Weird turn signal behavior

[hotsho111]

Thanks guys.

Thanks @SteveJ, this instructions are perfect

Taking a look at this now, and to the earlier question, I started the car (to check something) and after turning it off and waiting a minute the battery was at 12.45 volts

[SteveJ]

That voltage is low. What is the voltage at the battery with the car running? Do you have someone who can work the gas so you can measure the voltage at 2500 RPM?

[hotsho111]

@SteveJ unfortunately not at the moment

I do have some other news though, after reading over the wiring diagrams I was checking for voltage on the wrong pin on the flasher relay connector 🤦‍♂️ (for anyone who stumbles across this, check the green wire). Checking the voltage properly this time it's getting 10.5 volts (and basically none when the hazards are on). It looks like the low battery might be the culprit there. 

I only have a 750mA charger at the moment but have a 4amp charger on the way and can get that hooked up and circle back

Edited May 8, 2022 by hotsho111

[SteveJ]

I suspected as much about the flasher and hazard switch. You saved yourself a lot of grief by reading my instructions carefully and re-checking. It can be a royal PITA messing with the hazard switch.

You may want to consider ordering a lead set like this for your meter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0779V9H4F

Another way to check the voltage with the engine running is to get one of these and plug it into your cigarette lighter: https://www.amazon.com/aceyoon-Voltmeter-Cigarette-Protection-Compatible/dp/B07QZS36F2. While it might not seem like a great tool, a similar product let me know the charging system on my 260Z was on its last legs.

 

[hotsho111]

Yeah, I did a bunch of reading of the wiring diagrams since I checked the first time and was planning on double checking at the column before diving in, but it was easy to check again at the connector before diving in

Awesome, thanks. I was looking at getting new leads for my set anyway and having alligator clips would be great

I'll circle back once the new charger comes in and I can move on to the next thing haha

Thanks again for the help everyone. I appreciate it

[hotsho111]

After a shipping snafu courtesy of UPS finally got the charger in I charged the battery overnight and the battery is sitting at 12.9v right now but still no luck on the turn signals working. The voltage at the turn signal relay is a little higher now. Fluctuating between 10.75-11v but that's as high as it's getting. 

I'm testing this by turning the key to the ON position but not starting the car. I was able to test the signals before like this before they randomly died while I was testing them

Could that be a result of a bad contact? I haven't checked the power level at the flashers yet but the flashers work fine

[hotsho111]

Thinking it might be a contact issue I went back out and decided to push and pull the hazard switch a bunch of times and try again and got the signals working. The voltage is 11.5v now but it's enough for it to work.

The rear left still isn't working, which was what I noted at the start so I need to take a look at the turn signal switch but hopefully that will resolve that issue. I at least know what to do there.

Once that is done I might be back with a new thread to get the horn working

 

[SteveJ]

You may consider changing out your old electromechanical flasher relay with an electronic relay like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0811GTVH2/

It has a speed adjustment that I like. The thing is that you'll have to run a ground wire to it to make it work.

[SteveJ]

Here's a photo of the electronic flasher relay in my 73. You can see the ground wire I added on the 3rd terminal.

[hotsho111]

Cool, thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks again for the help too. One electrical thing on it's way to be sorted and then on to the next thing haha

[hotsho111]

Just wanted to circle back on this as I wrapped this up today.

Someone has definitely been through this switch before. I really wanted to take the switch box apart and just adjust the contacts inside, but the tabs already looked a bit cracked and I didn't think they'd survive another round of opening and closing so I was looking for a different fix. I could peak through the opening and things looked pretty clean and fresh though so it might have been refurbed by the PO

I got the stock on the bench and first thing I noticed was the 12v supply had a terrible contact (you can see it hanging on by a literal thread here). That's the 12v supply so I wonder if that impacted the relay at all

A simple way to test this is hook something up to that 12v source wire (the solid green wire there) and as you move the switch at the bottom you should have continuity between the left and right signals.

After fixing 2 more bad contacts everything was working well with the box on it's own but after I installed it back in the stock not all the signals were working

After fiddling for a bit I noticed that the turn signal stalk itself wasn't traveling the full length of switch so it wasn't activating the signals like it was when I tested it on it's own. I could really push on the stalk and it would activate them but it didn't feel right or natural

I eventually noticed that this spring, which butts up against the turn signal reset mechanism (the gold ratcheting bits you see in turn signal assembly but they are removed and to the right here), was what was limiting how much travel the switch could make. I initially started by grinding the bottom pin a bit to give it a bit more space which helped a bit, but it was still intermittent. Eventually I just took the spring off and bent it to loosen the tension and that resolved the issue!

 

The switch is now super easy to activate and all the signals are working.