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weird turn signal problem (c900)

Hi,

I have an interesting problem here, from my 1992 900. The left turn signal behaves erratically, but only when the headlights are on. By "erratic," I mean that it flashes very slowly or not at all. Or it will flash once and stop, and then randomly flash once every several seconds, etc. Also, when I flip the turn signal off, the dashboard left-arrow indicator continues to glow faintly.

All this is only when the headlights are on. The left turn signal and 4-way flashers function normally.

After looking at the wiring diagrams, I think the most likely trouble spot is the left rear light cluster. The turn signals and parking lights share a ground point there, and I've had some problems there before with the brake lights and reverse lights. (note: this is a 4-door)

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

John

Reply to
John B
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I'd say you've got it in one - earth (ground) problem. The rear light pcb has a common earth track for everything and on every 900 I've owned it's caused similar problems. Quite often it leaves you with just about every rear light half illuminated while the one you actually needed isn't doing much at all!

Try this quick and ugly fix that's never failed me for anything up to 7 yrs & 200,000Km (and anyway it's behind the carpet, soo....) Take the lhs pcb out as far as you can then - no need to fully remove it from the car, you just need access Drill a 1/8 hole in one of the fatter bits of the ground track Get a piece of cable about 90cm/3ft long and solder or crimp a round teerminal to each end Bolt one connector to the pcb and the other one to the brace in the rear centre of the back panel where the other earth cables live. It's near the velcro button that the floor grips onto Hope that fixes it, but if it doesn't, at least you haven't wasted much time or money! Cheers

Reply to
hippo

Thanks for the reply. Actually I was working on it Saturday, and I think I've got it fixed. I think the ground itself was ok, and the problem was a loose connection of the blue/white wire (from the LHS turn signal) at the rear left wiring harness at the light cluster. I had a similar problem last year with brake lights.

The solution was to pop the offending wire out of the wiring harness, and inspect the connector on the end. These things are like little springs, which push against a blade in the light cluster when the wiring harness is plugged in. In this case, the little spring was no longer very springy, and wasn't making good contact. So I bent it back up a bit, and put a bit of dielectric grease on it. I also fixed up some of the other connectors that seemed to be similarly affected.

The problem is now solved! Plus, I seized this opportunity to fix a bum reversing light bulb. So, I've been driving around town flaunting my fully functional rear light clusters.

Oh, and FWIW: I've had a similar problem with the connector that plugs into the air mass meter, which was causing an occasional Check Engine light. Also fixed by similar means.

John

Reply to
John B

Brilliant. Aren't relatively easy fixes that work out satisfying? :) Cheers

Reply to
hippo

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