My son's 98 civic's turn signal flasher flashes rapidly when he uses the right turn signal. The dealer says it means a bad bulb but all the bulbs are working. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

badddddddd bullllllllllllbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb...actually the dealers lieing to u......u need a new motor

 

very funny. ha ha

 

Usually that happens right before the bulb is about to blow. Change the corner bulb and see if the problem persists.

The dealer wasn't off base.

EDIT:
PS: All cars are designed that way to let you know when the bulb is about to go out. It's a warning system.

It's actually a break in the circuit (well not a full break, a weak break, still connected, but bad connection), usually it's caused at the bulb when it's about to blow, though obviously it can be caused anywhere in the circuit.

90% of the time dealerships blow smoke - but the other 10% they're serious.

This is that 10%, get a new bulb, you can pick one up at autozone, advance auto, pep boys, etc.

EDIT #2:
I'd change all 4 cornering bulbs at once - it's good maintenance practice, all 4 won't cost you more than 15-20 bucks, and they come in packages of 2 anyway.

 

yes, the bulbs might be working or at least mostly working, but the relay is getting a loss of return wattage thus making them blink faster.

Replace the bulbs on that side anyway, it'll cost you $4

 

dual filament (sp?) bulbs do that sometimes. it's a sign that they are going out. cheap fix. turn your parking lights on at night and look closely at the rear tail lights and see if you can spot a difference in how one side is lit up. worked for me..

 

thanks guys I was thinking along those lines and bought some new bulbs today. ( the single element ones) I just wanted to see if I was missing any other possibility. I'll change the double element ones next.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by R Benefits &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dual filament (sp?) bulbs do that sometimes. it's a sign that they are going out. cheap fix. turn your parking lights on at night and look closely at the rear tail lights and see if you can spot a difference in how one side is lit up. worked for me..</TD></TR></TABLE>

They're single filament bulbs, and all bulbs do that when they're about to blow, not just double filament.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by buckeye59 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks guys I was thinking along those lines and bought some new bulbs today. ( the single element ones) I just wanted to see if I was missing any other possibility. I'll change the double element ones next.</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, the turn signals/hazzard bulbs are SINGLE FILAMENT BULBS - I have no idea why everybody's mentioning dual filament bulbs.

Single = 1
Double = 2

Turnsignal = 1
Turnsignal = Single

Just replace the damn bulbs and it should be fine, they're easy as hell to change, shouldn't take more than 30 minutes for all four.

EDIT:
The dual filament bulbs are used in two places that I know of on a Civic.

A) Headlights, both the low and the high beam use one dual filament bulb.
B) Taillights, both the brake lights and the taillights (how it gets brighter when you step on the brake with the taillights on) are operated by one (1) dual filament bulb.

You should have 3 bulbs in the back, one single filament cornering bulb, one single filament reverse bulb, and one dual filament taillight bulb. Two in the front, one dual filament headlight bulb, and one single filament cornering bulb.

EDIT #2:
The bulb code for the cornering bulb is 7040 - 7040A is the amber one (you don't want that).

99/00 taillights have a clear lens, so you need the 7040A because cornering bulbs need to be amber. Though the 96-98 taillights have a amber cornering lens, so you just need the base 7040 bulb.

 

I got lazy and put off changing the front because it looks like I have to take off a panel on the inner fender to get to it. That's probably the bad one since the back was fine. thanks for the info.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by buckeye59 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I got lazy and put off changing the front because it looks like I have to take off a panel on the inner fender to get to it. That's probably the bad one since the back was fine. thanks for the info.</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, you don't have to take that out.

Just pull the headlight housing out through the front as if you were to change a headlight - it's one piece, slides out the front.

The 96-00 headlight housings are one piece, not two like the 92-95....

So just pull the headlight housing out - you don't have to touch the fender or fender liner. Two bolts on top and one on the side.

EDIT:


See, one piece, just unbolt the housing from the rad support and it slides out, might be one or two "hidden" bolts - but you'll obviously feel it when you go to pull it out.



You only have one more post left (you're a trial member for 14 days, which means you can't PM, and can't make more than 5 posts / day. So if you have anymore Q's after this just IM me on AIM or MSN. My addresses are Fk XiaOzl and gfotiades@hvc.rr.com respectively.

EDIT::

Ahhhh scratch everything I said - there's 3 10 mm bolts that go straight down up the top of the fender perpendicular to the orientation of the engine, you need to remove the bottom one or two or possibly 3 to get to that last bolt. It's really not that hard, I remove them and wedge something in there so they're out of the way when I'm doing headlights on 92-95 anyways.

Sorry about the misinformation, I was basing it off a 92-95 .


Modified by Syndacate at 9:54 PM 7/30/2007

 

thanks the chilton manual says do the access panel in the fender but i may do it your way. it sure sounds easier. over and out till tomorrow

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by buckeye59 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks the chilton manual says do the access panel in the fender but i may do it your way. it sure sounds easier. over and out till tomorrow
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah that was my mistake, read the chiltons, read my update, sorry about that.

The 92-95 is a different setup altogether .