I have a 98 Corolla that has an intermittent turn signal. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. The bulbs are all good. The emergency flashers work all the time, but the turn signals work only about half the time. It does this both left and right. When the turn signals don't work the flasher still clicks at the same rate as when the signals do work. Any idea what is going on? Thanks
Mike D.
Mine is intermittent, too. It works only when the ignition is on the "on" position and the switch is set to left or right.
Sorry, I couldn't resist. ;-)
I have no helpful input on this, but... my immediate thought after reading this first part of your post was, "Hey, at least you didn't pay for it as an option!" ;-)
Cathy
The bulbs are all good. The emergency
Mike, Some years ago my old El Camino did the same thing - all would work except the turn signal - What mine was, was dust in the rear bulb socket - I blew out both sides and worked fine. Hope yours is as simple (but probably a bad contact in the steering hub turn switch) Ron
Possible causes are a poor ground, most likely at the rear light assemblies, corrosion in both bulb sockets, a damaged wire, or bad turn signal switch, in that order of likelihood.
I believe the switch you refer to is called a "combination switch" or something to that effect. Although this sounds unlikely, quite often a dirty contact on the bulb socket could cause intermittent operation. The emergency flasher switch may be using a different ground wire or different relay.
I would start by reseating all turn signal bulbs you can access and spraying contact cleaner if you have some into the sockets. Reseat the flasher relay which is probably down by your left leg somewhere under the dashboard. Maybe you can spray some of that contact cleaner as deep down the stalk of the turn signal lever as you can. Work that lever back and forth as you spray and more afterwards.
If that doesn't work you will probably need some professional help.
I don't know about the Corolla, but the Camry had a problem where the contacts inside the bulb socket made a poor connection after several years. The contacts I am talking about are the flat pieces of metal inside the socket where the spring tension had seriously diminished over time.
To fix the problem on the Camry, the solution is to pull up and slightly twist the metal contacts so that they will make tighter contact against the bulb when the bulb is re-inserted into the socket.
I already replaced the relay.
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