Another turn signal, brake light, hazard thread - my experience

[Millercorey]

I want to preface this by saying I think I’ve got it all fixed but I wanted to share my experience in case it helps anybody as well as validate that I’m not just gonna experience this same problem in 30 minutes again

I started to experience flickering headlights a few weeks back. I knew this was caused by overheating because I reached my hand in and felt the headlight switch and it was hotter than hell so I ordered the nightlighter harness from Tom’s. Before I had gotten around to installing t I realized my turn signals weren’t working the other morning. I had just recently installed a new turn signal switch from Tom’s so I was pretty confident it wasn’t an issue with the switch, and I was pretty sure it happened on the same drive when I noticed it.

When I got to the house I didn’t have time to dig into it but I spent a few minutes troubleshooting to hopefully zone in on the cause. My brake lights seemed to be working but it was daylight and I didn’t have a helper to doublecheck since I was parked on the street. Headlights worked also. I noticed that my hazard would work for a split second and then blow the fuse. I shelved it for another day.

Today I had a couple spare minutes so I went ahead and installed the nightlighter harness, and once I was done I figured I’d poke around a little bit on my turn signal issue. When I started checking I was parked in the garage and I noticed that my brake lights weren’t lighting up the garage door behind me. I noticed that the tabs on my brakes seemed to be bent back towards the driver a bit (new switch from recent painless install). I’m thinking this was preventing the contacts from touching? I bent them back flat, popped a new fuse in the hazard switch and turn signal switch (both were blown) and like magic, everything is back to working again!

I think I must have messed with some wiring at some point and pulled the main harness back which pulled on the leads from the brake switch...maybe??? It’s too hot to take it for a spin, but everything seems to be working parked on the garage.

The blown fuses have me thinking it couldn’t possibly have just been the brake switch issue, so I’m worried my new turn signal switch has a wire grounding out in the steering column somewhere? What do you think?

 

[Millercorey]

So this issue sporadically seems to continue. Today I went to go get my inspection and I noticed my turn signals, emergency flashers, and brake lights were all not working. Took it home and replaced the emergency hazard fuse and experienced the same behavior I've seen before. As soon as you pull the hazard, the alternator gauge jumps up and down erratically, you get 2-3 clicks out of the lights, and then the fuse pops.

I've looked all through the forums and have seen all the types of issues people have faced, but I'm hoping someone can give me a bit of a troubleshooting path here so I feel like I'm going about this in a structured way. Turn signals and hazards/brake lights are on a different fuse, so what's the common thread here?

Any chance the NSS could be involved? That's one area I haven't looked closely at for awhile.

 

[Millercorey]

After replacing the fuse, the brake lights work fine, but the hazards blow the fuse immediately when activated

 

[Viperwolf1]

After replacing the fuse, the brake lights work fine, but the hazards blow the fuse immediately when activated

That narrows the problem down. Brake lights use the same wiring and bulbs as the rear hazards. Looks like you have an issue in the front harness. How are the turn signals working in front? I suspect one doesn't.

 

[Millercorey]

Both turn signals work, but my battery tray is shot and I see the front right hazard pigtail was getting squished and some of the wire was exposed. Assuming this was inconsistently touching metal and causing the short. Cleaned it up and replaced fuses and it looks like we’re back in business