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Turn signal oddities
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Sqrbckguy38
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:26 pm    Post subject: Turn signal oddities Reply with quote

So I've been staring at the wiring diagram and the wires under the hood. Still can't figure out what's going on. Here's the symptoms: turn signals work mostly fine when used, until the brake pedal is applied. When on left turn it works, but the right light blinks very low with it. If left turn is used while braking, left rear goes out, front left blinks very rapidly. No issues if turning right. The emergency flasher doesn't work, it just blinks very rapidly. I've changed this emergency flasher relay but I believe a wire didn't match up and got left out, I replaced it like two years ago

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You can see a blank space where a wire could go, and on the fuse box there is a blank space, but I don't think that'll be where it goes, but maybe?
If anybody has a few ideas I'm all ears, I just didn't want to get a replacement flasher switch yet if that's not the problem, but I'm wondering if it is.
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gt1953
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:42 pm    Post subject: Re: Turn signal oddities Reply with quote

Prior to flasher replacement do inspect and check each and every ground connection associated with the flasher circuit. Quite a few to check, disconnect the battery and clean the fuse box fuse points.
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bigdog1962
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 4:49 am    Post subject: Re: Turn signal oddities Reply with quote

When I started looking at my electrical mess, the first thing I did was take a picture of the wiring diagram and blow it up into a poster, then laminated it.

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I found that several grounds weren't making contact with good metal. I would take an erasable marker and do them one at the time, marking them off as I went along.
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sjbartnik
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 12:50 pm    Post subject: Re: Turn signal oddities Reply with quote

This is usually a bad grounds issue. You're adding in the extra current demand of the brake lights and because the grounds are shitty, the current tries to flow back to ground through the filaments of other bulbs in the system causing various weirdness.
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ashman40
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 17, 2021 5:44 pm    Post subject: Re: Turn signal oddities Reply with quote

sjbartnik wrote:
This is usually a bad grounds issue. You're adding in the extra current demand of the brake lights and because the grounds are shitty, the current tries to flow back to ground through the filaments of other bulbs in the system causing various weirdness.

This ^^^

From your descriptions you have a bad ground at the rear taillights. My guess is the left rear turn signal lamp is grounding backward thru the parking light circuit. What happens if your turn the parking lights ON while signalling for a left turn?

Not sure if your taillight housings have a dedicated brown ground wire, or if they ground thru the fender to the body. The later is harder to ID. But it can't hurt to clean up the grounds at all four corners. This could mean wire brushing the fender bolts or the grounding tab in the engine compartment (end point for brown wire). While you are at it, clean the connections at the flasher relay too.


Your pic shows a 9-pin flasher relay. The #54 and #54f terminals are not used on Beetles. So having nothing connected to them is normal.
To test your E-Flashers (after you fix the grounding issue above), run a jumper wire between a good ground point and the -S terminal on the relay. This should simulate the E-Flasher switch being turned ON. Try the test with and without the turn indicator lamp in the speedometer connected. See if it makes a difference.

To test your corner lamps... disconnect the VL (black/white) and VR (black/green) wires at the flasher relay. Using a jumper wire from one of the powered fuses, power the end of the VL and VR wires one at a time. This should light up the turn signal corner lamps on one side of the car. Compare the brightness of each bulb. They are all 21W bulbs so should be similar brightness. If one bulb appears brighter or dimmer, investigate. Check for parking lights also turning ON. This suggests the turn signals are grounding thru the parking light circuit. You may also see this as the speedometer/fuel gauge illumination lamps turning ON. This back flow thru the parking lights indicates a grounding problem.
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Sqrbckguy38
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:41 pm    Post subject: Re: Turn signal oddities Reply with quote

So I went through and checked a few things like you all suggested, I cleaned up the housings and removed a little light rust, and resurfaced the fuse points with some Scotch Brite. I also repaired the wire terminal end that went to the speedo gauge, it was a bit brittle. After all that it was still acting a little funny but was better.

And now comes the part I'm kicking myself over. I should have just checked and done it when I thought about it at first, but I replaced both brake bulbs with a brand new matching pair. All this has made it work better until the bulbs were replaced and now it was perfect. So now everything works much more gooder. Razz

Edit: I forgot to check the e-flasher to see if it works, so I'll check again tomorrow.
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69 Square needs love, even after 15 years
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