Help! Very slow right hand indicator

[Riceburner]

I was driving the other day and went to turn right, put indicator on and it was VERY slow. I mean reeeeeealy slow, on for 3 seconds off for three seconds. I have electronic flasher so they usually operate at close to new car speeds, there's been no sign of it gradually going, it was fine and then completely r@@ted. 

 

Left side works fine.

 

 

[sydney mike]

I had a similar problem with my left. Right was ok but left was slow and sometimes did not work at all and even worse,sometimes smoke coming from the steering column area! 

 

Disassembled the headlight and indicator stalks from the steering column. Unscrewed the cover to expose the contacts and saw it was all caked up with grease and muck. Be careful when doing this as it is spring loaded and might pop out. Cleaned it and added some contact lube, not sure the proper name for it but my mate uses it for his  tamiya RC cars and everything ok now. Not sure if this is your problem but have a look.

 

Cheers, Mike

[redrbzed]

Hi Gareth,

 

I had a similar problem not long ago, the indicator switch contacts had some contamination causing a high impedance.

Took the switch out cleaned it with some contact cleaner spray until contact resistance was below 1 Ohm, ideally about .5 of an Ohm, then sprayed some Electolube and all was good.

Hope this helps.

 

cheers,

Sinisha

 

[Riceburner]

Awesome, sounds like an easy fix 

 

Thanks guys.

[silverz]

In the past I have had problems with my right indicator too, always the right, never the left. I think Sydney Mike is probably right the switch gets caked up with grease and muck. My theory was that to use the right indicator you move the switch downward and with gravity all the muck falls to the bottom hence the problem with the right. I could be way wrong but that's what it seems like. I found that flushing it out with a squirt of WD spray using the straw nozzle would make it work again. I will probably get told that's the wrong thing to do but it generally meant I could drive the car to work the next day so worked for me!

 

Regards Peter

[Zedman240®]

I think Sinisha has got it; sounds like an extra load on that system causing the slow flash... check for high resistance somewhere.

[Riceburner]

Thanks guys, I'll pull it apart and fix. Might take some before & after pics too