Headlights come on and blinkers fail

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gonguana

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Hi guys, I was hoping someone might be able to help me, I have a problem where my headlights come on, car off, and ignition on. And the blinkers stop working randomly, if I turn the car ignition off and on again they all go back to normal for a while.

The blinkers will then stop working and the hazards fail also, turn key off and back on and it goes back to normal again,

This could be linked also,

Cruise control dropped out the other day and I have had a small issue with power loss for a split second, having said that. The power loss does not happen at the same time the. Blinkers fail.
 
These sorts of electrical gremlins are usually caused by a bad earth.

However, the usual culprit (ECU earth) isn't the one I'd suspect this time. I'd be looking at the BCM earth, because all of the functions you're describing as faulty are controlled by the BCM.

The BCM is under the dash, and should take its earth from somewhere under the dash. There's a chance that it may have been disturbed by a stereo installation or work on the AC controls. If some work has been done under the dash I'd go straight back to that and revisit any earth points in there - there are several screws revealed by the removal of the console around the stereo unit, all of which are good sources for negative (ground).

Still doesn't rule out the ECU completely. This is on the top of the wheel housing in the engine bay on the vehicle's right hand side. There will be a screw/bolt that holds its earth wire nearby, and on some models in Australia there wasn't enough paint removed when the screw was installed making the earth point for the ECU quite fragile. Remove the screw, clean the thread, clean the face, reinstall and then spray battery terminal sealer over the top to prevent corrosion from starting.

You might also check the fusible links in the battery positive terminal. While I don't think the problem will be there, it's a remote possibility so you should check it out, clean it, make sure the fuses are all intact (multimeter -> resistance = 0 across each).

Finally, the biggest nightmare. If the engine bay has been pressure washed (it's a no-no, don't ever do it), you may need to check the fuses and relays in the two fuse boxes in there. The primary one (not likely) is next to the battery, pop the lid off and pull everything out one at a time and reinsert it (this cleans the contacts).

The second one is near the ABS unit. Open the lid, turn it over, it's filled with the damn things, check them all, one at a time and hopefully if the problem was still there before, it's not any more.

The only other thing I can think of is that the BCM itself is faulty. This is a PITA, because your car key codes are linked to the BCM (not the ECU) so changing the BCM means you have to re-register your key's remotes with the car. There's a procedure for it, if you have to go that far then we'll look at that. Hopefully it's just a matter of someone fitting the stereo and causing a small problem with the earth to the BCM.
 
Hey Tony,
Thanks for the reply, I didn't mention "My Bad" I have a D40 ST 2010 so i assume the above still stands. No Stereo work has been done. only a service on the vehicle which i don't think caused the problem. I will check out all those things and reply back. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I use the truck for towing our van. It's the end of winter so i need the old girl running at peak performance.
 
So the electrical issues continue, I thought we had fixed this but it seems not. I think detailing the issue in more depth will give you guys a better idea of what the effected systems are and possible narrow down the problem so here we go.

The car starts fine. When driving the vehicle it seems to cut out for a split second randomly. What i mean by this is the RPM and Speedo for a split second seem to loose power and the motor shunts "Loosing Power". At the same time i loose all indicators, Wipers and i have to turn the ignition off and start the car again to make them work. Continually the indicators are not blinking consistently Car Running or not running. They will blink normally for a few beats and skip a beat or go double time for a beat or two or stay on for a beat or two. This happens all the time.
After going away for a few days. i have had some time to test this. It was raining whilst i was driving away and after the motor shunt "power loss" as described earlier. The wipers were on and they would not turn off. So it seems that if anything is on. To do with the Blinkers or wipers or cruise control. When the motor shunts "power loss" they stop working or stay running. Side line to that. If the wipers were on and the power loss happens you can't turn them off. They just stay on until the igition is turned off and back on again.

I tried re-seating all plugs that i could and cleaning all earths that i could find. The only change to this vehicle is a new alternator about 4 months ago But the problem has only been evident for a few weeks.

I would like to note that when this happens the radio is not effected. Clocks don't drop or reset. So it seems to me it is all contained to the functions on the steering colom. Blinkers, Wipers, Cruise Control, Hazzards.

If ANYONE can help narrow this down i would love to hear from them.
 
Hazards are on the steering column? Mine are in the dash. If your hazard switch is on the steering column, there's a chance it's your clock spring. I doubt it is, because of theweird ignition-off-on issue.

Something's going screwy and is being reset by a power-off. Until then, anything run by the BCM appears to be flaky.

That points to the BCM. This unit lives inside the car, under the dash. It's responsible for door locking, all lights, wipers - and it could have been disturbed. Or worse, something near it could have been disturbed that upset the power to it.

Like the stereo. Some people have reported errors with their instrument cluster after fitting a new stereo, only to discover that the instrument cluster and stereo share an earth, and if you don't earth the stereo properly, the instrument cluster will provide the earth but not before shunting some power through its circuits making it play up (or not display anything).

So, the first thing I'd ask you to try is getting a suitable piece of wire, attach it securely to a bolt under the dash, and then attach the other end to the mounting screw of your in-dash system. Even if yours is a factory unit, there's nothing saying that its earth can't develop a fault.
 
Hey Tony, Thanks for the reply.

My hazard switch is on the dash Half way up the center console drivers side.
The stereo is fine no problems so im not sure why you think that earth is the problem. I have tried re-seating the plugs in the BMC. Down by the clutch pedal rear of the center console.
 
"So, the first thing I'd ask you to try is getting a suitable piece of wire, attach it securely to a bolt under the dash, and then attach the other end to the mounting screw of your in-dash system. Even if yours is a factory unit, there's nothing saying that its earth can't develop a fault."

Are you saying attach the earth to the in-dash stereo system?
 
Yes indeed. Earth faults aren't uncommon in our cars, and the stereo earth is also the instrument cluster earth and may also be near enough to the BCM earth.

The stereo might work, but it might be working because it's drawing earth (negative) through another component (like the BCM) and that's going to cause all sorts of fun.

It's a cheap, will not hurt anything test to see if that issue is causing the problem.

Why would earth be an issue? It could be positive power, sure, but in cars, positive power usually goes exclusively through wiring harnesses and fuse blocks directly to the battery. In many cases, negative is picked up somewhere from the chassis/body and without a good connection there, unexpected things may happen.

And your symptoms certainly fall into that category.
 
Hey Tony,
So i ran a new earth from the Right side of the Acc pedal to the perforated casing of the Stereo. Did it fix it..... Not entirely. Is it better... yes i think so. The blinkers double beat every 5 or so blinks and the Vehicle had 2 very minor shunts in the 24km test drive. Do you have any other suggestions? Do you think getting a a BCM from a wrecker and having it flashed would help? Or just wasting money on that?
 
There's a bolt that holds your dash in place ... ok, do you know how to pop the console around the stereo out? If you do, skip the next couple of paragraphs.

There's a little tray in the top of the dash. Pop the front UP then lift it out. Keep an eye on the tabs, they break. The stereo installers broke mine!

There are now 2 Philips head screws holding the console surround in. Remove them both. The plastic housing pulls forward towards you and unclips from around the base (no screws). Don't pull it too far, the air conditioning plugs are attached. You can swing it to the side or unplug everythnig (it won't hurt anything) and put it aside.

There are 4 screws holding the stereo in and there's a bodywork screw below. Just join a wire from one to the other. That's the stereo done.

Let's make sure about the BCM. There will be a plug on the side and pin 55 is the earth, but I can't find a diagram telling me which pin is #55. This wire should join another harness but will run to a earth point against the firewall, it looks like - the manual isn't clear.

If you can identify pin 55 on the BCM, connect that to earth, it will do the job.
 
Ok, So i have a service manual for this vehicle. I think i might have gotten the wrong earth. I used the one on the vertical plug nearest the driver. I tested it and im getting over 12V at the plug. I connected a second earth to the plug at that point but it did not fix it. Earthed the stereo to the chassie from behind the unit after removing the surround. Ten Meters down the road and the Blinkers failed. Had to switch off and back on again to restore them.
 
I'd say the easy stuff has been tried. Might be time to visit a wrecker and get your hands on a BCM for this car. Be aware that the BCM carries the codes for your keys and your keys will need to be registered with the new BCM or they won't work.
 
Thanks for your help mate. I'll give that a go and see what happens. Really appreciate all you have done
 
So yesterday i made one last ditch to fix it and i think i have. I replaced the Main earth lead that earths the chasie and motor. I made a new lead, One to the chasie and one from the chasie to the motor. Made a second for some periferals and it seems to be working. Went for a 30k drive. Blinkers worked without any issues and the motor didn't shunt at all.
 
Yeah no issues last few days. IT lives again. What kind of ticked me to it was i sprayed some connector cleaner on the connection and it seemed a bit better for about half an hour. so i decided to rip it out and make a new one.
 

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