kimokalihi Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 90 Legacy AWD wagon 4EAT I replaced my cracked taillights yesterday and I took my blinkers out of my bumper and rewired them to the corner lights. I did this because I'm going to mount fog lights where the blinkers were. Right now they're in my grill but I can't get them to stay aimed where I want them due to the way they're set in the grill. Anyways, now my blinkers flash really fast. The way they do when one of them is burnt out. But they're not. They work just fine, all four. I can hear the relay clicking like crazy when they're on. At first I thought that it was because I cut the wires for the corner lights and soldered the wires to light connector in the corner lights to the turn signal wiring. But then I realized that the corner lights were both burned out ever since I got the car so what does it matter anyways? (I bought new bulbs for them when I did this whole thing) My second problem is that a light comes on in my gauge cluster every once in a while that says "stop lamp". It happens when I hit the brakes but only every once in a while. It'll do it for maybe 30 seconds every time I push the pedal in. I held the pedal in when it did this and had a friend go behind the car and check the taillights and they were working fine...So I really don't understand what this is trying to tell me. Thanks in advane for any info anyone has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 Well that sounds like the result of additional load, like when someone wires in trailer lights and then the turn signals blink faster. Usually those flashers are a bimetallic strip that is normally closed, when energized it starts to get hot and then opens the connection, so then it starts to cool and recloses. Extra lights or load make it get hotter faster so then it flashes faster. Also, I don't know your state's inspection requirements (if any), but will changing the lighting configuration like that be an issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manarius Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 All right. Here's my idea on this one. By soldering the wires together, you messed up the system and now that's why it blinks fast. Try grounding it out a little bit and see if that fixes it. And for the stop lamp, have you replaced any of the rear bulbs recently? The ECU reads the resistance across them and "determines" whether a bulb is out or not. This is a good system, but weird bulbs can give it a reading it interprets as a bulb being blown out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virrdog Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 All right. Here's my idea on this one. By soldering the wires together, you messed up the system and now that's why it blinks fast. Try grounding it out a little bit and see if that fixes it. :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manarius Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 :confused: Well, he hot soldered wires together that weren't originally wired like that before. And because the system runs on resistance, it probably increased resistance on the system when he did that soldering. So, the ECU reads that as a higher resistance and therefore makes the blinkers blink like crazy. So, grounding out the system may perhaps alleviate the problem. I don't know for sure though because I'm not an electrician. The blinker system, while simple, is delicate and mucking with it can lead to some weird things, ie this person's problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimokalihi Posted November 13, 2006 Author Share Posted November 13, 2006 Hmm... Well how come they blink faster when a bulb is out? Isn't that the opposite of what you're saying? On the taillights I used the lights that were in them when I got them off the car at the junkyard. It hasn't done it today. Maybe it stopped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virrdog Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Well, he hot soldered wires together that weren't originally wired like that before. And because the system runs on resistance, it probably increased resistance on the system when he did that soldering. So, the ECU reads that as a higher resistance and therefore makes the blinkers blink like crazy. So, grounding out the system may perhaps alleviate the problem. I don't know for sure though because I'm not an electrician. The blinker system, while simple, is delicate and mucking with it can lead to some weird things, ie this person's problem. System runs on resistance... Ecu reads higher resistance... Grounding out... I don't know for sure... <-- Bingo I'm thinking perhaps you should have started and stopped there. Because it sure sounds like you don't know what you are talking about. And what's grounding out? Is that a dance or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltik Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Im not sure about the stop lamp problem, maybe a corroded bulb socket? (the corrosion would increase the resistance on one of the bulb sockets possibly making the ECU sense a fault). Also using a bulb with a lower watt rating than stock would cause a similar problem. As for the blinker bulbs, if you wired them into the corner lamps in a parallel configuration that would lower the resistance causing a higher current flow and possibly causing them to blink faster (as the higher current flow would cause the bimetallic sping to heat up quicker). Now if i understand this right you took the bulbs off their proper electrical connection and added them to the connection for another bulb. Could you just lengthen the wires and keep everything on its original circuit? Same as Manarius im not an Auto sparky so for all i know this could be completely wrong, but its something to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manarius Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 If you didn't wire them like this set up, you probably messed it up a little. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/markerflash/markerflash.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 From reading your post about the blinker change the way I undersand it is you changed the front bulbs to a different type bulb that are in a different socket. If that is correct then you will need to put the original bulbs back in the circuit to make the flasher work as it normally does. The flasher is designed to work with the resistance of those particular bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggywerewolf Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Hmm... Well how come they blink faster when a bulb is out? Isn't that the opposite of what you're saying? On the taillights I used the lights that were in them when I got them off the car at the junkyard. It hasn't done it today. Maybe it stopped. The system traditionally works on a type of thermal switch where a resistor expands and shrinks to modulate completion of the circuit when you apply current. Therefore, the system is sensitive to the amount of current that gets drawn through it. Too much current (too many bulbs, wrong wattage bulb, etc.) and the resistor expands and contracts rapidly. Too little current (ie. burned out bulb) and the flashed blinks slowly, or may not blink at all. I'm with the "wrong bulb/socket" camp on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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