UKC

As per the thread title, really. For some reason, I can't really fathom what might cause this. It's just started happening on one of our cars, but I've no idea where to start for fixing the problem. The switch arm?

If anyone has fixed this themselves in the past, I'd be interested in knowing how!

In reply to Green Porridge:

When ours did so it needed a new bulb £4.99

In reply to Green Porridge:

Not too sure on new cars, but I seem to remember on older vehicles it could be that another bulb has failed in the lighting system and the voltage supplied to the indicator timing regulator has changed ie. increased. Hence double quick time.

Check out your other bulbs, and if one has gone then replace it and it may self-heal your original problem.

In reply to Green Porridge:

This happened twice to me in the last 2 years - faulty wiring, in both cases. It was cheaply sorted out for me by a garage in 5 minutes both times.

In reply to Green Porridge:

Have you considered an exorcism?

In reply to Green Porridge:

A lot of the times indicators don't flash at all.

Seems to more and more the done thing for drivers not to bother their arses with using them.

In reply to Green Porridge:
Is it just on one side and how old is the car?
If it is intermittent then I'd suspect a loose contact on our end of the bulbs.

In reply to andymac:


BMW or Audi?

In reply to Green Porridge:



It's likely to be a blown bulb if it's doing it all the time. If it's intermittent I'd clean all the contacts in the bulb holders before you wind up with a blown bulb.

In reply to andymac:



IME this tends to happen most frequently on roundabouts ;(

In reply to Green Porridge:

Check the handbook; if it's a BMW it may not have come fitted with the indicators. Many don't.

In reply to Green Porridge:

Thanks all! I traced it to a dodgy contact in the plug that connects to the rear light cluster. A bit of corrosion removal and voila! It works again. I suspect the plug itself might be a bit dodgy, so if it happens again, I'll give it a more serious going over.

Thanks again - it's good to know where to look first, before having to take the steering wheel off to get at the switches, with all the hassle that brings!

For the record, it's a 15 year old corsa

In reply to andymac:


No, those will be French cars. They obviously haven't gone for the optional extras.

In reply to Rigid Raider:

Good to hear you sorted it out Epic, saves you a few quid down the garage.



Oh I don't know, driving a BMW is a pretty good indicator of something.

In reply to Green Porridge:

In answer to why.

Indicators are made to blink by a relay. This is a switch that makes and breaks the indicator circuit when power is applied to it. When one bulb goes the circuit still recieves the same power but only has one bulb to switch on and off (half the power consumption) This doubles the frequency of the blink.

In reply to timjones:


I think a lot of cars are wired wrongly. I see about 50% of them indicating R to continue round the roundabout, when the vehicle actually turns L and leaves the RAB.

In reply to Green Porridge:

If its Italian just check the settings on the driver options, it might be set to blink in time with music on the radio.