Directional Signals

My blinkers will work for a while, then won't work. They were just recently reworked because of my wreck. Two weeks after the repair they don't work. They've been repaired a total of 3 times but always seem to malfunction. If you ask me, it's a cheap (and ugly) system on the Beck. I'd like to fix it without any major expense. Any clues? v

Vicki,
Our TR (real real similiar to a Beck) had an intermittent problem with the turn signals. The flasher unit was a piece-o-junk. It was brand new and intermittently defective. I went down to the local auto parts store and bought one with the same prongs on it, but higher quality ($12 instead of $2 like the one originally in the car). Plugged it in and that took care of the problem completely.

angela

Vicki,

Angela's statement regarding the quality of the original Beck relay is accurate. If you have always had trouble with your directional signals, you probably should try a new relay.

However, if your directional signals worked well before your accident and don't now, it could be something as simple as a poor (Or no) ground at some point where the repair was made to your car. A poor ground will also sometimes have an intermittant effect, causing the system to work sometimes and not others. It can be particularly problematic in wet weather.

Good luck.

TMc

it is pretty much old VW style wiring logic with cheap ass components. The circuit is pretty simply wired. Much easier to figure out if they used color coded wires...but I think they use whatever colors they have at the time. The only common wiring to all lights in the turn signal circuits are related to the power and the flasher relay. If you have brakes and park lights but no turn signals then focus on the relay area because the rest of the wiring should be okay.

I use the www.vintagebus.com wiring diagrams for the 1966-1967 bug when troubleshooting my car. I recently did some rewiring for a momentary switch starter, the horn and the high low beams. It is not that fun to get up under the dash, easier to get under there than to get out though.

Check the brakes and park lights - do they work? do the turn signals work on one side and not the other? Do you hear the flasher relay switching at all?

maybe we can help tell you what to do...

Regards,
Mike

As all information above but simply:-

1. check there is a good 'earth' for the flashers/indicators
2.check relays
3.It could be the poor switch design within the stalk if the indicator arm (the bit you move!) gives intermittant faults It may require replacment ( just worn out & tired like the rest of us!.) Mine gave up the ghost and strangly after I replaced it the main beam stopped having an intermittant fault too!

Good Luck

Magwa

Thanks to all. I've had this problem ever since owning the car (one year old Thanksgiving Day). One day the signals will blink like they should, then later on the same day or the next day or the next week!, the red directional lights come on (on the dash), but they don't blink. I never know getting in the car if I'll have signals or not. I even got pulled over once for weaving in and out of traffic not using my blinkers (however, they were working at the time, so that was just me being bad.) ha

Vicki,
Your car is doing EXACTLY what mine (oops - ours) did with the defective flasher unit. It was defective on a brand new wiring harness.
angela

I think what makes them work again is telling someone that they don't work. It seems to have helped this time.

Angela--sounds like the Spyder is more yours than his!
v

Vicki,
It's titled to him and that's appropriate as he did more work than I did. But the car likes me better!

If you are on the road and the turn signal acts up, what is happening is that the signals are staying on instead of flashing, so your dash light stays on solid (if the dash light flashes turn signals are flashing). You can turn the signal off and then back on, that might get it going. You can also reach down to your fuse panel which on your car is probably in the vicinity of your left knee and tap with your fingernail on the flasher unit. This may temporarily unstick it. Be assured it will act up again. Trash can it and get a good one.

Any chance you can make Knott's next year? I suspect you would be a BLAST to hang out with!
angela

Ange--where is Knotts. I don't even know. Close enough for me to drive there?

Vicki -

It's out there on the left coast...Probably 30-35 hours of steady driving for us southerners.

TMc

Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park So Cal.

About 6 miles from Disneyland

That's a long way to drive! I'm flying to L.A. (NOT lower Alabama) first week of December for a sentinel node conference in Santa Monica and it's hard for me to sit still even that long! v

By: Pamela H. Craig, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S. Surgeon, The Breast Center

The sentinel node procedure is a new technique used by breast surgical specialists to find out whether there are breast cancer cells in the lymph nodes in your axilla.

Is this what you're referring to?

Is the seminar at St. John's hospital?

My sister had that procedure about this time last year (Along with a masectomy)...Chemo/Masectomy & sentinal node/chemo/radiation...Nasty, nasty stuff...Took almost a year to complete the process.

TMc--hope your sister is ok and that her sentinel nodes were negative.

Actually, the procedure began with malignant melanoma, which is the cancer I deal with. It was extended to breast cancer sometime after that. All solid tumors have sentinel nodes. So, other sites like prostate, lung, head and neck, gyn are being investigated now.

The conference is usually held at a resort by the ocean. Last one I attended was at La Merigo, I think. It is sponsored by John Wayne Cancer Institute, which is affiliated with St. John's. The guy who developed the sentinel node procedure, Don Morton, is always the host. He was John Wayne's surgeon. I'm opening a new clinical trial of his at Vandy. Vandy has ongoing collaboration with JWCI.
v

Vicki-

My sister has the best prognosis possible for her "situation," but as you know, the prognosis rarely reaches out beyond the five year survival rate. Sadly, she "got busy" one year and skipped her mamogram...Found the lump a year after that.

If I understand it correctly, the sentinal node procedure did prevent her from having more extensive surgery because it enabled the surgeon to determine that the cancer had not spread...Am I correct in my understanding?

I admire people like you who are constantly trying to find a cure/preventative...I would assume that there is an incredibly bimodal incidence of reward and frustration in that line of work.

TMc