[Kaishi]

Guys, I'm looking to troubleshoot an issue that happened two nights ago and is giving me some grief. My indicators (front, rear, and side-mirror) will flash for one very tiny pulse, and then not work. All 6 lights show that sign of life, a tiny dim pulse, but do not work as intended. They show the same behavior when activated by: remote keyless entry, hazard button, turn signals.


Here's what started it:

I parked in the city for what I expected to be 2-5 minutes. I put my hazard lights on, and ran inside. 30-40 minutes went by. I got back to the car, hazards were no longer blinking. I figured the car just disabled them to save power. I fired up the engine, and now the left signal indicator, and only that indicator, was blinking on the dash, at the "bulb out" rate. I turned off the hazards, then back on again, and both left and right indicators began blinking, but at the fast rate.

I tried my turn signals, left and then right, same behavior. I hopped out of the car and had another person activate the indicators. Tiny pulse, just one time, and then nothing.

I figured maybe something had overheated, so I left it alone for the rest of the night (drove home without indicating and felt like a total jerk). Next day, same behavior, no change.

What do I do? I could try replacing the bulbs but it appears that they still work.

 

[Iamnotseanclark]

just warranty it instead of chasing gremlins

 

[Darkness]

Guys, I'm looking to troubleshoot an issue that happened two nights ago and is giving me some grief. My indicators (front, rear, and side-mirror) will flash for one very tiny pulse, and then not work. All 6 lights show that sign of life, a tiny dim pulse, but do not work as intended. They show the same behavior when activated by: remote keyless entry, hazard button, turn signals.


Here's what started it:

I parked in the city for what I expected to be 2-5 minutes. I put my hazard lights on, and ran inside. 30-40 minutes went by. I got back to the car, hazards were no longer blinking. I figured the car just disabled them to save power. I fired up the engine, and now the left signal indicator, and only that indicator, was blinking on the dash, at the "bulb out" rate. I turned off the hazards, then back on again, and both left and right indicators began blinking, but at the fast rate.

I tried my turn signals, left and then right, same behavior. I hopped out of the car and had another person activate the indicators. Tiny pulse, just one time, and then nothing.

I figured maybe something had overheated, so I left it alone for the rest of the night (drove home without indicating and felt like a total jerk). Next day, same behavior, no change.

What do I do? I could try replacing the bulbs but it appears that they still work.

Don't have a definite answer to your problem but your should check & replace your flasher relay

 

[Gerid]

Don't have a definite answer to your problem but your should check & replace your flasher relay

+1 for flasher relay. It operates the flashing/pulsing as you call it for all your turn indicators including the hazard system.

 

[Kaishi]

Kaishi! Where you been? Still in Miata-land? We need that battery you were working on!

As far as your lighting issue... Could be a number of things... Low battery, bad alternator, bad ground(s), faulty wiring, etc.

haha, yeah, sorry. Have had a crazy year. Rough breakup followed by some awesome positive changes. Miata's actually riding well but I don't get to drive her all that much these days. Been helping to troubleshoot other cars a lot.

I'm thinking flasher relay, but it just seems weird that it would die right then.

 

[bluevtm]

I would let the dealer deal with it. I had the amber light, LED eyeliner, and turn signal go out all at once on just the left side and spent 2 weeks voltage testing every wire and relay I could think of. Ended up taking it to the dealer and they replaced the whole headlight free of charge even with my HID conversion. They had my car back to me in an hour. Save yourself the stress that's what a 10 year warranty is for.

 

[alexpkeaton529]

Yeah, initial impressions are relay, fuse, or battery. I also agree to take it to the dealer with a caveat.

When I had my RSX I ran into an issue where all electronics work, lights were fine, radio, etc, but the dash would not light up. This wasn't a big issue for half the day but it made night driving dangerous (potentially illegal?). I took it to the dealer first thing the next day as I didnt feel like getting into it and they came back with their diagnosis that the wiring harness was bad and needed to be replaced for $400. I told them I would look into it and let them know and immediately went home and started checking stuff. Ended up being a fuse for less than a dollar. So either the dealership didn't do a simple check or they felt like shafting me. The car was still under warranty at the time too.

 

[Kaishi]

Time for an update!

I bought her to the dealership. Took some extensive conversation but, turned out to be that something in my LED modules failed in a way that they are able to take current and illuminate, but the ECU rejects them and acts as though they are failed.

The ECU controls the blink rate, rather than a simple relay. Also, the ECU doesn't re-evaluate bulb status until the engine is started, so if you have a bulb failure, and swap them, the ECU will still consider them failed until you actually start the engine. At that point it'll reevaluate the bulbs and resume normal operation.

So with standard (actually white, eww) 1156 incandescent bulbs installed, my indicators are working as intended. I've contacted the manufacturer of the LED modules I used and explained the situation. I'm hoping for a refund.

 

[mokosai]

Time for an update!

I bought her to the dealership. Took some extensive conversation but, turned out to be that something in my LED modules failed in a way that they are able to take current and illuminate, but the ECU rejects them and acts as though they are failed.

The ECU controls the blink rate, rather than a simple relay. Also, the ECU doesn't re-evaluate bulb status until the engine is started, so if you have a bulb failure, and swap them, the ECU will still consider them failed until you actually start the engine. At that point it'll reevaluate the bulbs and resume normal operation.

So with standard (actually white, eww) 1156 incandescent bulbs installed, my indicators are working as intended. I've contacted the manufacturer of the LED modules I used and explained the situation. I'm hoping for a refund.

I don't understand why the ECU has to evaluate light bulbs to determine if they've failed... the old way to do it worked just fine!

 

[swordfish]

I don't understand why the ECU has to evaluate light bulbs to determine if they've failed... the old way to do it worked just fine!

But it's the future. We must move forward!