My emergency flashers fried my turn signals....helP!

[The Posh Mushroom]

Hello,

Ever since I got my beetle, a 1966 that's been converted to 12V, it has had the hazards "switch box" in the frunk, wired into the system, but no knob sticking into the passenger compartment. Because of that, I'd never put the hazards on before.

I recently learned that the threaded rod a hazard knob lives on has an M5 thread.

I wanted to see if my hazards worked, so I bought an M5 machine screw, threaded it into my hazard switch box and was ready to test my hazards.

First I checked that my turn signals were working properly. They all 4 turned on and blinked how they should , and I could hear the clicking noise of the mechanical flasher device (no idea what it's supposed to be called).

I then pulled my hazard switch into the on position (pulled the screw out).

My turn signals came on, started blinking fast, and then faster and faster. In about 2 seconds I heard a funny noise and they stopped turning on so I pushed the hazards switch back to the off position.

Ever since then, my turn signals don't blink right. When I activate them, they mostly stay on, and very briefly turn off at a regular interval. The bulbs still work and the right ones still come on. I also have stopped hearing the clicking noise of the mechanical flasher device.

I can add video/photos of all this.
I assume the hazards switch is wired in in the stock configuration but I am not sure about this, I can check.

My best guess of what happened is that I "burnt out" the metal filament in the mechanical flasher device.
How could I test this?

Is there any other component that could have failed and led to the situation I described?

Any other explanations for what happened?

Electrical problems are not my strong suit, any help is appreciated!

[ashman40]

Take a look at your flasher relay. Check if it is marked "6v" or "12v". Here is the '66-style 6v flasher relay box with 9pins. Note the "6v" markings.

If you are still running a 6v flasher relay on a 12v system you have probably overloaded it. As you can see from the markings above the 6v relay can support from 1-4 18W corner bulbs, for a total of 72W. The 12v corner bulbs draw 21 to 25W, for a total of 100W.

This is just a guess since you say your car was converted to 12v. I would have expected the person doing the conversion would have replaced all the 6v devices w/ 12v counterparts.

Post a pic of your flasher relay and your E-Flasher switch.
_________________
AshMan40
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'67 Beetle #1 {project car that never made it to the road }
'75 Beetle 1200LS (RHD Japan model) {junked due to frame rot}
'67 Beetle #2 {2019 project car - Wish me luck!}

[The Posh Mushroom]

Ok, back with pictures

Here's an overview of my wiring compartment:

Here is my flasher relay

The screw holding that cylinder on is pretty well on there and I can't read the part number with the cylinder attached. I think it's safe to say this is far from stock. I could work more on trying to see the part number but.....

I think this clear box is my culprit:

As far as I can tell it's not a Volkswagen part, but it seems to be a mechanical turn signal switch

When my turn signals are on, this clear box makes a faint irregular clicking sound, when it should be making a noticeable regular clicking noise.

My best guess is that some PO installed something like this.

Anybody seen this before?
Any help would be appreciated.

[mukluk]

[MrGoodtunes]

[The Posh Mushroom]

My hazard switch is of the 2 prong variety, not like the one you posted. Do these 2 prong flasheres have a lighted knob? I am not sure, but if they do I definitely could have shorted it. That would have been pretty stupid.

Yes it is a rather interesting way to make a circuit board but it didn't fail until I decided to jankily test my hazard switch.

[klroger]

Yes, the 2 prong switch does flash with the 4 ways turned on. I don't know how the bulb in the knob gets it's power & groundd, but can you not maybe just replace the clear relay & test the system with a jumper over the 2 terminals of the switch with the machine screw removed??? Just thoughts...
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I Didn't know what to do, So I Didn't do anything!!!!

[The Posh Mushroom]

Well turns out I fried my thermal flasher relay - bought a universal one from Amazon and installed it and my turn signals work great, blink and click how they should.

old

new

Kind of surprised this was not brought up by anybody here - from my research on other car forums this is the textbook cause of turn signals not blinking right/ blinking too fast and the textbook cause of not hearing the click when turn signals are on.

That said, I still don't 100% know how testing my hazards fried my old thermal flasher relay. I'm tempted to source a nylon M5 machine screw and retest them to see if the metal screw caused a short.

does anyone know if new-style hazard knobs can be used with this old 2 prong hazard switch box?

If that's a possibility it'd probably be the best test, although I'm worried I'd just fry this new thermal flasher relay......


Either way, I'm happy that fixing my turn signals ended up only needing a cheap, easily found and easily installed new part.

[MrGoodtunes]

[ashman40]

Happy that you were able to fix your problem with a simple swap of a cheap flasher relay.

Though it raises the question... what is the large square OE silver flasher relay box doing still wired up? Functionally, the large 9-prong flasher relay box is both a function relay (switching between turn signal and E-Flasher) and a flasher relay to pulse the output going to corner lights. The small flasher relay you purchased does just the flasher relay function.

The more modern E-Flasher switches move the function switching into the dash switch. This is why these switches have so many more terminals. The flasher relay function remains with the flasher relay which only needs 2/3/4 terminals depending on the flasher relay model.
The modern switches can work with 2 and 3-prong relays as long as they are compatible. Not all generic 2-prong relays will work. If you remove the dash turn indicator lamp pretty much 100% of 2-prongs will work. When you install the turn indicator lamp, some 2-prongs will no longer work. It is because of the way VW designed the dash indicator lamp circuit.

That home made relay set up you have may have been added to replace the function switching previously done by your 9-prong. Can't really say without you mapping out how the home made relay is wired and how the dash switch is interconnected. Also, why are there still wires connected to the old 9-prong if it has been replaced by the 2-prong? Your setup requires much more investigation as it is a hodge-podge of wires and parts. If your old 9-prong relay is no longer used I would recommend removing it to reduce the chance of a misunderstanding or a short.
_________________
AshMan40
---------------------------
'67 Beetle #1 {project car that never made it to the road }
'75 Beetle 1200LS (RHD Japan model) {junked due to frame rot}
'67 Beetle #2 {2019 project car - Wish me luck!}