Turn Signal Gremlins

[Driftwood]

Had a strange thing happen this weekend on my 98 Ranger. I hooked up my boat and went to check my trailer lights and thought my truck was possessed. When I turned on my left turn signal, the indicator on the dash pointed left, but on the truck lamps and on the trailer, the right indicators lit up. Turn the lever back to off and the left dash and right lamps continued to blink. Turn the lever to the right and both left and right dash indicators and both left and right lamps lit up. Back to off position returned back to left on dash and right on lamps. I then tried the hazard lights. They worked as designed and when I turned off the hazards, the problems went away and has not returned.

Is this a sign that I have an imminent failure somewhere or was my truck being taken over by aliens?

 

[martin]

Check the wiring on the trailer and also the connector on the truck, especially where it connects into the harness, for corrosion. It might be the switch but check the cheap stuff first.

 

[Driftwood]

I'll add that while this was occurring, I did disconnect the trailer lights and turned the key back to the off position. Problem continued even without the trailer connected. Could it still be a problem with the connector on the truck even if it is not connected to the trailer at the time? I did buy a tube of dielectric grease to hit all the connections, so I'll look for corrosion when I get it greased up.

 

[martin]

It's very common for the connection where the trailer connecter joins the harness to get corroded and cause all kind of weird problems. You really have to pull it apart to check it properly.

 

[Driftwood]

Will do. Thanks for your help.

 

[Driftwood]

Turn signal switch turned out to be the culprit.