Stuck in Minneapolis with no signals

[Gatorbait]

I'm in Minneapolis and my turn signals stopped working. Replaced the fuse and it'll go left but as soon as I hit it right it blows the fuse. So I'm guessing there's a short on the right blinker side. I disconnected the right front on the hood and it still does it. Do I just keep isolating each light until it doesn't trip? I'm running out of fuses. Oh and I just found a nail in my tire. Any good skoolie mechanics that won't charge an arm and a leg that you guys know of? I can't drive this thing with no signals...

[Gatorbait]

Also the blinkers would gradually get slower if I left them on. Is my flasher not heavy duty enough?

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by Gatorbait

Also the blinkers would gradually get slower if I left them on. Is my flasher not heavy duty enough?

Can you change the flasher easily?

I ask because it might be that unit that is shorting out. Flashers getting slower indicates either that some part of the system is over heating (flasher unit?), or that the battery is going flat.

[Gatorbait]

That was my thinking as well. We stopped at the mall of America because I just had to step away from it for a minute. Gonna go get a new flasher in a bit and I'll update ya

[Gatorbait]

New flasher allows the left turn signal but the right one blinks once then stops. If I put the hazards on, it blows the fuse. Gonna try to change the bulbs then I guess I'll start looking for an open wire or bad ground. And now it's raining... I tell ya, whenever something bad happens, a bunch of **** happens. Screw in the tire, rock cracked the windshield, water pump won't prime and the blinkers; all in one day....

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by Gatorbait

New flasher allows the left turn signal but the right one blinks once then stops. If I put the hazards on, it blows the fuse. Gonna try to change the bulbs then I guess I'll start looking for an open wire or bad ground. And now it's raining... I tell ya, whenever something bad happens, a bunch of **** happens. Screw in the tire, rock cracked the windshield, water pump won't prime and the blinkers; all in one day....

Don't forget to check the actual switch on the steering column.

[Gatorbait]

So I took the covers off the lights to check the bulbs. They all looked good. Put everything back together and dropped it off at a freightliner dealership to maybe have a second set of eyes on it. They called me back and said everything works fine. He couldn't get the fuse to blow. So I'm guessing it was just a bad ground on one of the lights and I fixed it when I put everything back together. I should have checked it one more time before dropping it off, could've saved $180.

[Rovobay]

Glad you got that figured out. sucks about the screw, windshield, and pump. rough day!

[jjhwick119]

If it never blew a fuse while they had it, what were they diagnosing to still charge you 180? Ive done electrical diagnostics for a shop before, if you can't recreate the problem, every wire will be reading correctly, so theres literally nothing you can do until the problem occurs. Unless they actually took stuff apart to try and find a broken wire, i don't think they should have charged you.

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

If it never blew a fuse while they had it, what were they diagnosing to still charge you 180? Ive done electrical diagnostics for a shop before, if you can't recreate the problem, every wire will be reading correctly, so theres literally nothing you can do until the problem occurs. Unless they actually took stuff apart to try and find a broken wire, i don't think they should have charged you.

Maybe not, but car dealers will charge $100 just to plug in an OBD II scanner and pull codes.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by Twigg

Maybe not, but car dealers will charge $100 just to plug in an OBD II scanner and pull codes.

Something any auto parts store will do for you for free, or you can buy your own scanner for $20 and do them yourselves.