M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => Electrical => Topic started by: Meister on April 29, 2009, 01:19:26 AM
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Ok so a couple days ago my right turn signal started acting up. It has done this before but after it sat for 8 hours or so it started working again.
Anyway, here is my problem. My right blinker works if my parking lights/headlights are off. If they are on, then my turn signal will just stay lit inside the car and also outside on the front and rear but only on the right side. I checked my fuses but all of them are good. Also all the bulbs are good. Does any one know what could be causing this??
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The only thing I can think of at the moment is to replace the flasher and see if the problem goes away.
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Bad relay? Mine finally toasted itself this winter. I bet you have a short in the wiring, though.
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I'll take a look at the diagram tomorrow but my first thought is a bad ground.
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Go to your RH Front Turn/Park light and see if you have a ground at connector pin 1 (brown wire).
If that wire is open, the turn-signal circuit will find a ground through the parking light bulb.
Reference ETM 6313-1 and 6314-0.
Let us know what you find out.
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Are all the bulbs the right wattage? Might be a bad ground, wet sockets or even a little corrosion too.
Maybe pull the front bulb, test, put it back...then pull the rear bulb and re-test? Should tell you which end is bad. Or swap bulbs from side to side to see if you can repeat the problem.
If the bulb resistance is too high the blinker relay can't blink the lights. I have this trouble on old bikes all the time. Swapping bulbs is an quick & easy way to figure out if it's a bad bulb or socket.
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Sorry for the late reply just been busy. I removed my rear bulb because it was staying lit. But I will check the front bulb and see if everything looks ok. I lost my manual so which relay belongs to the turn signals?
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I think it's on the steering column, not in the box under the hood. I haven't been brave enough to take off the airbag steering wheel to find out.
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I still haven't had the time to look into this yet. I will post updates here once i get it fixed
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You know, mine's been doing this on-and-off too. I though I had fixed it with a new taillight bulb, but now it's back. The right signal works fine. The left signal blinks fast, like a burned out bulb. Both bulbs blink fast, that is. Swapping the rear bulbs doesn't change their behavior permanently.
I didn't have any double-filament bulbs to test. I'll be looking into it further and let you know if I figure anything out.
I was curious and just tested it now, it's working just fine.
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Well as strange as this is, the problem sorta fixed it self. I took the front right bulb out and inspected it, then put it back in and everything is working fine now. When I took the bulb out it was not loose or anything.
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my right front turn signal always acts up. i just don't feel like replacing it but its the actual bulb socket on my car it will blink fast sometimes like its blown but when i get out they both are blinking fast lol. or i will have my headlights on and that bulb will be out but the turn signal works fine. i can tap the yellow cover on the front right bulb and they will blink normal/ light comes back on for about a week then it will loosen it self back out again. or i can go up behind the light and start playing with the wires and socket and it will be good for about a month. but its crazy what just a little problem like the connection on the socket being bad can make so many different outcomes. anyways i hope this can help you in someway!
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Mine came back. I'm thinking it's the connector in the front bumper. Looks like the cover has to come off to get at it. I'll try again sometime this week & post pics. I might try to source some ellips & a spare driver's fog light lens before I tackle this again.
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but its crazy what just a little problem like the connection on the socket being bad can make so many different outcomes.
That's because electricity is always looking for a ground and will do what ever it takes or go where ever it needs to find it.
Look at the diagrams I referenced above and it will be come clear why this is.
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That's because electricity is always looking for a ground and will do what ever it takes or go where ever it needs to find it.
Look at the diagrams I referenced above and it will be come clear why this is.
yeah path of least resistance..... i had a sienna in our shop one time that was blowing all sorts of fuses and doing some weird stuff like when the head lights are on the parking lights and turn signal would not work. and the brake lights would work when the lights were off and only with the car off. it turned out the owner had tried replacing the tail lights and switched them around. just a little thing like that can cause so much electrical mayhem.
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This is the circuit for the turn signals, notice that the parking light and the turn signal share the ground at pin 1 of the light assembly.
(http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4146/pic1zjl.jpg)
Normally, this is how current flows through the turn signal circuit.
(http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/9610/pic2y.jpg)
If you lose the ground at pin 1 however, current will flow through the park lamp...
(http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2205/pic3q.jpg)
and find it's way into the park circuit where it finds a ground at the side marker light and the tail light. These lights may all be on dim but they'll all be on. Note that I erased the ground wire in this picture.
(http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1262/pic4l.jpg)
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Any fixes to this gremlin? as it is haunting me too
Who can tell me how to check each ground of this system with a multi-meter to find the bad connection?
I have the diagram and see that G104 looks to be the main under hood ground, so my guess is that it is most likely one of the connectors.
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If you have the bulb always on trouble, I'd start by pulling the bulb and test the positive socket wire for continuity to any solid chassis ground. I'd use the one inside the front left quarter.
If you have the light-out problem like I did, pull the bulb and test the ground wire to a good ground or check for good gaskets. I had a bad side marker that caused the problem. They both do the turn signal, so it took me a bit longer to track it down...both have to be tested. The side markers are a pretty bad design...the bulb overheats the plastic case, cracking it. Water gets in and then shorts the bulb, corroding the socket and (in my case) shorting the front bulb. The front socket and bulb were perfectly OK.
Happily, the socket can be replaced by itself, no splicing required. I also used a bit of silicone to seal a crack & swapped sides so the sealed crack was down instead of up.
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my problem is as stated above....
turn signals and hazards work when the parking lights are not on, rear parking lights flashing with the turn signals. when i turn the parking lights on, the green arrows on the dash get half dim and the rear turn signals light up with the parking lights; turn signals/hazards no longer flash.
I'd start by pulling the bulb and test the positive socket wire for continuity to any solid chassis ground. I'd use the one inside the front left quarter.
i would really appreciate it if you could explain this as though i had absolutely no experience with a multi-meter or accessing said location.
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Part I, getting that darn bulb out:
To get at the front bulb, unscrew the lens, remove it & twist the bulb out. The other side marker bulb is in the side of the bumper trim. Use a screwdriver to push the entire lens back and pry it out carefully. Twist the rubber socket and pull it out to get to the bulb. It's a wedge base, just pulls straight out. Check for any troubles with water or cracked sockets before testing...those side markers routinely crack and fill with water. I've had a few that the bulb exploded inside too.
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Part II, using a multimeter:
It's pretty easy. I'll start simple, just ignore this if it's familiar.
Continuity is a path that electricity can follow. All parts of the car are wired from the battery, through a fuse most times, then through a switch, relay, etc, then to the thing that does the work, then off to the car chassis somewhere. That last point is called a ground. The other wires are usually called positives or the 'hot' side if it's a live terminal like the starter.
The multimeter will have two probes and a dial or switch to change functions. Most have nine or more tests you can do. I usually only use three functions...Volts DC, Ohms (resistance) and continuity. You might have to switch the probes into different sockets for different tests. Read the instructions, it'll serve you well.
Now that we're over that, you'll want to test five wires. Use the multimeter (hereafter shortened to DMM) in continuity mode to test the ground side of each socket. BMW usually makes their ground wires brown. Other cars use black or green. Touch one probe to each socket wire, hold the other end to a bit of unpainted metal under the hood. There's a ground strap under the hood that's good for this. You should get continuity from the ground side and no continuity (or infinite) from the positive side. The front signal has three to test...one ground (the shell of the socket), the parking light terminal and the turn signal terminal.
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Awesome, thanks dave...
will test with the DMM ASAP and report ;)
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I must be doing something wrong... all grounds from socket to chassis seem to be good, which doesn't make sense. I checked continuity from ground socket to chassis on all parking/turn lamps and got .000-.002. However, I found that both my license plate lights are busted and bulbs are missing. I'm gonna grab a bunch of bulbs from pick n pull 2mro and plug everything in and re-test.
With parking/head lights off, left blinks fast and right blinks normal speed; parking lights flash with turn signals.
With parking/head lights on, cluster lights are constantly on (albeit dimly lit) and neither turn signals nor hazards will flash.
DAMN ELECTRICAL BIATCH!!! I haven't had night time turn signals for over a year now, plus I look like a jackass from behind with my turn signals lit at the same time as my parking lights. By the time i get it sorted out I could have easily just re-wired the whole damn thing.
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I finally (?) found what my problem was. The rear turn signal plate was loose. I was on the road and the left signal started fast blinking. I decided that I was going to fix this once & for all. So I left the signal on with the motor running, and as I twisted the release knob off the turn signal rear cover (with the lights inside it), the signal magically started working. I just left it as-is until I dig up a good rear cover. I also noted that some rear turn signals have so much water that they'll short the bulbs in all sorts of fun ways.
I'd guess that you have a short between the marker light circuit and the turn signal's blinker circuit. I'm sure you've tried this, but I'd start by pulling all the marker lights, the rear cover off the left tail light & the front left turn signal. Test each component by plugging them in one at a time with the signal on.
I'd suspect the front harness or the front socket has corrosion that's shorting both circuits, making a bridge between the markers and the blinkers. You could also test the positive marker wire to the positive blinker wire for continuity to track down a wiring short. Having all the markers off might show up the bad connection.
Your marker lights are powering your blinker circuit serially, essentially halving your wattage so the whole blinker circuit turns on but at low power.