"Rheilly Phoull" wrote in message
. au...
On 6/10/2012 2:33 AM, Ian Field wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Jun 9, 10:09 am, Jeff wrote:
On Sat, 9 Jun 2012 12:12:12 -0400, wrote:
The right directional signal on my girlfriend's car doesn't work.

No problem. Just tell her to make 3 left turns instead of a right
turn until you get it fixed.

I have memorized this rule of thumb as "Two wrongs don't make a right,
but three rights make a left."


When you
turn on the right directional signal, both the front and back
directional
light turn on but don't blink.

Since you didn't bother to disclose the maker and model of her
vehicle, it would be difficult to determine if the flasher is a
bi-metallic thermal flasher, or an electronic flasher. If thermal,
such flashers cease flashing when a bulb is blown, has too small a
load, or is presented with a high resistance connection. They also
have the irritating habit of the contacts welding closed, which I
think (not sure) might produce those symptoms. Same arcing problem
with vehicles that have flasher relays.

They just turn on and stay on. The flashers
work ok. The left directional signal works ok. Any ideas on how to fix
it?

Sure. Clean contacts and connections (steering column switch, bulb
connectors, flasher connector, relay). Replace everything (bulbs,
relay, and flasher). Whatever you do last, is usually what fixes the
problem. My wild guess would be a flasher relay as in:

But the flasher relay works on the left turn signal.

I believe the flasher doesn't switch on the right because the load
draws more current than it should,
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Pretty unlikely - it would flash fast and/or buzz if overloaded, in any
event the OP says the hazard flasher works OK, so the relay must be rated
at
least 96W.

You have to meet the minimum wattage (somewhere around 42W) otherwise it
lights continuously to prompt investigation of possible blown bulb.

Either some numpty has put a 5W sidelight bulb instead of one of the
indicator bulbs, or there's an earthing failure on one of the light
clusters
(the indicator is grounded via one of the sidelight bulbs).

Grounding faults at the rear often show up when the brake lights
operate -
with sidelights off; the brake light grounds through the sidelight, so
one
brake light is less than half bright .

With sidelights on; the affected sidelight grounds through the brake
light
bulb - and goes out altogether when the brakes are applied.



Well most likely fault is the earth connection to one of the lamps which
would also fit with a low current not operating the flasher.
Assuming of course the correct wattage lamps are fitted and it is not an
electronic flasher.


The motorcycle electronic flasher I recently stripped looks like it wouldn't
stop blinking to indicate a fault if a bulb blew, like a proper car one
would.

I sort of prefer to replace bike indicator relays with car one's - they just
seem to work better. So any excuse will do.

The majority of car types I've pried open for a look inside; use a Siemens
chip with a pin for a current sensing resistor.

Its designed to meet all sorts of rules & regulations - which the bike one I
stripped obviously didn't.

The schematic is posted on A.B.S.E with subject line: Indicator relay
post-mortem.