Turning signals

[George Lomeli]

I have a 1972 Toyota, Land Cruiser FJ 40 and although my emergency lights flash, my turning signals do not. Can anyone address this issue?

 

[JohnnyC]

I’ll take a stab at addressing it

It’s either a bad switch … no power to the switch … no power out of the switch … a wire broke … a connector broke… the harness replaced with ezwiring … or… the PO did something

Later years had a separate flasher for turn and hazard

If po did something and replaced harness… with newer… it could also be flasher bad … or no power to flasher … or bad connector at flasher

What did ‘you’ do so far to check

 

[charliemeyer007]

I rebuilt my switch. Follow the rod down from the signal handle. Area around the copper contacts was burnt away. I filled it in with micro bed epoxy, cleaned and tweaked the contacts. Now I have the screw loose that holds the turn lever assembly - that allows me to get extra rotation of the lever so the turn signals work. The self canceling mechesium tried to lock the steering in a turn and to kill me 30 plus years ago. Adrenalin fuel strong arm broke that mechanism and it has never worked since.

 

[nabbasi]

What are the symptoms? Do they light up but don’t flash, no lights at all, etc.? Have they ever worked?

With turn signals, if the bulbs are good, check grounds first.

 

[fireflyr]

Bad ground. Bad ground. Or bad ground.

 

[thebigredrocker]

Cleaning up all the grounds is a good task to start with. Here's a good explanation from Coolerman.

Be aware that the flasher is a CURRENT driven device. That means that it MUST have at least 1.3 amps of current flowing through it BEFORE it will flash. What this means to the end user is that at least TWO bulbs must be lit before there is enough current to cause the flasher to flash. That is why the Hazards almost always work as it turns on all four bulbs. The turn signal only flashes two bulbs.

So...
If your battery is low (below 12.5 volts)
Your harness has bad grounds at the lights (high resistance)
Your bulb sockets are corroded (high resistance)
Your bulbs are the wrong type (not enough current flow)
Your turn signal switch is dirty (high resistance)
Your connections between any of these are dirty (high resistance)
Your flasher relay is defective (very possible if OEM) CityRacer sells an NEW OEM replacement or you can order one of my LED flasher kits (you do not have to use LED bulbs if you don't want to. It will flash normal bulbs also)
Your flasher relay works but has dirty relay contacts (high resistance)

If any, all, or some of the above apply...Your turn signals will NOT flash!

These high resistances add up quickly. If there were no resistances in the turn signal circuit you would have battery voltage (+12.7 volts) AT THE LIGHTS! The voltage readings posted above show a lot of resistance in the circuit. Just think about the path the current must take to reach the rear turn bulb. The key switch contacts, the fuse block fuse contacts, the turn/hazard switch contacts, the flasher contacts and all the bullet connectors and wire it must pass through, then finally the bulb sockets contacts, and last the ground connection. If you would clean everyone of these areas properly, you should see that voltage go up.

Another thing about voltage: Incandescent bulbs are rated at battery voltage for their rated lumen output. The lower the voltage at the bulb, the dimmer the light. A bulb rated at 13.2 volts will be how much dimmer at 10 volts? This is why the headlight relay harnesses were invented: to get the voltage at the head lights as high as possible for the brightest lights.

OEM colors for turn signals
Green = Park
Green/Orange (early) or Green/Black (later) = LEFT Turn
Green/Yellow = Right Turn
Green/Blue = Turn switch to flasher (L) to bulbs
Green/White or Green/Red Flasher (B) +12V

 

[George Lomeli]

What are the symptoms? Do they light up but don’t flash, no lights at all, etc.? Have they ever worked?

With turn signals, if the bulbs are good, check grounds first.

Signals used to flash, but I updated the lights with more modern units. After connecting the new lights, the turning signals stop flashing, however, they only stay on when I activate them. Thank you.

 

[JohnnyC]

Are the new units LED bulbs? If so you need a flasher specific for led bulbs

 

[swixtt]

Signals used to flash, but I updated the lights with more modern units. After connecting the new lights, the turning signals stop flashing, however, they only stay on when I activate them. Thank you.

Jesus Man that’s pretty important info to put in the first post.

 

[pb4ugo]

Now, for the rest of the story............

What are more modern units?

 

[George Lomeli]

Front fender signal light units are from China and I received them without instructions included in the package. Consequently, I had them installed by a Shop specializing in the installation of car, alarms, and stereos. The Shop advised me that he is almost certain that it is the flasher that is the problem.

 

[nabbasi]

Is there are picture or anything you can share? If the flasher is the issue, there's a gentlemen around here that supplies alot of wiring/ electrical parts. He can be reached via email ("coolerman" you see refereneced).

On his website, this page goes through flasher relay options.

Flasher Parts and Adapters

 

[pb4ugo]

Do the lights have incandescent light bulbs or are they LED?

 

[pb4ugo]

Did the turn signals work b4 swapping out the fixtures? The stock flasher is mechanical and needs a certain amount of amperage draw in the circuit to work. If the bulbs in the new fixtures have a lower wattage/draw than the stk bulbs or if they are LED's the stk mechanical flasher wont activate.
You can adapt an electronic flasher which senses a lesser draw.