87' Turn signals not working please help.

[Tony]

Hello Fellow Square Body Family,
My 87' Suburbans turn signal lights just stopped working and I haven't a clue what it could be. I checked the fuses and thier fine. The emergency lights do blink, and the parking lights and tail lights work. Just no signals. Can you please recommend what to check next. Thanks

 

[89Suburban]

Swap the flasher from the 4 ways and see if they start to work.


http://www.gmsquarebody.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3398

 

[87sierra]

when you attempt to turn on the turn signal do you here a clicking sound if not its probably a bad flasher

 

[89Suburban]

The flasher for the turns is on the bottom right of the fuse block next to the parking brake and the flasher for the 4 ways is above the gas pedal to the right, lower left part of that board. At least it is on mine.

 

[Tony]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'll check the flasher and let you know. And no I don't hear the clicking of the blinker when I engage it. I only see one round flasher, is the the only one? And if not where would the other be.
thanks again.

 

[87sierra]

its probably the flasher then since you should here a click that is quiet but can still be heard
another thing you can do to test is connect a test light to one side of the flasher and creat a circuit and see if the light on the test light flashes if not replace the flasher
the other flasher will be located near the accelerator pedal already note by 89Suburban

 

[89Suburban]

Here is some reference pics to help:

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[dhamp]

Instead of starting a new thread, I'm gonna piggy back on this one...Mods, please correct if necessary.

Anywho......here's the symptoms that I have (DS = left, PS = right):
1) Left turn signals work perfectly.
2) With the lights off, right turn signal comes on, but doesn't blink. Front side marker stays off.
3) With the lights off, right turn signal comes on constantly in the back, but the front flasher & side marker are off.
4) With the hazards on, everything blinks that should. The front flashers and side markers blink together. Earlier in the thread I read they should alternate between the side marker and the front. Mine don't, but I can remember if this has always been the case or not. Both backs blink at the same time. On the front, they sometimes alternate left and right. Other times the right flashes about 1/2 second behind the left.

Whaddaya think? Hopefully it's a bad flasher (=simple fix). Or do y'all think I've somehow developed a wiring problem? It wasn't doing this before. It started when I was taking it to the shop on Sat to get the brake hose replaced.

 

[chengny]

This doesn't addess your problem but might help someone else:

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You probably have a loose ground. Probably at the common ground point on the radiator support:

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Release, clean the contact surfaces and retighten the bolt.

Also, go through each parking light assembly (rears as well as fronts), remove the lamps and check the sockets. Use a Scotchbrite pad to clean any corrosion/oxidation from the socket walls and base. wash the sockets out with carb cleaner and replace the lamps.

This is a good place to start the troubleshooting procedure. But first, as an easy check of the flasher relay, try switching the hazard flasher with the directionals. If the problem goes away - you're all done.

 

[dhamp]

Thanks Chengy. I'm gonna drive her to work today. Hopefully I'll get home in time to swap the flashers at least. Whether it works or not, I'll go ahead and clean & tighten the ground.

 

[jt1200r]

i had that problem .it was the turn/run lite bulb socket

 

[dhamp]

i had that problem .it was the turn/run lite bulb socket

So, the one below the headlight? How did you diagnose it? If you pulled the bulb out, did everything else start working correctly?

 

[dhamp]

Just to update: I started checking sockets and didn't see any sign of deterioration. With the bulbs still out, I went ahead and swapped the flashers and the signals started working. However, now the right dash indicator stays dimly lit when the lights are on. Otherwise, everything is flashing as it should. When I went to reinstall the front bulb, I saw some corrosion in the socket on the side terminal. Went to clean it out, and the side terminal just broke off. Tomorrow, I'm going in search of a new socket and I'll go ahead and put 2 new flashers in since they're pretty cheap. Hopefully, it'll all be fixed after that.

 

[89Suburban]

When I went to reinstall the front bulb, I saw some corrosion in the socket on the side terminal. Went to clean it out, and the side terminal just broke off.