wierd blinker problems

swynx · Jun 16, 2016

94 mazda b4000, have offroad bumper on the front so i deleted the original turn signals and turned the marker lights on the front into the blinker by putting a positive on each side.

worked this way for about 9 months. then all of a sudden i would turn on the left blinker and it would make the voltage guage go from 8-18, but only when using the left, not the right. and yes it would blow the fuse if used for more than a few seconds.

tried messing with it, blew a couple of fuses, then a power wire got grounded, aftger that both right and left blink about 3x as fast as normal. messed with it some more and now it wont even blink once without blowing the 20a fuse... and thats without bulbs in...

im thinking the turn signal switch is blown up/ gone haywire.

also im not sure if this matters but i was running led's in the marker, which have no filament to ground out, which is how i read that the positive/positive works.

thanks in advance.

YungICY · Jun 16, 2016

Sounds like a grounded wire somewhere else in the truck. I would check all of the wiring for blinkers front and rear to see if you have a bad wire somewhere. That's just kind of a crap shoot guess but that's where I would start.

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swynx · Jun 16, 2016

the previous owner ran a wire from the front blinker to the rear with like 5 splices, i replaced it with 1 long piece of 14 guage, but that made no difference. im just thinking that since it got really messed up after it grounded out the power that the switch is bad now. i mean i cant even test it with a multimeter now.

YungICY · Jun 17, 2016

I guess the next step for me would be to trace the power wire with a meter from the battery to the light. Somewhere between there you'll find a problem whether it's a bad wire, burned up switch. Tbh, it kind of sounds like your at a point where I usually start learning new cuss words lol. Just keep going over things with a fine tooth comb and a meter and hopefully someone else with a little more electrical knowledge with chime in to help.

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shadetreebronco · Jun 17, 2016

I think you need to use special flasher / signal relays with LED lights , they sell them at LMC truck.

ericbphoto · Jun 17, 2016

Like Shadetree said - check the flasher module. These are sensitive to how much current flows through them. That is why you need to use a different one when hooking up a trailer with lights. Adding more lights, adds more current, which makes the flasher flash faster until it burns out. When you switched from incandescent bulbs to LED's, you changed the current flowing through the flasher.

You may also still have a shorted wire somewhere. It kind of sounds like you have multiple issues. Fix one thing, then find the next.

swynx · Jun 17, 2016

i was going to replace the flasher module and trace all the wires from there through the fuse box, and out to the front light. i actually did switch back to the original 194 bulbs, but that made no difference in the end.

this is the only way im going to find the short now, since i cant even hit the switch without blowing the fuse, so i know that i have a big time short some where, and the underdash fuse panel smells like melted plastic and stuff

swynx · Jun 22, 2016

so i opened up the wiring harness under the hood and traced the wires for the blinker assembly and found nothing wrong. then i moved under the dash, i removed a big round thing in the fuse panel... it smelled like smoke.

after looking it up i found out it is a flasher module. went to the auto parts store and found out there is a module for led's/incandescent, and a module for just incandescent bulbs.

i opened mine up...

i havent hooked up the wiring harness yet, as i am also reinstalling the transmission, but this definatly looks like a problem to me. you can see that it got hot enough to burn.

ericbphoto · Jun 22, 2016

Hopefully, that's all that's wrong.

Here is something just in case you're interested.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turn-signal2.htm

swynx · Jun 28, 2016

so it turns out that was the problem. so if your going to run led's make sure to go buy the led/incandescent bulbs flasher module.

swynx · Jul 1, 2016

so as it turns out that wasnt all of my problem. the blinkers work great until i start the truck and use them.. then the fuse blows out.

any other suggestions?

im confused as to why they work untill the alternator is going...

once i find my haynes manual, im going to try and by pass all the oem wiring, and see what happens. unless someone else has any other great ideas.

i have...

traced all the under hood wiring for the blinkers, its all clean.

replaced the blinker module.

havent really looked under the dash, because the color of wire changes at the firewall, and i havent found my book yet. but i did inspect the steering column and the wiring to the fuse panel, and i didnt see or smell anything else melted or burned up.

swynx · Jul 1, 2016

looked at some diagrams online, the multi-function switch has a different lead for each blinker on the truck (driver front, driver rear, passenger front, passenger rear.)

the drivers side rear is currently running off the drivers side front blinker, im going to reroute it off the multi function switch, and see what happenss

Andy D · Jul 2, 2016

I made a very similar bodge on a 528e that lost a LR tail light. The headlight. switch lost a contact. I jumped to the other side with a push on adapter. Female to 2 males. . I screwed around trying to get the switch to work . I ended up buying a used switch at a swap meet for a buck. Swynx , best would be to take out the MIckey Moused wiring and "normalize" it. Get a roll of wire and some tags . Lotsa guys don't like crimp connectors, but you can make good repairs with them. With the crimp tools I had for hooking up -48VDC telecom power supplies I can crimp from 2 AWG down to 22 AWG . They have come in handy for fixing old car wiring.

swynx · Jul 3, 2016

Andy D said:
I made a very similar bodge on a 528e that lost a LR tail light. The headlight. switch lost a contact. I jumped to the other side with a push on adapter. Female to 2 males. . I screwed around trying to get the switch to work . I ended up buying a used switch at a swap meet for a buck. Swynx , best would be to take out the MIckey Moused wiring and "normalize" it. Get a roll of wire and some tags . Lotsa guys don't like crimp connectors, but you can make good repairs with them. With the crimp tools I had for hooking up -48VDC telecom power supplies I can crimp from 2 AWG down to 22 AWG . They have come in handy for fixing old car wiring.

the previous owner had spliced it in that way, im still not sure why. i just ran it like that because it worked, and i never knew the multi function had 4 wires running from it for the blinkers, i figured there would only be 2 (left and right)

i figure that it must be popping the fuse because now 1 wire is running what 2 wires used to do, causing too much resistance.

swynx · Jul 15, 2016

swynx said:
the previous owner had spliced it in that way, im still not sure why. i just ran it like that because it worked, and i never knew the multi function had 4 wires running from it for the blinkers, i figured there would only be 2 (left and right)

i figure that it must be popping the fuse because now 1 wire is running what 2 wires used to do, causing too much resistance.

so i spliced into the correct wire, on the multi function switch and my lights work perfectly now.

wierd blinker problems

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