2005 Subaru Baja Passenger side turn signal lights stuck on.

[AKIRA]

Hi, this is regarding my fathers car, a 2005 Subaru Baja AT Turbo, about 110K miles.

At one point, his passenger side turn signal lights came on and stayed on (solid, not flashing). They are on even when you take the keys out of the car.

To be specific, it's the front and rear pass. side turn signal lights, and the front pass. side parking light (which is affected because it would normally flash along with the turn signals), so 3 lights.

On the dash the pass. side turn signal indicator (the green arrow) is lit up and always on too.

The Drivers side turn signal lights work fine, they flash normally.
 

But, when you push the hazard switch in, the drivers side turn signal lights come on and stay on like the pass side. There is no relay click when you do this, only the click of the switch when you push it in.

Using the drivers turn signals and the keyless entry unit, we were able to track down 3 modules that make clicking noises & cause lights to flash, two when you use the drivers side turn signals (one with a black plug under the drivers dash, mounted to the steering shaft, and a larger one, on the left side of the drivers side foot well up under the dash. It has a white plug). The third one is the keyless entry/security module, it's behind the glove box.

 

We unplugged all three modules to no effect, the pass. side lights mentioned are still lit up solid.

Is there another relay that we couldn't find (and if so, where is it?) or is there possibly a problem with the hazard switch?

 

Thank You.

[gbhrps]

akira,

 

You obviously have a short in the electrical system of the turn signal. Without the aid of a wiring diagram for your model to check, I suspect that your turn signal switch in the steering column is the logical culprit.

 

Depending on whether you can be without the car for a day or so, if it were my car, I'd pull the combination switch (turn signal/high beam switch) out of the steering column and test and check the switch contacts for a right turn. If its had a contact come apart and jam or weld itself to another contact, you may be able to see where the problem is. At that point, put in a used switch from a wrecking yard, or spend bigger bucks and get to a dealership for a new one.

 

Should you decide to tackle this job yourself, disconnect the battery and wait 1/2 hour for the capacitor to dissipate its stored electrical charge. That will prevent the air bag firing in your face accidentally should you jar the steering column.

 

As well, before pulling the wiring harness for the combination switch out of the steering column, tie a sturdy string to its connector end under the dash. That way when you pull the switch and harness through the column, you'll be able to tie the string to the replacement harness  and pull it back down through the column. Good Luck!

[brus brother]

"At one point, his passenger side turn signal lights came on and stayed
on (solid, not flashing). They are on even when you take the keys out of
the car."

Any chance this involves the toggle switch on top of the steering column??

Switch half way on/off?

Edited August 8, 2014 by brus brother

[AKIRA]

OK, these are some things we'll check.

 

Would the turn signal switch cause the lights to stay on with the car off though?

 

I saw that the switch on the top of the column was off, but I'll switch it back and forth a few times to see what it does.

[gbhrps]

akira,

 

That switch dead center on top of the steering column is the parking light switch. It could be involved someway, but then you'd expect that all the running lights would be on, not just the passenger side. But, perhaps the two systems (parking lights and right side turn signal lights) are shorted together in some way.

 

I once traced a similar problem (turn signal would go on, on the passenger side, but would not flash) to someone who had put a single filament bulb in the front turn signal, instead of a double filament bulb. The single contact bulb was actually touching both contacts in the light socket base causing the feedback problems.

[AKIRA]

We somewhat got it, it's an issue with the circut for connecting a trailers lighting up to your car.

 

I was looking at the fuses (I was going to pull the one for the brake lights and see if that made the issue go away) when I saw the one for the trailer lighting.

I pulled it and everything is back to normal. I assume something in it has shorted and is backfeeding power to the passenger side turn signals.

 

We have the fuse pulled for now, so he can drive it normally, we'll have to troubleshoot it more when I have time off.

[Justin8888]

I had the exact same problem on my 2005 Turbo Baja. Your partial solution also worked for me.

 

You really helped me out BIG TIME.

 

Thanks!

 

- Justin

[bspargo]

I had the same problem today.  Pulled the Trail/Rear Fog fuse and the problem went away.

Plugged the fuse back in and the problem did not come right back.

BUT, my remote unlock/lock buttons were not functioning well - very intermittent response to presses of the buttons.

Pulled the fuse again and the remote worked great.

WIERD!

Thoughts on a permanent fix?

Will my trailer hitch wiring no longer work if I leave the fuse out?