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.