. On that socket, I did a better job with the wires, using shrink wrap. I only bring this up because one of my turn signals came back to life sooner than the other, and maybe it was the one that I did a better job of insulating... not sure.

 

The Question:

What is most likely? That something is going wrong near the relay, or that something is going wrong near the bulbs? Or... could it be that something is starting to fail in the steering column? I'm thinking that it's something near the relay. Maybe I have some moisture getting in through the firewall there. And, like many of us, my fuse panel has been seasoned in DOT 3 fluid over the years. Maybe it's time to finally take on the fuse panel refurb.

[Eagle_SX4]

Since it only happened with the rain, it is most likely an open wire at the turn signal sockets. When they get wet they short out somewhere.

 

I would re wire your turn signal sockets and use some marine grade heat shrink to insulate the wires. It has hot glue on the inside to seal the connections.

[NickyV]

Ugh... Well this is embarrassing. I swear I checked the fuse, but I apparently didn't look very closely at it. The fuse wasn't blown, but one of the blades was terribly rusty/gunky. I just swapped it out with a fresh one and the signals started working again.

 

I think there are two takeaways here.

 

1) Always rule out the fuse. For whatever reason, I still struggle with this one. I'm always imagining a more complex problem.

2) I really, really need to do an overhaul of the fuse box. Any fuse that has been in the fuse box for any significant period of time usually has gunk on it.

 

What have people done in regards to improving their fuse box? Right now, I'm thinking that maybe I can clean it up and then figure out some way to put a cover over it. I wonder if I can find a plastic box with a hinge that I could modify and then place the fuse box inside of. That way if the master cylinder leaks in the future at least it won't drip directly onto the fuse box.

[Eagle_SX4]

2 hours ago, NickyV said:

What have people done in regards to improving their fuse box? Right now, I'm thinking that maybe I can clean it up and then figure out some way to put a cover over it. I wonder if I can find a plastic box with a hinge that I could modify and then place the fuse box inside of. That way if the master cylinder leaks in the future at least it won't drip directly onto the fuse box.

I made a drip tray for my master cylinder that sits on top of my fuse block. It is held in place with some double sided mounting tape. I will get a pic tonight of what it looks like.

[Eagle_SX4]

This is what I made to keep any brake fluid off the fuse block.