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WTF! Blinker turned into brake light??


headpeace
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I have experienced some strange things in my pathfinder like the doors locking by themselves (door lock timer), rear cargo light staying on, etc... Well here is a new one, when I turn on my blinker my Brake light comes on and makes a buzzing noise and the blinker doesn't blink. Anyone experienced this before? What could be causing this? Video below:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7nfq3fxorp2i208/20190129_070753.mp4?dl=0

Edited by headpeace
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I don't know how to read electrical schematics but one thing I noticed that could be common between the dash brake warning light and the turn indicator (blinker) is grounding. Would it be possible that a faulty ground could cause this issue?

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I'll second the comment in the thread Redpath linked that the hazard switch can interrupt the turn signals from working. These old rocker switches can be a bit fragile, so if the switch doesn't move easily (or the rocker feels like it's not held right on one of its hinge points), that could well be part of it. +1 for checking your trailer harness as well, if you've got one of those.

 

The EL section of the manual shows ground points, but not all together. I had a look and it looks like the flasher gets ground from ground points 232M and 202M. 232M is a ring terminal on the A pillar behind the passenger's side outer kick panel and 202M is a ring terminal on the other A pillar behind the driver's outer kick panel (shown in the diagram on EL-82, but make sure you've got your glasses on). Seems unlikely that the ground point is the problem, given the redundancy, but it's worth a check anyway I guess. There's also test procedure for the flasher on page EL-33 of the '95 manual.

Too bad OP in the other thread didn't report the fix. Good luck and let us know what you find!

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So I found this link.

 

After searching under the steering wheel I located the flasher, I confirmed that this is where the buzzing noise is coming from. So the fix here sounds promising, does anyone have a pic on how the flasher is removed? I cannot see how it is attached due to the way it is installed. 

Edited by headpeace
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If you're looking into the flasher itself, with two pins side by side and the third one on top, the testing procedure on EL-33 shows ground as the pin on your right. EL-32 shows it as a black wire (as usual for grounds). The pin across from that has brown wire with a white stripe that goes to the hazard switch, so that's the output. The third pin (on top of the other two) is green and splits to the hazard switch and the turn signal switch, so that's the + feed for the flasher unit.

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The hazard switch appears to be just as it should be.  Rocks back and forth smoothly and performs its job as intended. I added a ground to the current setup at the flasher plug harness and that did nothing but blew the hazard light fuse when I turned the hazards on. I put a new flasher in and I didn't get the buzzing noise but the turn signals still do not light up appropriately. Does the hazard fuse blowing after adding a ground to the black wire connection in the harness indicate proper performance or not?

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Adding a ground to a connection that's supposed to be ground already should not blow fuses. Sounds like something's shorted. Given how my front blinkers like to get water inside, I'd probably start by checking those, unless (again) you have a trailer harness to check out.

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On 2/9/2019 at 9:00 PM, Slartibartfast said:

...unless (again) you have a trailer harness to check out.

 

 

And... along those lines, if you are not the original owner of the truck you may consider looking all over underneath to see if maybe you actually do have a harness that you didn't know about. I had an old friend who, as we were finishing up building a new trailer from scratch, took his truck (happened to be a D21/Hardbody 4x4) to a shop to get it all wired up and a receiver installed. This was so we could load our dirt bikes on a trailer, rather than into the bed of the truck. They did the receiver and found and tested a wire harness secured up on the frame rail that had previously been installed.

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  • 1 month later...

Well I finally fixed the dam turn signals. I'll share my solution: first make sure it's not the flasher that is bad. I bought a new one, took it home and installed it - didn't fix the problem so I took it back and got a refund. The connector that plugs into the hazard light switch has numerous wires coming into it, jump the red striped with yellow wire to the brown striped with white wire - that fixed mine, now I have turn signals again. 

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On 3/26/2019 at 6:25 AM, Slartibartfast said:

Interesting. Sounds like the hazard switch isn't making a connection it should.

Yep, I agree. The new hazard switches I found were all around $40, jumping the wires was free. Hopefully this will help some one else eventually.

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  • 4 weeks later...

After I jumped the wires my battery was dead the next morning. Now I remove the jumper when not in use until I can find a cheap hazard light switch - No more dead battery. Jumping the wires must cause a slow drain on the battery when not in use. 

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