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Car Forum / Saab Cars / February 2006

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trouble with directional (turn signal)

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slycheese - 16 Feb 2006 06:29 GMT
Hi,

I have a '91 Saab 900 and the directional is giving me some trouble.
The right directional works fine.  The left doesn't work at all.

The hazards also don't work properly.  The hazards cause the dash arrow
lights to light up solid.  Likewise, all the lights on the outside of
the car light solid.  When the hazards are off and the directional is
off the left arrow on the dash is lit solid and all of the lights on
the left side of the car light solid.  When I turn on the left turn
signal nothing changes.  When I turn on the right turn signal the left
side remains illuminated and the right side behaves properly (flashing
and clicking).

According to my Bentley manual the fact that the right signal works
properly means that the flashing relay is good.  They suggest a broken
or improper light bulb will cause the system to behave funny.  But I
haven't changed any of the light bulbs in years (so they all should be
correct) and they all seem to light up.

I'm sure the lit arrow on the dash is trying to tell me something but
can't find any indication of what it means in the car's manual.  Any
suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
mark
Michael Halliwell - 16 Feb 2006 06:48 GMT
> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> Thanks,
> mark

Hey Mark,

Check the bulbs on that side of the car....they may be the right ones,
but if one of the filaments in the bulbs has broken and is touching part
of the other, you'll get a short across that circuit that can cause the
lights to stay on.

You'll likely find that you have a bulb that needs replacing.

Michael H
slycheese - 17 Feb 2006 01:11 GMT
Thanks, I will check that out.

One new discovery today:  If the headlights are off the directionals
work fine on both sides.  If the headlights are on the problem is as
described below.

mark

> > Hi,
> >
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
>
> Michael H
Michael Halliwell - 17 Feb 2006 06:04 GMT
> Thanks, I will check that out.
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> mark

Sounds right....when you turn on the headlights, you energize the marker
light portion of the turn signal...if you're just on running lights, it
is just the blinker.

I think you'll likely find it is just the main front or rear turn signal
bulb.

Michael H
philcycles - 17 Feb 2006 19:09 GMT
> I think you'll likely find it is just the main front or rear turn signal
> bulb.
>
> Michael H

Or a bad ground wire on one of the tail light clusters.
Phil Brown
Michael Halliwell - 18 Feb 2006 06:57 GMT
>>I think you'll likely find it is just the main front or rear turn signal
>>bulb.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> Or a bad ground wire on one of the tail light clusters.
> Phil Brown

Fair enough on that, it is another possible cause...but I'm an optimist
and I've seen more filaments be the cause of this kind of event, on all
sorts of makes not just Saabs, rather than ground wires...

Besides, we can always hope for Mark that it will be as simple as
changing a bulb.

Michael Halliwell
slycheese - 18 Feb 2006 07:36 GMT
You were very much correct.  It was the front turn signal bulb that was
the problem.  I couldn't see anything wrong with the filament so I
tried re-seating it.  That made the problem not as bad, but it still
wasn't working right.  So I replaced the bulb and now every thing is in
order.

The filaments didn't look to be touching but the contacts on the bottom
of the bulb were really pancaked out, so I think they could have been
touching a little.  Perhaps.

Thanks for the tips, it saved me a lot of time.

Mark

> >>I think you'll likely find it is just the main front or rear turn signal
> >>bulb.
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Michael Halliwell
 
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