weird turn signal problem (c900)

Hi,

I have an interesting problem here, from my 1992 900. The left turn signal
behaves erratically, but only when the headlights are on. By "erratic," I mean
that it flashes very slowly or not at all. Or it will flash once and stop, and
then randomly flash once every several seconds, etc. Also, when I flip the turn
signal off, the dashboard left-arrow indicator continues to glow faintly.

All this is only when the headlights are on. The left turn signal and 4-way
flashers function normally.

After looking at the wiring diagrams, I think the most likely trouble spot is
the left rear light cluster. The turn signals and parking lights share a ground
point there, and I've had some problems there before with the brake lights and
reverse lights. (note: this is a 4-door)

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

John

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John B wrote:

Hi,

I have an interesting problem here, from my 1992 900. The left turn
signal
behaves erratically, but only when the headlights are on. By "erratic,"
I

mean

that it flashes very slowly or not at all. Or it will flash once and
stop,

and

then randomly flash once every several seconds, etc. Also, when I flip
the

turn

signal off, the dashboard left-arrow indicator continues to glow faintly.

All this is only when the headlights are on. The left turn signal and
4-way
flashers function normally.

After looking at the wiring diagrams, I think the most likely trouble
spot

is

the left rear light cluster. The turn signals and parking lights share a
ground
point there, and I've had some problems there before with the brake
lights

and

reverse lights. (note: this is a 4-door)

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

John

I'd say you've got it in one - earth (ground) problem. The rear light pcb
has a common earth track for everything and on every 900 I've owned it's
caused similar problems. Quite often it leaves you with just about every
rear light half illuminated while the one you actually needed isn't doing
much at all!

Try this quick and ugly fix that's never failed me for anything up to 7
yrs & 200,000Km (and anyway it's behind the carpet, soo....)
Take the lhs pcb out as far as you can then - no need to fully remove it
from the car, you just need access
Drill a 1/8 hole in one of the fatter bits of the ground track
Get a piece of cable about 90cm/3ft long and solder or crimp a round
teerminal to each end
Bolt one connector to the pcb and the other one to the brace in the rear
centre of the back panel where the other earth cables live. It's near the
velcro button that the floor grips onto
Hope that fixes it, but if it doesn't, at least you haven't wasted much
time or money! Cheers

On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 02:41:27 -0500, hippo <johnh (AT) nospam (DOT) shoal.net.au> wrote:

I'd say you've got it in one - earth (ground) problem. The rear light pcb
has a common earth track for everything and on every 900 I've owned it's
caused similar problems. Quite often it leaves you with just about every
rear light half illuminated while the one you actually needed isn't doing
much at all!

Try this quick and ugly fix that's never failed me for anything up to 7
yrs & 200,000Km (and anyway it's behind the carpet, soo....)
Take the lhs pcb out as far as you can then - no need to fully remove it
from the car, you just need access
Drill a 1/8 hole in one of the fatter bits of the ground track
Get a piece of cable about 90cm/3ft long and solder or crimp a round
teerminal to each end
Bolt one connector to the pcb and the other one to the brace in the rear
centre of the back panel where the other earth cables live. It's near the
velcro button that the floor grips onto
Hope that fixes it, but if it doesn't, at least you haven't wasted much
time or money! Cheers

Thanks for the reply. Actually I was working on it Saturday, and I think I've
got it fixed. I think the ground itself was ok, and the problem was a loose
connection of the blue/white wire (from the LHS turn signal) at the rear left
wiring harness at the light cluster. I had a similar problem last year with
brake lights.

The solution was to pop the offending wire out of the wiring harness, and
inspect the connector on the end. These things are like little springs, which
push against a blade in the light cluster when the wiring harness is plugged
in. In this case, the little spring was no longer very springy, and wasn't
making good contact. So I bent it back up a bit, and put a bit of dielectric
grease on it. I also fixed up some of the other connectors that seemed to be
similarly affected.

The problem is now solved! Plus, I seized this opportunity to fix a bum
reversing light bulb. So, I've been driving around town flaunting my fully
functional rear light clusters.

Oh, and FWIW: I've had a similar problem with the connector that plugs into the
air mass meter, which was causing an occasional Check Engine light. Also fixed
by similar means.

John

John B wrote:

The problem is now solved! Plus, I seized this opportunity to fix a bum
reversing light bulb. So, I've been driving around town flaunting my
fully
functional rear light clusters.

Oh, and FWIW: I've had a similar problem with the connector that plugs
into the
air mass meter, which was causing an occasional Check Engine light. Also
fixed
by similar means.

John

Brilliant. Aren't relatively easy fixes that work out satisfying?
Cheers