From time to time, the right turn signal on the Camaro will not work. I can hear the flasher clicking, but it's choppy and neither the outside nor instrument panel lights come on. It typically works when cold, then stops working after I've driven for a few minutes. Sometimes it will continue working for a long time, sometimes it starts working then stops while it's still on. The left side always works with no problems.

I know when a bulb is burnt out, the flasher just stays on; and when you use a trailer, for instance, with a standard duty flasher, it will flash quicker because of reduced resistance. I'm assuming this situation is reduced resistance, but the intermittent nature of it confuses me.

Any thoughts where I should look?

 

I'm not an expert here but is it possible you have a bare wire rubbing somewhere? Seems like something like that could cause your problem, just a guess tho.

**Edit** I just found this in the electronics section, these guys sound like they know more than me. Try this

 

A 2-year old post, and we never heard the outcome.

The switch crossed my mind. I also had to splice the front harness (from the '86) to the rear chassis harness (in the '82), so that's another spot I've thought about investigating.

Kind of wondered about a bulb filiment shorting, but I've never heard of that.

 

well from ym lil knowledge, if both lights ;flash' it probably isnt the switch...

I know theres a pivot point on the handle off the column.. i know some cutlasses are like that, i dont know about thirdgens...

is it effected at all when you turn on your headlights/press the brake?

how about your hazards, do they seem to work when your encountering the problem?

if your ground wire is loose for the back lights, that will mess it all up cause electric is seeking the shorter route and without a ground, my truck did ALL kinds of wierd things with the turn signal..

went back, ran two grounds and cleaned a spot on the frame, solved it all...

none the less, weird problem lol... especially when you say it happens when the car is warm

 

Brakes, headlights don't affect it. Haven't tried flashers.

The lights are harness grounds, so they don't rely on the body to complete the circuit.

Also doesn't seem to matter whether using the "change lane" function, without clicking it past the detent, or full past the detent. Makes me think it isn't the switch.

 

If the left side works fine, then the flasher unit is good; it doesn't 'know' which side it's running.
How do the lights behave with the hazards on? That can rule out a bulb problem...

Pete

 

Okay, went out to the garage, turned on the ignition (w/o starting engine), turned on right turn signal, worked normally. Left side, worked normally, but flashed slightly slower. Hazards - nothing, they aren't working, with ignition on or off, turn signals on or off.

Turned igntion & right turn signal back on, it did the quick click/no flash thing for a couple of seconds, then started working normally. Hit the brakes, kept working - but no brake lights!

I guess I've got more to run down than I originally thought.

 

Looks that way, doesn't it?
The brake lights and hazard flasher both run off the same fuse.

 

I have the same problem with my left turn signal. The right one always works fine, the left one works only about half the time regardless of the car being cold or hot. I have not noticed any patterns except for once the left one is turned on and the bulb is flashing it won't stop flashing while the blinker is still turned on. If the bulb doesn't turn on with the blinker then it won't come on while the blinker is still on. I guess what I am trying to say is that it either works or it doesn't once you turn it on. I also have the same problem with mine flashing faster sometimes and slower at other times. Doesn't matter though if the bulb is working or not. I have not tried some of the test you guys have suggested yet, I will try them out and let you know what happens. A friend of mine told me it could be a weak bulb filament. I have other electrical problems also, sometimes the seatbelt warning light works, and other times it doesn't. Same problem with the light for the e-brake. I will let you know if I find a solution to my problem.

 

You could temporarily remove some of the potential variation in the function by installing a heavy duty flasher designed for trailering. Technically, they are not supposed to be used in passenger cars due to the elimination of the failed lamp indication, but it will make the flash rate the same regardless of load.

The fact that you get no brake lamps indicates a problem with the turn signal switch, since the brake lamp circuits are routed through the switch on a car with combined stop/turn lamps. Some F-cars with the separate, amber rear turn signals would not have that feature, but the switch is still a concern.

 

This has the separate amber, so the brake lights don't go through the turn signal switch. Also, wiggling the switch while it's misbehaving doesn't change anything, either.

Fuse solved the hazard/brake light situation (for now at least). The 20 A fuse next to that one (couldn't find a marking on it) came apart when I tugged on it, so it got replaced, too. But, turn signals act exactly the same way.

I need to pop the kick panel and look over all the wires I spliced there. That's my first area of suspicion. Although, I did solder each wire and wrap them individually, so there shouldn't be any bare wire contact, or loose wires.

Ever hear of a bulb shorting intermittently?

 

Update:

Changing the fuses didn't change anything, except the brake/hazzards worked again. However, discovered yesterday the brake/hazzard fuse was blown again.

Figured I'd go where I'd been before (4-1/2 years ago, anyway), pulled the kick panel (I had forgotten how much fun that was), inspected my splicing work. Discovered a slight shifting of the electrical tape on the brake light wire, and (drum roll, please) ground wire. But, they didn't really look like they could have been making contact. Hard to say, because I didn't know which wire was which when I first moved/unwrapped the bundle. I checked the right turn signal wire splice, that was okay, retaped them, rewrapped the bundle, and put it back together.

Tried everything again, and the turn signal behaved everytime I tried it, including hitting the brakes. Until, that is, I turned on the park/head lights. Then the right side stayed on but stopped flashing (not the quick cycling with no lights coming on like before). Put the battery charger on, no difference (worked with park/headlights off, didn't with them on). Started it up, then they would work, but really slow with the park/headlights on.

Since the side marker lights change function when lights on vs. off, pulled the right bulb, looked okay, swapped with left side anyway, no difference. Pulled the front turn signal/park light - Bingo! one broken element that had swung around and welded itself to the other post. Replaced bulb, all okay (at least for now).

We'll find out if it all keeps working when driven. (Don't feel like driving it right now - it's snowing out there. Will have to wait for Monday when I drive to the airport.)

 

Good deal
Always seems harder to trouble-shoot your own vehicle for some reason, doesn't it?

 

Like I would have chimed in if someone else had been having this problem...

I can't see that the bulb would have been affecting the brake fuse. But, that slightly bare wire could possible explain that. It wouldn't surprise me if that keeps happening, because what I "found" wasn't exactly a smoking gun.

I think I found the turn signal problem, though.

 

That's what I get for thinking. Worked for about 15 minutes, then back to the same old thing.

Guess I'll have to trace down the entire harness. The intermittent part is what makes it really fun. At least the brake lights blowing the fuse and the right turn signal not operating seem to be tied together, so I can at least start on the rear end of things.

 

Check the connetcion at the back of the instrument cluster for the turnsignal. I had the same intermittant problem and it turned out to be the copper trace for my left signal flasher on the dash had cracked.

 

yeah mine was kind of doing something like this before too. the right turn signal light (green one on dash) would come on inside the car whenever i turned on the parking lights or the headlights, and outside the car it wouldnt work, but the left one would work, and wouldnt be on inside the car. but when u turned on the right turn signal it WOULD flash inside the car and click but not outside. The guy at our garage fixed it last time it was in for other things, and said that there was a crack in a circut board behind the gauges, this was a while ago so i dont really remember the specifics, i just thought it might be able to help....

 

I am having the same problem. Guess I will start by taking off the dash and checking for a cracked circut board. Thanks for the suggestions. :hail:

 

Hmmm, a little different than my symptoms. When it works on the inside, it works on the outside. When it doesn't work on the inside, it doesn't work on the outside. Changing the bulb decoupled the problem from the park/headlights.

While under the car getting it running after buying it, I discovered it had been hit in the right/rear. The repair job wasn't quite up to snuff. I suspect a harness pass-through has chafted through some wires, or something like that. The coincidence of the turn signal and brake light problems leads me in that direction as well (as it did to my splicing job).

Got some more chasing to do tonight (trip was postponed a day as I was 5 miles from the airport).

 

Okay, the chasing was delayed until today (many different reasons).

Two bad light bulbs on opposite ends of the car in the same system is too much to believe, right? Well, the right rear bulb glass had come loose from the metal base and was hanging/rattling by the lead wires. It is a dual-element bulb (even though it's an amber turn signal), I guess one for the turn signal & one for the hazzard. After replacing the bulb, all seems well now. The fuze hasn't blown since the 3rd replacement - still not sure why it was going, unless turn signal juice was feeding back to it and knocking out the stop light/hazzard fuse (not sure that's even reasonable).

We'll see how it behaves in the next few weeks.