A couple of days ago, the turn signals on my 2003 Baja starting blinking faster when I accelerated, and slowing down when I took my foot off the gas pedal. I also noticed a faint high-pitched whine coming from somewhere in the car when it was doing this, but couldn't isolate it. I checked all of the bulbs, and none were burned out, so I took apart the head- and tail-light assemblies and checked everything with an ohmmeter for high-resistance to ground. All looked good, and there was no visible corrosion or abraded wires. I also checked the connections to the relay under the dash and followed the wiring harnesses as far as I could.

 

After I got everything back together, the problem went away for a day or two, but now it's back, and I'm looking for ideas on anything else I can try before biting the bullet and taking it in to the shop.

 

All suggestions gratefully accepted!

Could it be a voltage issue with your charging system?

Yeah, that thought had crossed my mind also. I was wondering if I could possibly have an intermittent connection to the battery or alternator. The high-pitched whine could be coming from the alternator. I also noticed today that the electronic clock on the dash was off by several hours and I had just set it a few weeks ago, which seemed suspicious.

Remove the alternator and take it into an auto parts store to get it checked out for free. I know Autozone does it for free.

Edited September 11, 201312 yr by MR_Loyale

I just checked the dashboard clock, and it changed by 3 hours when the car was sitting in the garage with the engine off, so I think it's more likely to be an intermittent battery connection. I'm going to clean and retighten the ground connection to the battery first. If that doesn't do anything, I'll get the alternator checked out.

Cleaning the ground connection on the battery with baking soda and a wire brush did the trick. Even though it looked pretty good before I cleaned it, there must've been enough corrosion to create a high-resistance/voltage-drop in the flasher circuit.

Not the flasher circuit, the charging circuit. The battery wasn't getting the full charging power from the alternator due to the added resistance. So that leaves the battery slightly discharged from what it normally should be. When the alternator speeds up then the added voltage coming from it goes to the accessories.

Cleaning the ground connection on the battery with baking soda and a wire brush did the trick. Even though it looked pretty good before I cleaned it, there must've been enough corrosion to create a high-resistance/voltage-drop in the flasher circuit.

Did your cleaning include removing both battery cables, then clean the battery posts and inside the cable post connector? There is a wire brush tool designed to clean both the post and cable connectorl, but I am guessing you already have this handy tool.

 

If the cleaning work doesn't fix the problem, then I would suspect a bad alternator.

Edited September 15, 201312 yr by Rooster2

Not the flasher circuit, the charging circuit. The battery wasn't getting the full charging power from the alternator due to the added resistance. So that leaves the battery slightly discharged from what it normally should be. When the alternator speeds up then the added voltage coming from it goes to the accessories.

 

I wonder what effect that could have on other electrical systems besides the turn signals, flashers, and clock?

 

Did your cleaning include removing both battery cables, then clean the battery posts and inside the cable post connector? There is a wire brush tool designed to clean both the post and cable connector. but I am guessing you already have this handy tool.

 

Yup, I already had the right tool for this job. The positive cable/post looked like it had been cleaned and greased the last time I had the Baja in the shop, so I just did the negative. It's been 5 days w/no problems, so I'm about ready to close the case.

You are most likely good to go now. The lower charging voltage getting to the battery doesn't really make a significant difference to the other things in the car. The lights aren't as bright or the blower doesn't spin as fast, who cares. If voltage gets below 10 volts that could make some difference to some things. You wouldn't even be able to start the engine if the battery was that low.

that whine you heard was the turn signal fluid pump the more gas you give it the faster it pumps,it also spins the muffler bearings faster too.

2 year old thread soop

still thought it was funny.