Front turn signals not working

[phatcheeks]

Hi.

2004 V6. No DRL

So I got a new steel bumper and was messing with the fog lights today. After cutting the fog light wires to splice the new ones in my front turns dont work. They were working yesterday when I tested them. right now the bulb is just plugged in and taped inside the bumper.

My rears work and the relay makes the clicking sound but its fast as if the bulbs were burnt. But they dont look burnt and it was literary working yesterday and I haven't drove the car.

I checked the socket with my volt meter and its giving me volts.

could it be the relay? it rained last night so maybe the water messed something up since its more exposed to the elements now?
Any help would be appreciated.

i will be upgrading to the 06+ headlights and turns but I think this problem will happen with the new setup as well if not fixed.

 

[djpope09]

I had something similar happen on a different vehicle once. When I used the left turn signal, the front left wouldn't come on at all and the rear would just stay lit up. The right turn signal worked correctly. It ended up being the relay so it may be worth looking into.

 

[Ed_C]

Are you sure you tapped into the correct wiring? Voltage should vary from 0 to 12-13v at the turn signal circuit when it flashes, not constant voltage.

The flasher relay is under the dash, did you leave the windows/sunroof open last night?

 

[phatcheeks]

Are you sure you tapped into the correct wiring? Voltage should vary from 0 to 12-13v at the turn signal circuit when it flashes, not constant voltage.

The flasher relay is under the dash, did you leave the windows/sunroof open last night?

Didnt leave the windows open.

I may have touched the fog light pos/neg wires together but i dont see how that could mess up the blinkers. Fogs still work.

Im sure i cut the correct wiring because the turn signals still plug in. I checked the voltage again and its going from ~1.5 - 9 when i engage the blinker. Not sure what that means.

 

[AuSeeker]

Didnt leave the windows open.

I may have touched the fog light pos/neg wires together but i dont see how that could mess up the blinkers. Fogs still work.

Im sure i cut the correct wiring because the turn signals still plug in. I checked the voltage again and its going from ~1.5 - 9 when i engage the blinker. Not sure what that means.

Have you tried installing a new bulb or use some jumper wires from your battery on the old bulbs to see if they work or an ohm meter to test them?

 

[phatcheeks]

Have you tried installing a new bulb or use some jumper wires from your battery on the old bulbs to see if they work or an ohm meter to test them?

Didnt try a new bulb but I used the one from the other side and it still didnt work. The bulbs were not even connected, they were still in my stock bumper until i tried them out.

 

[AuSeeker]

Didnt try a new bulb but I used the one from the other side and it still didnt work. The bulbs were not even connected, they were still in my stock bumper until i tried them out.

Take the bulbs out of the sockets and test them as I described in my last post, either an ohm meter for continuity or with jumper wires from the battery.

 

[phatcheeks]

Take the bulbs out of the sockets and test them as I described in my last post, either an ohm meter for continuity or with jumper wires from the battery.

Thanks. I just checked with my multimeter on ohm function and the bulbs are not reading anything. I guess the bulbs are bad then.

I will get new bulbs and check to see if they work

I'm just confused to how they go bad by just sitting there. Any explanation?

 

[AuSeeker]

Thanks. I just checked with my multimeter on ohm function and the bulbs are not reading anything. I guess the bulbs are bad then.

I will get new bulbs and check to see if they work

I'm just confused to how they go bad by just sitting there. Any explanation?

Just so we're on the same page and not know if you know how to use the ohm function, but if the bulbs are good you will get the same or a very similar reading as when you just touch the two meter probes together.

Light bulbs are sometimes delicate devices especially if you may have accidentally shorted them out somehow, sometimes just turning them on will blow them out.

 

[phatcheeks]

Just so we're on the same page and not know if you know how to use the ohm function, but if the bulbs are good you will get the same or a very similar reading as when you just touch the two meter probes together.

Light bulbs are sometimes delicate devices especially if you may have accidentally shorted them out somehow, sometimes just turning them on will blow them out.

I had to youtube on how to use the ohm function but I think i did it correctly. But yes, the bulbs are in fact defective. Not sure how but they are. I found a spare 7443 bulb (stock bulb is 7440) that i plugged into my turns and it worked.

I tested the ohms again the way you said and the old bulbs gave no reading compared to touching the probes together vs the new bulb giving a reading.

 

[AuSeeker]

I had to youtube on how to use the ohm function but I think i did it correctly. But yes, the bulbs are in fact defective. Not sure how but they are. I found a spare 7443 bulb (stock bulb is 7440) that i plugged into my turns and it worked.

I tested the ohms again the way you said and the old bulbs gave no reading compared to touching the probes together vs the new bulb giving a reading.

Great now you know for sure the bulbs are bad and just need to replace them, if they don't blow again you're good to go.

 

[importman]

Thanks. I just checked with my multimeter on ohm function and the bulbs are not reading anything. I guess the bulbs are bad then.

I will get new bulbs and check to see if they work

I'm just confused to how they go bad by just sitting there. Any explanation?

That's a good question. On my climate controls the bulb for the position switch,(far right) was blown so I decided to switch it with the fan speed one since I figured I could control the fan speed better in the dark. After the switch neither one lit up. So I took the one from the center control and moved it to the rh one. Then none of them worked. Now I need to order 3 bulbs to get them all working again, (I tested them and they are all blown). I think they just don't like being disturbed.

 

[phatcheeks]

Great now you know for sure the bulbs are bad and just need to replace them, if they don't blow again you're good to go.

Thanks for the help. I kind of feel dumb for not checking bulbs first. But at least i know how to use the ohm function on my multimeter.

 

[AuSeeker]

Thanks for the help. I kind of feel dumb for not checking bulbs first. But at least i know how to use the ohm function on my multimeter.

I wouldn't feel dumb for not checking them first, for both bulbs to go bad at the same time is sorta unusual so most would think it was something else like a relay/flasher/fuse, etc. and not the bulbs.

When something like this happens to me I just test everything before buying any parts, Youtube is a great resource for many things if you're not sure how to test or do some procedures, just be sure to check several Youtube sources since there are some people posting videos that sometimes don't really know how to do somethings correctly which could lead to other issues.

Issues like this is how to learn things you don't know from those with more experience and what this forum is all about if you ask me! :bravo: