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Matthew's Auto Repair Blog

By Matthew Wright, About.com Guide to Auto Repair

Get Into Flashers (No Trench Coat Required)

Friday March 7, 2008
Don't be shy, it's time to get into flashers. No, not balding, pale men with open trench coats, we're talking about turn signals.

Your turn signals are one of the most important safety features on your car. They are so important that car designers figured out ways to signal a turn before they knew how to make a blinking light. Early turn signals consisted of little arms that popped up on whatever side of the car indicated the turn you were about to make. The good news was they never needed a new flasher relay. The bad news was that they didn't flash.

Your turn signals do flash, or at least they're supposed to flash. If they aren't flashing or are otherwise malfunctioning, you need to get them fixed as soon as possible. It's an easy repair, and almost always requires turn signal relay replacement. Don't sweat it, we'll make it easy on you with another simple step by step, how-to tutorial. Just keep your coat buttoned, please.

photo CC licensed by MSmail

Comments

March 8, 2008 at 8:21 pm
(1) DEE J. CLARK says:

Try it on a 2002 Olds alero. First the part costs about $35.00 then it takes 3-4 hours and thats by a trained tech at a dealer.

March 9, 2008 at 11:50 am
(2) autorepair says:

Very true, there are some models that are insanely difficult to work on. I suggest everybody consult their manual before diving into a repair, even a simple one.

April 5, 2008 at 9:20 pm
(3) team.xlr8 says:

many models have independent fuses(left & right) as well as the flasher relay,check em all,then check your ground connections.remember your flashers are on the same circuit as your brake lights,multi function switches can cause trbl with flashers as well as third brake lights.

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