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Blinkers come on but dont blink, new relay, and hazards don't work.

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Old 07-11-2019, 05:05 PM
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Default Blinkers come on but dont blink, new relay, and hazards don't work.

Hey gang. My 99 Camaro Z28 blinkers weren't working when I bought it back. They come on but dont blink. The rear tail light harness was all chopped up with butt connectors and all kinds of trash. I replaced that with a new harness and replaced all of the halogen bulbs with LEDs including dual filament bulbs for the brakes. The front blinker sockets were both burnt up and cracked. I wired in new ones and replaced the bulbs with switchback LEDs. And I've replaced the blinker relay with an EL12 relay. All of the bulbs work properly, the switchbacks are white when the lights are on and change to amber when I turn on the blinker. The tail light blinker bulb stays off when the lights are just like factory, then comes on when I turn on the blinker. They just dont blink. The hazard lights dont work either but I'm assuming that relay is bad as well because I believe it's a separate relay. Is there another fuse or relay under the hood that might be bad? What do you guys think? Thanks.

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Old 07-12-2019, 08:03 AM
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I would guess it's because your turn signal flasher isn't a no-load LED flasher. The EL-12 is an electronic flasher but it still needs some load. It will work when you replace only the front lamps with LEDs but not when you replace all bulbs with LEDs. And of course the original thermal flasher for the hazards won't work without a load either. You need an LED no-load flasher like a FF552NLF. Or you can add load resistors at each lamp to produce the equivalent load for the flasher.
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Old 07-12-2019, 11:08 AM
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Originally Posted by WhiteBird00
I would guess it's because your turn signal flasher isn't a no-load LED flasher. The EL-12 is an electronic flasher but it still needs some load. It will work when you replace only the front lamps with LEDs but not when you replace all bulbs with LEDs. And of course the original thermal flasher for the hazards won't work without a load either. You need an LED no-load flasher like a FF552NLF. Or you can add load resistors at each lamp to produce the equivalent load for the flasher.
Well like I said it wasnt working before with the halogen bulbs and a factory flasher either. I replaced the flasher with the EL12 just because that's what I read in a sticky thread on here to do. But I dont think it's the issue. I'll try the no load and see but I doubt that will be the fix.

Also gang I dont have the covers for the fuse panels in the engine bay. But i pulled all of the see through fuses and none of them appeared to be blown.
Old 07-12-2019, 12:01 PM
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Is the hazard relay the one that sits in the holder/clip just behind the HVAC controls down by the drivers right leg?
Old 07-12-2019, 12:08 PM
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The turn signal flasher is clipped to a bracket just to the right of the opening when the knee panel under the steering column is removed. It's near the OBD2 port. The hazard flasher is on the other side of the steering column farther down near the floorboard.


Turn signal flasher (#1)
Old 07-12-2019, 01:47 PM
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Originally Posted by WhiteBird00
The turn signal flasher is clipped to a bracket just to the right of the opening when the knee panel under the steering column is removed. It's near the OBD2 port. The hazard flasher is on the other side of the steering column farther down near the floorboard.


Turn signal flasher (#1)
Ah ok, well then I've replaced the hazard flasher with the EL12 and not the blinker flasher. I'll have to change that. But even so the hazards still don't work at all. The hazards don't even come on when activated.
Old 07-12-2019, 01:57 PM
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That could be a whole other can of worms. I assume that your brake lights work? If not then the STOP/HAZARD fuse is probably blown. Otherwise, we can get into various diagnostic steps if you have a test light or multimeter.
Old 07-12-2019, 04:49 PM
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Originally Posted by WhiteBird00
That could be a whole other can of worms. I assume that your brake lights work? If not then the STOP/HAZARD fuse is probably blown. Otherwise, we can get into various diagnostic steps if you have a test light or multimeter.
Brake lights work. Fuse was blown, idiot PO put a 5 Amp fuse in a 20 Amp slot. Fixed that and they work just fine. After that I checked all of the other fuses and they all appear to be good.
Old 07-17-2019, 02:54 PM
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Originally Posted by WhiteBird00
That could be a whole other can of worms. I assume that your brake lights work? If not then the STOP/HAZARD fuse is probably blown. Otherwise, we can get into various diagnostic steps if you have a test light or multimeter.
Alright so I found the blinker flasher and moved the EL12 over. My blinker lights on the dash were dim with that flasher in place. I also took the hazard flasher and moved it to the blinker plug and the indicator lights on the dash were dim as well. Just to see what would happen I put the blinker flasher on the hazard plug and the hazards then started to work. I put the flasher that was originally on the flasher plug back and same thing. No blinking but the lights on the dash are bright. So I guess I'm going to get a couple of no load relays and see what happens next.
Old 07-17-2019, 03:22 PM
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Let us know if that doesn't solve the problem. I can give you some simple tests you can do with a test light that will help narrow down the source of the problem.
Old 07-17-2019, 03:25 PM
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Originally Posted by WhiteBird00
Let us know if that doesn't solve the problem. I can give you some simple tests you can do with a test light that will help narrow down the source of the problem.
I tried a multimeter on the flasher plugs but got nothing volts wise. But if no volts were getting to the flasher then the blinkers wouldn't even come on so I know that's wrong. What would you suggest to hit with a test light? It's going to take a couple of days for the flasher to get here since I have to order it. I'm going to order a Keep It Clean FF552NLF from Amazon.
Old 07-17-2019, 04:00 PM
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First check that your backup lights work... if not, replace the TURN B/U fuse. Next, unplug the turn signal flasher, turn on the ignition and check for power on the brown wire of the flasher socket (make sure you use an independent ground like the ground bolt behind the left kick panel - don't use the other side of the flasher socket). If no power then there's a break in the wire between the fuse and the flasher. Next plug the flasher back in and go to the steering column connector. Connector C216 is a 11-pin flat connector attached to the base of the steering column (not the similar connector which is not attached to the column). There is a purple wire near the middle of the connector which is the output from the flasher. This is a little tricky... you need to leave the connector plugged in, turn on the ignition and a turn signal (either direction) then back probe the purple wire in the connector. You should get power that flashes on and off. If not, try one of your other flashers. If none of them work then the problem is likely in the column or turn signal switch. This is where a multimeter is more useful. Use the continuity setting, or the resistance setting if your meter doesn't have a continuity setting. Unplug the connector and check the continuity (zero resistance) between the wires going up the column. With the turn signal lever in the left turn position, the purple wire and the light blue/white wire should have continuity (left front turn signal). The purple wire and the yellow wire should also have continuity (left rear turn signal). Similarly, when in the right turn position, the purple wire should have continuity with the dark blue/white (right front) and dark green (right rear) wires. If those things don't check out then you can be sure that either the turn signal switch or the wires in the steering column are broken.

Another check would be to (carefully) use a short jumper wire to connect the flasher to the turn signal lamps. Leave the connector disconnected, turn on the ignition and use your piece of wire to connect the purple wire to each of the output wires (light blue/white, yellow, dark blue/white, dark green) and have a helper confirm that each of the front and rear signals works in order. You're bypassing the steering column and turn signal switch so that will tell you whether they are the problem or there's a problem in the wiring somewhere.
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Old 07-17-2019, 06:40 PM
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Ok thanks for the info. I'll check into that as soon as I can. I did order the flasher. Was only $16 shipped. And yes my back up lights work. I'll report back once I know more.
Old 07-25-2019, 01:54 PM
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Welp the no load flasher fixed the issue! I guess the old one was bad or something and that's why it wasn't working with the halogens. Or it was the wrong one. I've found a bunch of wrong fuses and such on this car while I've been digging through it.
Old 07-25-2019, 02:49 PM
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Glad you got it working and that the fix was relatively simple.

BTW, a point of clarification... the standard bulbs aren't halogen, they're just ordinary incandescent - basically like a household bulb.
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Old 07-25-2019, 06:20 PM
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Gotcha. Yeah I meant the factory style bulbs, was just using the wrong type of bulb to name them hahaha. Thanks for the help.




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