we've all seen them...

utajoker · 7 Jul 2011 at 16:44

cars with indicators that flash really fast.

you see one maybe once a month,

were do they come from,

has anyone ever owned one?

i saw one today having not seen one for a while, was a fiat bravo.

possibly pointless thread.

Schizo · 7 Jul 2011 at 16:46

if there flashing fast it normally means a bulb has gone.

or is there really fast flashing bulbs now ?

PiKe · 7 Jul 2011 at 16:47

It's an optional extra when you buy the car, not many people seem to choose it.

Siliconslave · 7 Jul 2011 at 16:47

flasher relay on the way out.... or a trick one

- ..- .-. -. .. -. --. .-.. . ..-. -

PiKe · 7 Jul 2011 at 16:48

Probably Morse code for "I'm turning Left/Right".

Gaygle · 7 Jul 2011 at 16:48

Either the relay is kaput, or on the newer/high end cars, it is meant to signify that an indicator bulb is not working (either the front, side or rear).

Icm76 · 7 Jul 2011 at 16:50

Siliconslave said:
flasher relay on the way out....

or the wrong relay fitted, I had an old Ford that did this - the previous owner had a wiper relay or some other fitted in place of the indicator relay. End result, sometimes it would work fine, other times not at all, and sometimes really fast.

MikeHunt79 · 7 Jul 2011 at 16:58

My 205 used to do it when some of the fuses were missing/blown.

It works fine now however...

Hxc · 7 Jul 2011 at 17:00

I had a blown fuse on the mini that caused this once.

kae2 · 7 Jul 2011 at 17:00

Gaygle said:
Either the relay is kaput, or on the newer/high end cars, it is meant to signify that an indicator bulb is not working (either the front, side or rear).

Eh? It has nothing to do with how new/high end a car is, the voltage (?) drop means the relay cycles faster. Happens on all cars that use a flasher relay when a bulb goes.

chippy08 · 7 Jul 2011 at 17:06

normaly bad wires or connection.

ruffneck · 7 Jul 2011 at 17:10

I had a mk3 golf that used to get condensation on the near side front indicator causing it to stop flashing. This also caused the working indicators to flash twice as fast.

Scania · 7 Jul 2011 at 17:22

Scania · 7 Jul 2011 at 17:22

Gaygle said:
Either the relay is kaput, or on the newer/high end cars, it is meant to signify that an indicator bulb is not working (either the front, side or rear).

New / High end?

I had a Mk1 Fiesta that did that!

DBT85 · 7 Jul 2011 at 17:24

PiKe said:
It's an optional extra when you buy the car, not many people seem to choose it.

I thought indicators as a whole system were optional. It certainly seems that way sometimes.

Gaygle · 7 Jul 2011 at 18:01

kae2 said:
Eh? It has nothing to do with how new/high end a car is, the voltage (?) drop means the relay cycles faster. Happens on all cars that use a flasher relay when a bulb goes.

R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
New / High end?

I had a Mk1 Fiesta that did that!

The only two cars that i've seen it happen on are an 09 3 series and my car!

Come to think about it, i think the other 3 cars i've had haven't had their indicator bulbs blow...

5abr3 · 7 Jul 2011 at 18:01

Gaygle said:
Either the relay is kaput, or on the newer/high end cars, it is meant to signify that an indicator bulb is not working (either the front, side or rear).

'92 Metro did this and that was hardly high end! It's to do with using the resistance of the load circuit which affects the voltage and thus the activation of the relay

Freefaller · 7 Jul 2011 at 18:04

Thought it usually happened when a bulb blew?

randal · 7 Jul 2011 at 18:06

MX5 de-tango mod can cause this is you just swap the wiring over. Impedance changes, so you need to compensate by modding the flasher unit. Think there's a resistor that needs to change from 100 to 1K or something. Never bothered, got used to it in the end. Indicators on new car are too slow now.

NathWraith · 7 Jul 2011 at 18:57

Todge said:
I thought indicators as a whole system were optional. It certainly seems that way sometimes.

LOL so true, so true.