Hey everyone 😎 hope everyone's summer is going awesome. Sort of a weird one over here in Idaho - super used to being in a drought every summer but nature has decided to bless us with a few 80° (26.6 cels) days and some rain. I know the plants are ecstatic!
For the most part... I have patched up what issues have popped up and made my way past it - but I can't seem to get past this one. There I was one day driving - go to take a right hand turn, and BAM! Indicator Lamp Failure!

Now before you say anything..... GROUND! GROUND! GROUND! This is the first place I checked.

The ground/earth point on the passenger side of the vehicle, behind the strut - did not seem corroded or rusted out or anything weird. I removed it, brushed what dirt and grime was on it - and affixed it back into place. Go to turn the car on.... same issue.
Before I say anything else - there is something maybe someone here can answer even if I don't find the fix to my problem. I ASSUMED that this was a ground issue because A. ground issues are pretty common.... and B. my rear turn signal works. VERY, VERY dim, but it indeed works and responds to me using the turn signal. Front turn signal does not work at all. Headlights and break lights work.... turn signals do not. This is why I assumed a ground issue - although I do understand that there is a potential for the insulation of the wires to corrode and fall apart, exposing the wire to the outside world. The right turn signals actually started working again for I'd say.... maybe a drive and a half after the initial breakage. Again, another reason I figured a ground issue. Dont know if any of the boxes that are connected to the headlights like a ballast or something would affect the operation overall...

Here are my questions.
Should I just completely move the grounding point from where it is currently at....

to here? Seen a fella in a video talk about moving his around with a new nut and bolt.. doesnt seem too difficult. It just didn't seem like my ground was the problem though. Totally still could be, I am fresh behind the ears.
My other question - is if anyone has gone through this or a similar issue... what was your solution? Or what do you recommend I look at?
My left turn signals on the whole car work flawlessly. I know this is the car responding to the right turn signal not working... but when I flick the turn signal on, the green arrow in our cluster pointing right has a much... much faster tick rate than before. Sort of weird to explain... but the green arrow ticking on and off when the LEFT turn signal is on... is normal speed. Right? Suuuper fast and almost has a different sound. Clearly there is an issue but it is strange to see the car almost react to the issue.

Thank you all for reading over the post and giving any and all insight! Hope your guyses summers arent as hot.

 

You did check the bulbs were good - right?

Maybe cut away the heat shrink on the ground lugs and see if there is corrosion in the crimp section of the lugs. I drilled and tapped a new hole for the bolt. You could use that spare hole for re-attaching the lugs, I did think about that. Dimming on the rear turn might be corrosion around the bulb and socket causing some resistance.

 

Since the problem is on the right side, makes me suspicious of the wiring harness that often gets trapped behind the bumper cover, pinched and wires break over time. I don’t know if the turn signal wires are in that harness, but it’s something to look into.

 

@McJag222 I have not checked the bulbs. I figured that a bulb issue would not cause all of the indicators on the right side of the car to stop working at once - but I have been wrong a lot. They are cheap enough that I can feel okay about throwing some bulbs at the problem to see if it does anything. I will for sure check the crimp section of the eyelets & move the ground location. Thank you!

@kj07xk I actually have my front bumper off of the car at the moment - the only wiring that I saw in obvious sight was for these lights:

and the wire stretched across the inside of the front bumper from light to light. This is of course aside from the big plugs that go into the headlights - but that's too obvious. And the headlights work so that big cord hopefully isn't apart of my equation.


So one more thing I do want to rattle out there - I replaced my passenger fender about a month ago from a wreck a previous owner was involved in. When I put the fender back on - I did not plug the SIDE indicator light back in as I had made the decision in the moment that I would do it later - even though I feel dumb now because it would have taken an extra 30 seconds of effort. Could that plug not being plugged into the side emblem indicator:

be the root or cause of this madness? Maybe a combination of the side indicator not being plugged in + a corroded rear bulb socket / bad ground? I will keep researching and attempting things either way - thank you both of ya

 

Not having that side indicator not plugged may cause problems with the front (maybe) - I think I can see the side indicator in red on the pic you posted. When I had ground problems with that lug the passenger side repeater on the fender did show up on my display but not the front position as that was fine.

 

I’m just curious where the access to change that side bulb lives lol.

 

Nothing in the owners manwell, but the service manwell says:

TURN SIGNAL INDICATOR REPEATER LAMP

The turn signal indicator repeater lamps are located in each front fender and can be removed by
sliding the lamp assembly rearwards and releasing the front edge from the fender. The lamps use a
5W capless bulb which is located in a holder in the rear of the lamp housing.

Capless W5W 5 Watt

 

If the other suggestions don't solve it:

Maybe a damaged indicator wire shorting to earth near the front lamp. This would reduce voltage to the rear lamp if not blowing the fuse.

 

Little update since I finally found time to get hands on with the problem.
Moved the ground lug that is partially behind the shock absorber - to some random Torx bolt that was screwed in right underneath the original ground location. No change!
I removed both of the little boxes/ballasts/modules from each headlamp, connected them to the opposite headlamp, and still nothing.
Even tried connecting the RIGHT headlamp to the LEFT headlamp plug - still nothing.

Things I have left to try: remove the heat shrink from the ground lugs to see if there is any corrosion. Check where the bulbs plug into the headlamp and see if there is any corrosion. Check fuse (need to figure out what fuse # this would be).
I have NOT checked the bulbs - which probably seems to be a no brainer.... but the thing is that the right turn signal actually started to work again for like half of a day, AFTER the initial problem arose. I would just figure that if the bulb was broken - it'd be broken. I do think I have some of those bulbs laying around so I will probably throw one of those in right now.

Thank you all!

 

Sometimes the severed actual lighting element in incandescent bulbs can bounce around, occasionally reconnect for awhile, the detach again.

 

Also, just in the habit of it; as all metal oxidizes eventually. I do use electrical contact cleaner on all connectors. And I do seal with liquid electrical tape. (Don’t worry, it does peel off when you need to)

I’ve been doing this for years on boats, cars, around the pool, hottub, you name it.

fwiw
Cheers!

 

Replaced bulbs, issue remains.
Swapped the left & right headlights, and the headlight on the broken side of the car worked perfectly when plugged into the drivers side. Now I know the problem is caused by a wire in the car rather than it potentially being a headlight issue. I have moved the ground that is behind the shock absorber various times - enough to be confident that the issue isn't with the ground either. When I get time, I will try my best to trace the wires and visually inspect them. Thank you all again!

 

Bought a wire brush attachment for my drill so I could really get the thread and ground lugs cleaned off. Everything that has to do with the 2 lugs that ground behind the shock absorber has clean metal contact now and the issue remains.
The wires that come off of the 2 ground lugs seem to snake into a bigger wiring harness that go into 2 directions. One direction goes off and becomes the headlight connector cable - and the other direction is at the top of the fender and seems to go backward toward most likely the battery. I did not see any broken wiring or snapped cords or anything that one would deem troublesome. It was a rough draft inspection.... but I just don't know where to really focus my attention. When I was putting my passenger fender back on since the original was damaged, I did not hook up the side indicator lamp. The wire that would plug into the side lamp seems to be pinched pretty rough between something when I shine my light into the fender. Don't ask me why I didn't hook the side indicator up properly, I only realised it recently. Let's just say it was damaged.... do we really think that would affect the whole system? I know it has been pinched in there since the day I put the fender back on.... and everything was working fine for months after the install. There was no dash warning letting me know that the actual side indicator lamp on the fender was not working. Thanks for the read everyone

 

I know it has been pinched in there since the day I put the fender back on.... and everything was working fine for months after the install.

If it's pinched there's every possibility that squashed insulation has worn through causing a partial short (between adjacent wires or to whatever is pinching if it's metal). This won't always blow a fuse but can draw enough current to heat the wire and reduce circuit voltage.
Suggest untrapping the pinched wire.

 

Ding ding ding.
All working now.