Recently bought a 92 DX hatch and noticed a strange electrical problem, my friend with an si hatch told me it's common with them, but I don't know...

With the headlights off, the indicators seem to operate properly, with one exception... when I use the left indicator, the cluster and A/C backlights flash dimly, in unison until the indicator is switched off.

With the headlights on, the left indicator light in the cluster stays lit constantly and the left indicator does not flash at all, nor does it 'tick' (but the back lights in the cluster don't flash). The right indicator, however, works, but does a quick flash (as though a bulb is blown)

If I put on the hazards with the headlights on, both cluster lights stay lit, and don't blink, neither do the indicators on the car.

The DX has an EX cluster which I bought the car with.

Any help would be great
X2

 

ttt

 

Here's my best educated guess.. You've got a Hot-Hot Short Circuit.. Here's my best example. "I honked the horn and the left window goes down." LOL.. So now that you've got the answer, go find the problem..

Here's a hint, if you cut the wires to the A/C backlight, it should free some power and allow the lights to flash a bit. That part of the circuit seems to be in "series". So the more loads, the less power you get. This means that there's less power circulating the circuit. Because of this, the Flasher is not recieving enough power to operate properly. This is because the Flasher is just an Auto-Reset Circuit Breaker.. Hope that helps a lot more.. Good luck and keep the questions coming..

 

Make sure all yours bulbs are functioning. And, make sure they all match. Sometimes when a bulb is burned out, the flasher won't work at all. And, sometimes you'll have a "heavy-duty" bulb on one side and a regular bulb on the other. This will make one side flash faster or slower than the other.

 

All the circuits you describe as being affected all share a common ground. It's behind the left kick panel. It may be causeing your problems if it is loose or corroded.

 

Ok, Ok, Ok.... update on my electrical situation... firstly, thanks to you guys for responding so far... Chiovnidca, I will check that ground this evening...

I forgot to mention, this car has a projection headlight system which was put on by the previous owner, the headlights work fine, but I don't know if they may have something to do with this...

What I have done since:

I found a bulb blown on both indicators in the back and I replaced both, BUT....

The above symptoms are still valid, but to add... with the headlights on, along with the fact the cluster light for the left indicator stays contantly lit, the left, rear indicator itself also stays lit. The left indicator does not actually work (doesn't blink), but the right indicator works fine with or without the headlights on.

Anyone ? (I will check that ground later)

X2

 

ttt

 

I am having the same exact problem. Let me know if you get this solved. I have yet to change my bulbs yet though.. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt..

 

Sheesh.. Somebody put in projectors?.. Well there you go, there's the problem. You had Bubba with his creative wiring. Everytime there's wiring done by a non-professional you end up with problems. So I can tell you one thing, you'll never get the dealer to fix it for you. That's because they hate it when there's creative wiring done and they have to fix it.

But anyways.. From the symptoms you just described, it sounds almost as if your Directional Switch isn't working properly. Let me narrow this down a little bit more. Here's how a generic Turn Signal circuit works.

1... There's power to the Directional Flasher at all times when the Ignition is "ON"
2... There's power to the Hazard Flasher at all times
3... The Directional Switch gets its power from the Directinal Flasher
4... The Left Turn Signals are on one part of the circuit and the Right Turn Signals are on another part of the circuit. But they're both in one circuit.
5... By moving the Directional Switch to turn on the Left Turn Signals, it connects the power wire to the Front/Rear Left Turn Signal wires. And vice versa for the Right Turn Signal.
6... Now what makes it flash is the Directional Flasher turning on and off. It's just a Auto Reset Circuit Breaker.
7... Now you said that the Left Turn Signals don't Flash, but they stay on. You also said that the Right Turn Signals work properly.
8... Well there's only two answers that I can give you..
a... You've got yourself a faulty Directional Switch
b... The path to ground is at fault. It probably can't hold enough current to make the Directional Flasher work properly.

But hey, I could be wrong. You're like from where?? And I'm all the way over here. It would be much easier if I could test it myself. But good luck, hope you fix it..

 

uMM....Thanks ? I didn't need a breakdown of how the circuit works... I need to know where to look for the faulty ground or whatever else problem.

Dammit, other civic drivers tell me they've heard of the same problem on totally stock cars... but no one knows where to look ! (prolly because everyone takes their cars to the dealer for service ?)

Help me guys... I'm illegal at night... I hate changing lanes w/o signals !