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Turn signal intermittent failure - video included


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Good afternoon all! been quite a while since I needed to get on the forum which in my mind means things have been going well!

 

I have an 07 Legacy GT MT and have been having a really irritating intermittent problem with the right turn signal (only).

 

for the last two weeks when I go to use the right turn signal the blinker on my cluster goes dim but stays solid. While this is happening my turn signal is not being actuated which presents plenty of issues over here in Denver.

 

- Note: this is after the stalk was swapped for a new one. this was happening constantly with the old stalk.

 

Today I went to the pick and pull and got a new turn signal stalk in the hopes that this would help fix this issue. While it did "help" it did not fix the issue. Whereas it was happening 95% of the time I was trying to use the turn signal before I'd say with the stalk swap it is now happening 50% of the time.

 

The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that all of my turn signals have been swapped for LED signals. My buddy told me it was because I needed to put a resistor inline with the turn signals. My argument to this is that the way I understood it, the LED lights come with resistors from the factory to avoid any issues. NOT TO MENTION: I have had these LED signals for over a year and the problem just started happening.

 

I wanna thank you guys up front for any and all input. I know its not a huge issue, but it is certainly starting to piss me off and I worry about getting pulled over for not using a turn signal when I am legitimately trying to do so.

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I actually had an LED relay go bad a few years ago... it had only been installed for a couple of months. Made the turn signals do all sorts of wacky things. Since, at that time, the flasher was the most recent thing I had changed, I tried putting the OEM relay back in, and everything worked fine, except for the LED bulbs hyperflashing, of course. Ended up picking up another LED flasher (from superbriteleds.com, I think... I also recommend Diode Dynamics), and that one worked fine for quite a while, until I got one of those tap-turn/multi-function relays.

 

Just out of curiosity, what kind of LED bulbs are you running with built in resistors?

Edited by csaari
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Alright, I will go ahead and order the diode dynamics relay and see if that does the job.

 

After looking into it I honestly believe I was wrong on that front. I believe this might be a case of me assuming something that just simply isn't true; coupled with some very tricky wording in the product description. When I went back and looked through the product description on the bulb it says "no need for a resistor", but with a little further searching into the product description, it says no need for a resistor if you install an LED relay. So i'd chalk that one up to wishful thinking lol.

Edited by NickCawks
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The led relay will probably fix your issue. But just some info for future knowledge, the resistors can change resistance when they get hot and could then not provide enough resistance that is necessary. They could also just fail all together but still have no effect on the led actually working. That is if there are resistors built into them in the first place.
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  • 3 weeks later...

Cool, glad it worked out for you! Thanks for reporting back.

 

And thanks for double checking your LED bulbs regarding the resistors; sounds like some tricky marketing language! I was curious because my dad has been wanting to put LEDs in his F-150, but the truck has no flasher relay, everything is controlled by the body computer, so the only thing you can do is wire in resistors for each bulb. I had not heard of bulbs with built-in resistors, so I got a bit excited.

 

Upon doing some research, I did actually find some LEDs with built-in resistors, but it sounds like they are very prone to overheating, and basically seem not worth even messing with.

Edited by csaari
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I have seen some of the LED bulbs that have heat syncs and fans attached to the backside. These have proven to help a lot with heat, but have also presented some fitment issues.

 

IMO you should just wire the resistors in yourself. I'm sure there is a forum out there somewhere that someone has brought this up as well.

 

let me know if you find anything out on the ford front I'd be interested to know if there is a better work around than installing resistors in line.

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Yeah, I agree that wiring in the resistors is the way to go. Wouldn't be that hard to do. We'll see what happens, I think he's decided just not to mess with it. We recently did his BRZ, it was just like the Legacy, new flasher relay and LED bulbs, good to go. So he's happy with that!

 

 

I will let you know if we come across any other solution.

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