Hey ya'll, my blinker *blinks* slow when my headlights are off, and even slower when they're on. any suggestions? Is that a sign of a bad battery/alternator? Its a little annoying as I'm sure you can all imagine. Its like my car is a little retarded ya know? Its not quite as fast as other ones thanks in advance for the help

 

You should try swapping in a new flasher relay.

 

Ditto on replacing the Flasher relay. Located under the Gauge cluster.

 

My fuse/flasher label is all corroded and i don't know which is which- can you 'guide' me to it?

 

turn on the blinker and listen for it.

 

The flasher relay is usually round with two terminals which plug into the relay block under the dash.

 

When you change the relay get on that can support more lights than the original one. Works better and longer.

 

thanks for all ya'lls help, i also noticed that all the blinkers and other electric items work slower when they're on at the same time. I.E., at night, when my headlights are on, my blinkers blink even slower, and my voltmeter in the dash ticks along with the blinkers. Is that normal? it seems a little bad to me- oh, the windows go down slower too, when i roll them down at the same time-- Do I have gremlins?

 

I wouldn't say Gremlins but perhaps a weak charging system. Not to mention you are exerting a large load on your electrical system at idle with all your accessories running. Your jumping volt gauge is also not normal.

You should check your alternator (and its wiring), and the condition of your Pos and Neg wires and posts at the battery and their connection points. Battery voltage should be around 12 volts with the car off and around 14 with the car running. Make sure that your body and engine ground wires are in good condition. Any deficiency in your charging system will produce what you are experiencing.

Do yourself a favor though, don't start changing parts unnecessarily before making sure that your wires that connect to them are in good condition. Often a corroded connection or frayed cables are found to be the root cause of a charging system problem.

good luck!

 

just a little FYI about the voltmeter "jumping" it only moves maybe 2 or 3 MM, its not that bad, just noticeable if you watch it.. as you said, the volts are around 12 when off and 14 when running.. i checked all the cables and everything looks good. no problems starting the car either. any other ideas?

 

it is both blinkers or just one side? if it's one side, it could be a voltage leak (near-short) in the filament that lights with the blinker. that would drain the capacitor on the flasher unit quickly, so the time between blinks would increase.

however, the opposite could be true - if the time the lights are on during the blinks is actually long, it may not be discharging fast enough, which would be a bad ground, poor connection, or a breaking filament (if it's one side).

 

You probably already have one of those flasher cans capable of supporting more lamps.
Get a stock replacement flasher can. They are cheap cheap.

 

For the fluctuating volt gauge; Going with your assumption that your charging system and battery are in perfect condition...

Only other thing I would venture to try is the printed circuit located on the backside of your gauge cluster. You will notice that there is a "roadmap" of copper circuits that transmit electrical signals to the gauges and dash bulbs. These circuits do age with time and will not perform like new after so many years of usage.

Carefully remove the contact (bulb sockets or small terminal nuts) points on the circuit and clean it's exposed copper contacts with a Q-tip dipped in electrical contact cleaner solvent. Change out all of the little bulbs while you have it all out as well. If you find a section of damaged printed circuit you can usually get away with making a "Jumper wire" to bypass the damaged area.

Most important make sure that the grounding circuit for the cluster is in perfect condition otherwise expect weird gauge operation.

One last thing is make sure that you do not have too many accessories grounded to your dash as this also has thew potential to produce electrical abnormalities. You are always better off grounding to true chassis ground and not the dash reinforcements.

Hope this helps!

 

Where do i get a "Stock replacement flasher can" or whatever it was called

 

It's called a "flasher relay" and you can buy it at any Auto Parts store or GM, FORD or Chrysler dealer for that matter. It's that common of a part.

 

thanks Dans Zed- I looked at the fuse panel and all i could really find where fuses and a couple relays that, according to my chiltons manual werent for the blinkers. Is it just labeled wrong? or should i just use trial and error to figure out what the relays control?

 

The flasher can/ relay, (whichever blows your dress up ) is located in the inconvenient convenience center under the dash to the right of the steering column.
It will probably be silver in color, about as big around as a quarter, and about an inch and a quarter long.

 

if it's in the inconvenience center, it'll be under the dash, just to the right of the steering wheel, more or less above the pedal.

(note, the inconvenience center is not the fuse box, they're on opposite sides of the drivers' side dash. there may be a 2"x3"x1" black box in the inconvenience center blocking your view, that's the audio annoyance module (makes all the chimes and beeps), that bends back and unclips)

of course, on my 88's, the flasher was acutally not there, but clipped to some small metal bar almost directly under the steering column.

they usually look like a 1" diameter silver cylinder about 1" long. but the easiest way to track it down is to turn on the blinkers and feel/listen for it. it is the thing that makes the clicking noises.

 

i found it all is well now, thanks people