Signal Lights Gone Wonky

[type4pisces]

Two days ago my signal lights started going "wonky."

The first thing they did was alternate between their regular "tick tick tick" and a faster "tick tick tick." Now, they hardly "tick" at all. Not only do they stop ticking, the light on my dash doesn't show either. My bulbs (the actual light bulbs on the exterior) all seem to be fine.

A call to my local dealership says that it would be the flasher that's gone - except that my four-ways function correctly.

Any ideas?

[Grover]

If I remember most of my old cars, the 4-way was a sepearate flasher from the regular one. Don't know if this is true on the bug. It does sound like the flasher to me. It is a cheap part-cant hurt to try it out....

[digitalputty]

Could be two things:

1. For me it was my hazard switch. Replaced for $30.
2. For my sister it is the actual blinker stem. You know the thing you use to turn on/off the blinker. This is a pricier replacement. $200+ stem and labor. They have to take the steering wheel off. HUMPFT! :O

[helga]

Don't know if you got this fixed yet... but...

Same thing happened to me last April. This July I took it to the shop and they replaced the hazard switch. On my 2001 TDI,the hazard switch not only is for your Hazards, but also the blinkers.

Hope this helps!

[mgwerks]

Originally Posted by helga

On my 2001 TDI,the hazard switch not only is for your Hazards, but also the blinkers.

Yeah, they pulled this trick on some old air-cooled VWs too - but I'll tell you that was a lota more $$$$ than the $30 NB part!

[73standard]

I know for mine all the bulbs seemed fine, but it turned out that my passenger side front bulb was bad, even though it didn't look like it.

[Crystalgolem]

Mine did the exact same thing. The Hazard Switch will fix it. ECSTuning has them for a good price. Its a 5min. fix.

[killerbug]

Killer's right turn signal was acting up (blinking 2x faster than the left side) so when I took him in for an oil change I had them check it out. Initially, it seemed they fixed it, but before I was even out of the dealer lot it started up again. So I drove right around back into the bay and the guys looked at me like I was nuts. I showed them, and half hour later was back on the road. They said something about the new guy put the bulb in backwards (?). Anyway, halfway home, it starts again. It's intermittent, sometimes blinking will be OK then it speeds up mid-blink. Naturally, this means it will not happen when I take it back to the dealer :roll:

You guys think it's the hazard thing?

[mrbeetlebrain]

If the blinker blinks twice as fast you've got a blow blub, if the blinkers blink strangely or slow down or stop - blow hazard unit.

Cheers, paul

[digitalputty]

Originally Posted by mrbeetlebrain

If the blinker blinks twice as fast you've got a blow blub, if the blinkers blink strangely or slow down or stop - blow hazard unit.

Cheers, paul

I don't think this is entirely accurate. Sister has blinkers that are 'wonky' ... they slow down, speed up, stay on, don't blink at all ... someimtes they are normal. We changed out her hazard unit and it didnt fix it. The dealership (not that I trust them 100%) said that it is her blinker stem itself. 0_o

[mrbeetlebrain]

Originally Posted by digitalputty

I don't think this is entirely accurate. Sister has blinkers that are 'wonky' ... they slow down, speed up, stay on, don't blink at all ... someimtes they are normal. We changed out her hazard unit and it didnt fix it. The dealership (not that I trust them 100%) said that it is her blinker stem itself. 0_o

You could be right but my hazard unit used to slow down, speed up, beat out of time and stop - and if you think about it all the blink stem is doing is telling the hazard unit to start working, and the "click - click" pulse is coming from the hazard unit itself.

Anyway, if your doing the work yourself you're going to change the hazard unit before you bother doing the indicator stem.

Was it under warranty or did they charge?

Cheers, paul

Anyway, hopefully we'll get confirmation on what was wrong.