Date: Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:21:19 -0600 From: John B <rotten_NOSPAM_nospam.org> Subject: Re: weird turn signal problem (c900)
On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 02:41:27 -0500, hippo <johnhnospamam.shoal.net.au> wrote: > > I'd say you've got it in one - earth (ground) problem. The rear light pcb > has a common earth track for everything and on every 900 I've owned it's > caused similar problems. Quite often it leaves you with just about every > rear light half illuminated while the one you actually needed isn't doing > much at all! > > Try this quick and ugly fix that's never failed me for anything up to 7 > yrs & 200,000Km (and anyway it's behind the carpet, soo....) > Take the lhs pcb out as far as you can then - no need to fully remove it > from the car, you just need access > Drill a 1/8 hole in one of the fatter bits of the ground track > Get a piece of cable about 90cm/3ft long and solder or crimp a round > teerminal to each end > Bolt one connector to the pcb and the other one to the brace in the rear > centre of the back panel where the other earth cables live. It's near the > velcro button that the floor grips onto > Hope that fixes it, but if it doesn't, at least you haven't wasted much > time or money! Cheers > Thanks for the reply. Actually I was working on it Saturday, and I think I've got it fixed. I think the ground itself was ok, and the problem was a loose connection of the blue/white wire (from the LHS turn signal) at the rear left wiring harness at the light cluster. I had a similar problem last year with brake lights. The solution was to pop the offending wire out of the wiring harness, and inspect the connector on the end. These things are like little springs, which push against a blade in the light cluster when the wiring harness is plugged in. In this case, the little spring was no longer very springy, and wasn't making good contact. So I bent it back up a bit, and put a bit of dielectric grease on it. I also fixed up some of the other connectors that seemed to be similarly affected. The problem is now solved! Plus, I seized this opportunity to fix a bum reversing light bulb. So, I've been driving around town flaunting my fully functional rear light clusters. Oh, and FWIW: I've had a similar problem with the connector that plugs into the air mass meter, which was causing an occasional Check Engine light. Also fixed by similar means. John
