Strange rear blinker problem

[Rob98GST]

For the past few months I've noticed after about 10 minutes or so of driving - the right blinker will start to blink rapidly when I turn it on.

I've checked the past week or so, when I first start my car and I turn the right blinker on, it blinks at the normal rate. it's just after a certian amouth of time (unknown) it starts to blink fast. There are sometimes though I can drive all the way to work and it will function correctly (slow blink) and never start to blink fast.

I already know what it causing the blinker to flash rapidly - it's the right inside brake light going out. I thought it was maybe the connection where the bulb connects, but that seems to be good. Maybe the ground wire for the bulb harness? I soldered that to the ground location. I've installed a new blub also, but that didn't help.

All the fuses look good. I've swaped the relays and it still does it.

Just this morning while I was stopped at a stop light just before getting to work, I turned the right blinker on and it started doing it's blinking fast crap, but then I turned it back on not 5 seconds later and it worked normal!!!

I don't know what to do about it. I know, it's not really all that big of a deal, I just don't want to get pulled over for having a brake light out (I know thats whats causing it to blink fast).

The only other strange thing I noticed is on my old Jumptronix o2 volt meter, it reads while I am driving around 14.3 volts - I don't think that has anything to do with it, but that seems a tad high, it should be around 13.6 volts or so while driving.

Thanks for any ideas - I am open to about anything at this point.

 

[DRated]

Do you have stock taillights? Seems to me like the reason your lights are blinking fast is directly correlated to the voltage in the wire. Someone correct me if i'm wrong, but bulbs tend to blink faster when they're about to go out and when they get a lot of juice supplied to them. No high output alternater or anything?

 

[romeen]

My car was doing the EXACT same thing, except it was the left side. And yes, it would only do it after the car had been driven for awhile and it happened more frequently during the hotter summer months. I'm at a loss to explain why. Anyway, it ended up being one of the tail/brake lights--the middle bulb of the three rear ones. Whenever the car was doing this and I removed that bulb it would stop and start blinking at the normal rate. I replaced it and it works normally most of the time now. But it has still done it once since then. I don't know if this helps since you already replaced the bulb but at least you know that you're not alone. Let me know if you find a definite answer.

 

[Raph]

Try replacing the Front Blinker Bulb.. check all your bulbs to see if theyre the correct ones

 

[Doug99RS]

The bulbs ground the casing of the bulb and power is provided through the two (or one) dots on the bottom of the bulbs. If there's some corrosion on the casing of either the bulb or the bulb socket you may have enough of a contact to allow one filament to illuminate but when you hit the brakes or turn on the turn signal the load is too great and there's not enough path to ground. Try taking some emery cloth or brillo pad to both the casing of your rear bulbs (all of them) as well as the sockets they fit in to in the wiring harness to get rid of any oxidation that might have built up.

I'm sure you've seen some 2g's where during normal night driving the rear lights work properly but when they hit the brakes on the right side one bulb gets bright and one goes out, that's due to a bad ground situation. Likewise, the alternating turn signal in the same rear lense housing could be caused by this as well.

If you decide to do this method you will need to use dialectric grease on the reinstallation of the bulbs. You've just cleaned out the white oxidation (surface break-down of the metal) but you've also exposed fresh metal to moisture which can promote oxidation all over again. This grease will prevent moisture from getting in there without destroying the current flowing characteristics you want. Do not use any other kind of grease.
Doug

 

[romeen]

Doug, thanks for the info. I will be doing this today.

 

[Rob98GST]

Yeah, thanks for your help Doug.

 

[Defiant]

Next time it starts acting up, pull into a strip mall or some other place where you can see the reflection of the car in the windows, and see if any of your signal bulbs aren't working.

Doing this once or twice a month will also save you from bullshit pullovers like "your license plate bulb is out".

 

[Eclipse98_RS]

This happens on most cars, a bulb goes bad and makes the light blink faster. Kind of a warning system for people to know they have a light out.

 

[Doug99RS]

Yes and no. The bulb is not always bad. If you'll read the post above you'll see another condition that can cause a bulb not to illuminate.

 

[streetxtreme]

sometime the socket the the light bulb goes into gets loose
take a set of pliers and give it a light squeeze the tighten things up a bit


also, when it starts blinking fast, pull aside right away, and check which bulb is not blinking
that will tell you the exact location the problem is
then you can check that exact bulb socket for problems such as corrosion , loose socket, broken wires etc

 

[Rob98GST]

Well, I am pretty sure that I fixed the problem... It was the black ground wire in the harness not making a very good connection.

I though I had it soldered to the ground, but I guess it didn't catch very well (not much space at all inside the bulb harness).

I tried to clean off the connections as Doug said, but that seemed to make it worse where it blinked fast all the time. Then I just ripped the black ground wire out of the harness and soldered it directly to the metal ground that goes around the harness. Doesn't look nice and clean, but it's been working now for about a week w/o incident.

What I would do is take the right inside blub/w harness out from the tail light assembly and have it hanging out so I could see it. Then get it my car and turn the lights on. It was illuminating, but very faintly, then when I hit my brakes with the lights on, and it would go out.

But hopefully it's fixed now.

I am also having a problem with the small rear window light working intermidently, but I am not going to mess with that right now.

*Edit - let me just add one more little thing about when I soldered it to the ground. When I ripped the ground wire out of the harness, I had to add some wire to it and pass it back through the little hole. You'll see what I am talking about if you ever do this.

 

[romeen]

Good info Rob. I'll have to keep that in mind if mine starts doing it again.

 

[matt98eclipse]

Hey guys I have a pretty similar problem but instead my left turn signal blinks fast at all times even with without the turn signal on! The only way to get it to stop is to take out the fuse and have no turn signals!! So please help guys!

 

[Defiant]

I am also having a problem with the small rear window light working intermidently, but I am not going to mess with that right now.

Look for a water leak in that one.