Hazards flash turn signals do not?

[Phatty]

So in the process of wiring the rear lights of 78 FJ40, I have turn signals that do not flash but my hazards do. Did I miss something in the process of wiring? I have reverse lights and brake lights. I did not install the side marker lights on the rear.

 

[gcrump01]

Are the front signals installed? Mine did the same thing with only the rears installed. Ground in the front kind of completed the whole circuit or something.....

 

[Phatty]

Fronts are done and everything is grounded.

 

[samc2447]

I had this issue on my 78 when I got it. It's been a while, but I remember that it is wired to do this, meaning yes the hazards will function if the turn signals don't. You didn't mention if the front turn signals worked, but I will assume they don't. In my case I removed the turn signal switch from the column and rebuilt it and cleaned and added dialectric grease to the terminals and contact points. I also replaced the old flasher module with a modern one. Everything worked fine after that.

Verify that your turn signal plug is in fact plugged into the harness. It's beside the column just under the dash on the left side. You can follow the wire down the column from the turn signal switch. The hazard switch has it's own separate plug on the harness.

 

[Cleg]

Ran into a problem wiring mine.
It turned out that the color codes on the Toyota front turn signals were wrong for my wiring harness.
Maybe the lamp assemblies were from another year.
Signals would blink once and stay on.
Swapped the connections on each front turn signal so they were mismatched to the colors of the harness and all worked properly.
My guess is that this is not your problem but it is very easy to try.

 

[Phatty]

As I'm standing here with it, if I turn the turn signal on, I here a click, then front and rear light is working. Do not flash. If I turn hazards on they flash front and rear

 

[thebigredrocker]

I had the same screwy problem when I put my 76 back together. I finally cleaned all my hazard switch terminals and connections. As you probably know your turn signals run through your hazard switch. Also scuffed the connections between main harness and rear harness(near the heater blower motor). Cleaned up my fuseblock & flasher relay. Also made sure all turn signal grounds were clean, front fenders grounded to frame, frame grounded to tub(front & back), frame to engine grounds. Front side aprons need to be grounded to fenders. I basically had freshly painted parts and and old oxidized harness/switches. So bad grounds everywhere. It's time consuming but very common to have weak grounds cause problems.

 

[shawnfj40]

Many times you will find this problem with a faulty hazard switch. You can find information here about disassembling and cleaning it. I think coolerman did a thread on it.

 

[Cleg]

I suggest exercising caution taking the hazard switch apart so the pieces don't get away.
If I remember correctly, it has more complicated innards than your average switch.

 

[Pin_Head]

It is a current flow problem. There isn't enough juice flowing to heat trip the bimetallic spring in the flasher. The problem is most likely a ground issue if it does it on one side, but it could also be due to wrong bulbs or a bad connection in the circuit somewhere including the hazard switch.

You could use an electronic flasher designed for LED bulbs as a band aid if you don't want to make the effort to find the problem, but the lights will probably be dim.

BTW: This is a feature, not a bug to let you know that a bulb has burned out.

 

[mtnbiker4evr13]

I had the same problem 2 months ago, my new tail lights came with 3W bulbs in them and there were low watt bulbs in the front turn signals as well. I replaced them with 20w sylvania bulbs and things worked perfect. With low watt bulbs there is not enough resistance in the flasher relay to function with 2 lights but with 4 it will as you see with your issue.

 

[Godzirra]

I had the same problem 2 months ago, my new tail lights came with 3W bulbs in them and there were low watt bulbs in the front turn signals as well. I replaced them with 20w sylvania bulbs and things worked perfect. With low watt bulbs there is not enough resistance in the flasher relay to function with 2 lights but with 4 it will as you see with your issue.

This exact same thing happened with me. Try the bulbs first.

 

[Trollhole]

You could use an electronic flasher designed for LED bulbs as a band aid if you don't want to make the effort to find the problem, but the lights will probably be dim.

This

 

[Phatty]

Bad flasher, thanks for the help!