To my dismay, I was not able to renew my inspection on my 91 crx si due to an odd behavior in my turn signals. I wont be able to dig into it physically till this Sunday, but I am hoping someone might be familiar with what is happening. The lighting is stock, no HIDs or anything. Here's the issue:

When using the right-hand signal the lower front right will blink, but the upper will not. Instead, the upper left blinks while the upper right just barely sparks up. So when you turn on the right signal, the upper left and lower right blink.

When you turn on the left signal, it behaves normally...both upper and lower left blink. All the rear signals operate normally both left and right.

Thanks in advance.

 

Either your wiring has deteriated or you are having a problem with you switch.

 

We unscrewed the upper signals and when I moved the left one around it would intermittently fucntion correctly.. but not stay that way. I'm hoping is just wiring.

 

i know on mine you have to pull the bulb out half way to get it to work.

 

You probably have corrosion in the plug for the upper bulb. I know I did. To fix it, I used some wd-40, q tips, alcohol and some bulb grease. Clean the socket out with the wd40 and qtips. When the qtips come out clean(just wd40 residue) go over it with the alcohol and qtips( to remove the wd-40). Then put a thin coat of the bulb grease on the base of the bulb(on the brass connectors on the bottom) and reinsert in the plug. If that doesn't fix the problem, then it's wiring. To that i say good luck. HTH

 

Thanks, 1boostedhybird, that sounds worth trying first.

 

Well, Ironically enough I'm bringing this back from the dead because I am having the same problem.

INDICATE LEFT -
Right corner Lamp blinks
Left bumper light blinks
Left rear bumper signal blinks

INDICATE RIGHT -
Left corner Lamp blinks
Right bumper light blinks
Right rear bumper signal blinks

 

OK, after some more digging into the problem, the car has no problems when the engine is off. When the engine is RUNNING, the blinkers are screwy. Now once I put on the parking lights or the headlights the blinkers work fine. Any ideas?

 

Wow, I thought I had mine fixed when I applied bulb grease then tested it out. It passed inspection as well, but there is no reason they would have tested it with the car on since it had already passed everything else.

So I'm going to have to check it again (a year later!) with the car on just to be sure its working correctly.

 

Hmm....I'm starting to think I either need to take apart the multi-function switch (shoot me please) or I am going to need more blinker fluid

 

Check the ground wires. I've seen things like that happen due to lack of grounding.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CoryB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Check the ground wires. I've seen things like that happen due to lack of grounding.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I bet this is the problem as well or two wires are crossing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CoryB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Check the ground wires. I've seen things like that happen due to lack of grounding.</TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wiZCo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I bet this is the problem as well or two wires are crossing.</TD></TR></TABLE> Then why does the engine running affect the turn signals? A crossed wire would affect it either way

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dr_latino999 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Then why does the engine running affect the turn signals? A crossed wire would affect it either way</TD></TR></TABLE>

It could be a wire that is only powered when the ignition is on. Now is this a problem when the key is in the accessory position or just when the engine is actually running?

 

im guessin someone fucked with ur wiring before u got it. because on my crx only the bumper lights blink. the corner lights should only be running lights. and thats on like all EF's that ive ever worked on. I have two EF's. if i were u i'd check that out. because it sounds to me like ur wiring got fucked with. well i hope ur get it all figured out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hi-Tech Honda Girl &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im guessin someone fucked with ur wiring before u got it. because on my crx only the bumper lights blink. the corner lights should only be running lights. and thats on like all EF's that ive ever worked on. I have two EF's. if i were u i'd check that out. because it sounds to me like ur wiring got fucked with. well i hope ur get it all figured out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is not true. It could be just on 88-89 models. i have a 1990 and the corner light blinks alternately with the bumper light. There was actually a big thread about this on here recently: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1832815.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wiZCo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It could be a wire that is only powered when the ignition is on. Now is this a problem when the key is in the accessory position or just when the engine is actually running?</TD></TR></TABLE> The engine has to be running.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hi-Tech Honda Girl &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im guessin someone fucked with ur wiring before u got it. </TD></TR></TABLE> That could be true....but, the problem would have appeared maybe 4.5 years ago when I got the car

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hi-Tech Honda Girl &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im guessin someone fucked with ur wiring before u got it. because on my crx only the bumper lights blink. the corner lights should only be running lights. and thats on like all EF's that ive ever worked on. I have two EF's. if i were u i'd check that out. because it sounds to me like ur wiring got fucked with. well i hope ur get it all figured out.</TD></TR></TABLE>
This is true of JDM corners (one bulb), not USDM (two bulb).
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wiZCo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It could be just on 88-89 models.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Definately not, I have 2 88 CRXs. All USDM EFs (88-91 CRX/Civic Hatch Sedan Wagon whatever) have one running light and one running AND signal light in the corner lens and one signal light in the bumper.

 

check your hazard lights too. Mine will work fine on the left turn signal, but on the right turn signal, the lights will not work in the rear, and they blink fast in the front, (bumper and cornet), also the dash does not light up for a right turn signal. I turned on my hazards and the rear right did not work, but the front bumper and corner worked at normal speeds. I have already checked fuses and bulbs. Also, swapped out combination switch and turn signal relay, so it has to be the wiring somewhere.

 

once i had my steering column apart for an unrelated reason.....
accidentally left the hazard light switch unplugged when i put it all back together....

i remember i had random problems with my lighting. it's been a while so i don't know for sure what it was, but i was surprised that the hazard switch could mess things up like that....

might be worth testing with a known good one...?