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Another indicator problem...

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Hi Guys,

I've been reading through posts for an hour or so, but it seems my specific indicator woe looks like a new one.

Having been looking for a rattle under the dash for the last couple of weeks, I've had the dash in and out, and last week, driving down the motorway in heavy rain after dark at rush-hour (what do you expect?) my indicators failed to flash. I checked when I got home and, sure enough, the bulb on the dash glows dimly but nothing happens at the indicators.

Here's what I've done already:

The switch is OK, as it switches on the 'parking' lights with the ignition off.
The hazards don't work either.
Everything else seems OK.
All fuses are clean and tight.

NB. This is not the common issue with a blown fuse 19 and the hazard rocker switch halfway on!

I dropped the fuse box off its mounts and checked the connections behind, and suddenly the indicators came on again. All the plugs are tight on the back, but where the loom comes into the plugs, if I move things about, I can cut power to the indicators and hazards.

After carefully replacing the fusebox on its mounts, things worked fine again for a week, but the hazards and indicators have now stopped working again.

Once again, I can make them work if I pull the loom in a specific way, but as soon as I push the fusebox back up into place, they stop again

It seems to me that I have a break in the power line to the fuse (19?) from somewhere in the loom.

Can somebody tell me which of the wires to which of the plugs on the back of the fusebox supplies power to the indicator fuse?

I will remove the whole fusebox later and clean the contacts, etc, an then try to shunt power from somewhere else to the indicator fuse.

Any ideas?

I've seen diagrams with pin numbers for the wiring plugs, but I can't seem to find them.


Any help greatfully received, as usual,

Robin

VW Golf 1500D 5-door 1978 - was daily (wet)
VW Golf 1800 cabriolet 1980 - daily (dry)
Bedford CF Trailblazer 1978 - camper
Bedford CF 350 Flatbed 1976 - fun/work
Mercedes W108 280s 1970 - dusty and forgotten
Mercedes S123 200T 1983 - to be renovated
Mercedes C124 1989 - Winter Beater
BMW E21 1976/82 - dusty but not forgotten
Twingo 2004 (not my fault, somebody gave it to me!)

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Hi,

I had a brainwave - if I've lost power to both the indicators and the hazards, it can't be a single bad wire in the loom, as the hazards are powered with the ignition off.

I dropped out the fusebox after carefully noting all the positions of the plugs, removed the top and cleaned and checked all the contacts I could. I've fitted new fuses throughout, and I'll see what I've got in the way of spare relays in the morning, but I'm starting to think it's something to do with a bad contact in the flasher relay.

The relay on the box, in position 12, is a three pin relay, while there are four slots in the top. can a four pin relay be fitted, and is there any advantage?

I've put it all back together and will re-fit tomorrow morning.

Robin


VW Golf 1500D 5-door 1978 - was daily (wet)
VW Golf 1800 cabriolet 1980 - daily (dry)
Bedford CF Trailblazer 1978 - camper
Bedford CF 350 Flatbed 1976 - fun/work
Mercedes W108 280s 1970 - dusty and forgotten
Mercedes S123 200T 1983 - to be renovated
Mercedes C124 1989 - Winter Beater
BMW E21 1976/82 - dusty but not forgotten
Twingo 2004 (not my fault, somebody gave it to me!)

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Look for the f19 fuse, if you turn the turns on and it only glows the fuse is blown usually.

What do Divorces, Great Coffee, and Car Electrics all have in common?

They all start with GOOD Grounds.

Where are my DIY Links?

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Briano1234 said

Look for the f19 fuse, if you turn the turns on and it only glows the fuse is blown usually.

Hi,

like I said, all the fuses are OK, and I can make the indicators and the hazards work agan by moving the loom above th ebox.

Robin

VW Golf 1500D 5-door 1978 - was daily (wet)
VW Golf 1800 cabriolet 1980 - daily (dry)
Bedford CF Trailblazer 1978 - camper
Bedford CF 350 Flatbed 1976 - fun/work
Mercedes W108 280s 1970 - dusty and forgotten
Mercedes S123 200T 1983 - to be renovated
Mercedes C124 1989 - Winter Beater
BMW E21 1976/82 - dusty but not forgotten
Twingo 2004 (not my fault, somebody gave it to me!)

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There was a Generic Relay offered that had 3 pins, Wagner or another off brand….
Wouldn't work for squanto  The flasher is a 3 pin relay.

What do Divorces, Great Coffee, and Car Electrics all have in common?

They all start with GOOD Grounds.

Where are my DIY Links?

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Hi,

I've put the fuse box back in after carefully cleaning contact pins, etc, and after getting the loom in exactly the right poition. It's quite tight pushing the box back up into its frame and with all the wiring in the right place.

As if by magic everything works again, so we shall see how long it lasts this time.

The indicator light glows dimly with the ignition on, and both indicators and hazards work normally. Is the dim glow normal?

Robin

VW Golf 1500D 5-door 1978 - was daily (wet)
VW Golf 1800 cabriolet 1980 - daily (dry)
Bedford CF Trailblazer 1978 - camper
Bedford CF 350 Flatbed 1976 - fun/work
Mercedes W108 280s 1970 - dusty and forgotten
Mercedes S123 200T 1983 - to be renovated
Mercedes C124 1989 - Winter Beater
BMW E21 1976/82 - dusty but not forgotten
Twingo 2004 (not my fault, somebody gave it to me!)

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No, it is dark,  Glowing that is a sign that you have a flakey ground or power somewheres, If you remove the relay does it go dark?

The Power for the Lamp comes from the black/red lead in the cluster, and the ground is on the main cluster ground.
So have you spliced a new ground point to your cluster harness, that is use a Scotch-loc wire splice to add a wire on to the main ground into the cluster, then take that directly to the Frame behind the cluster.

Have you verified that your main Battery to frame and Frame to engine grounds are valid, as far as voltage drop goes?
Then there is the possibility that your 10V stabilizer is going wonky and allowing the ground to float, seen that but it was a Rare thing.

 

What do Divorces, Great Coffee, and Car Electrics all have in common?

They all start with GOOD Grounds.

Where are my DIY Links?

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OK, that's helpful, thanks. I shall go through the grounds behind the dash and also under the bonnet. They all look OK, but as you say, the only way to check is to test for voltage drop and to clean up the surfaces.
I'll pull the relay too to see if the light stops glowing.

Thanks,
Robin

VW Golf 1500D 5-door 1978 - was daily (wet)
VW Golf 1800 cabriolet 1980 - daily (dry)
Bedford CF Trailblazer 1978 - camper
Bedford CF 350 Flatbed 1976 - fun/work
Mercedes W108 280s 1970 - dusty and forgotten
Mercedes S123 200T 1983 - to be renovated
Mercedes C124 1989 - Winter Beater
BMW E21 1976/82 - dusty but not forgotten
Twingo 2004 (not my fault, somebody gave it to me!)

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pull all the fusebox plugs and check the pins in the fusebox and the plugs for corrosion, make sure pins are all fully seated and dont pull back when the wire is pulled gently

check my fusebox FAQ for the interesting pins for the hazard switch wiring:
https://clubgti.com/forums/index.php?threads/fusebox-faq.219775/

I suspect its the white wire from pin 49 on switch to A/18 on the fusebox. if you put a probe carefully in the back of this pin (don't unplug A for this test) you should see ignition live, also it should be live when hazard switch is pressed.

when testing give the loom a good wiggle see if it cuts out, and obv have a look at all of the wiring from hazard switch to fusebox for any bad splices from previous alarm/immobiliser installs

Hello my name is John and I'm a dub addict.



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