1993 245 w/ ~ 200k.

i'm trying to figure out why the right blinker now flashes with a much faster frequncy than it did before the accident. Here are the details.

Minor fender bender last Friday night where the front passenger headlight and blinker were both busted out (no body damage thankfully!). On the way home, the headlight bulb was still working even though the big lense cover was completely broken. Also, the passenger side blinker lense cover was completely busted out and one of the two bulb holders was gone..and there was a loose wire where the headlight bracket had severed the blinker wire. I noticed at this point that when I used the right blinker, the frequency of the flasher was faster than before the mishap, and was also faster than the driver side blinker. I figured that since the damage hadn't been fixed yet (blinker wire severed, bulb busted out, etc) that this was to be expected. Today, I replaced the headlamp assembly and bracket, connected the two connectors (headlight and blinker) to the new fresh wiring on the new assembly and the flash frequency is still too fast when I turn on the passenger side blinker. I swapped light bulbs between the driver and passenger side front blinkers and still the passenger side flashes too fast.

Do these cars have separate driver and passenger side flashers? Is it possible that the accident also caused damage to the flasher in the dash? Ideas?

Cabbie

Most flashers have a built-in feature to indicate that there's a burned out bulb (or at least some circuit problem putting less current on the circuit) -- less amperage results in a faster rate, so if you have a front and rear bulb blinking, it will flash at a normal rate; but if one or the other bulb isn't lighting (burned out, loose in the socket, or not grounded adequately), the flash rate will increase substantially. And that's your cue to go look for the non-functioning bulb.

Curiously, when someone puts LED bulbs in their car in place of incandescents, again they will observe that speeded up flash rate, because the LED bulbs use far less current, and to the flasher, it's as if a bulb isn't working. The usual "fix" is to add a resistor to mimic the load of an incandescent bulb (but this negates the advantages of using less current), or else (per my article in Rolling about converting to LED lighting) replace the flasher with another that does not have the burned-out-bulb indicating function!

This increased blink rate warning only works, however, with the turn signals. The 4-way, hazard switch that blinks all turn signals simultaneously uses the same flasher as the turn signals, but it seems unaffected by a burned out bulb -- i.e., the flash rate will remain unchanged even if a bulb is burned out.

So.... after reading your post, I swapped the new bulb from the new passenger side blinker to the driver side blinker. The passenger side blinker still blinks faster even though it has the driver's side blinker bulb installed. It's as though something in the circuitry got damaged when the accident occurred. Why is my passenger side blinking at a much faster rate still ...even after the repairs are complete??????
Cabbie

That's good for confirming that the bulb isn't the cause, but it's only one of the possibilities. The flasher blinks faster because of the reduced current in the whole circuit -- you have to check all the bulbs, and all the connections:
1) did the bulb light with the same brightness?
2) are the grounds good?
3) even though you got hit on only one end of the car, have you checked the bulbs at both (front and rear) ends, because the flasher lights the bulbs at both ends of the car?

There's a reason the flash rate is different on the two sides of the car -- you have to find the reason.

This question may be a bit iffy, but does the rear right turn signal still flash or is it dark?

jorrell
--
92 245 299.3K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!

The passenger side rear turn signal now flashes at a much faster rate than before the accident....even though I've repaired all the damage to the front passenger side headlight assembly.

Do both front and rear passenger side rear turn signals flash?
Dan

Yes. But at a much faster rate than before the accident.