Turn Signal Blinker Going Crazy!!!

A day or two ago my turn signal blinker has been spazzing out very badly! Without the turn signals on, I hear the blinker noise clicking very sporadically from inside the dash. When I turn a signal on, or the hazards, they work normally, but once they're off, the clicking will continue; sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes not at all.

Is there a relay or solenoid that could be doing this that I could replace? I really don't know where to start.

Thanks!

James

P.S. This is a 2003 5spd Golf TDI with ~80k miles.

Hmmm...this is an old and very common issue, but basically it is most likely the turn signal flasher control unit (which is integral with the hazard switch). This may be under recall, but for a $20 part and 3 minutes time you can do it yourself.

Other possibility, unlikely on the 2003 but possible, is the turn signal stalk itself.

You can do a search here and you'll get lots of information.

Well, sporadic blinker signal behaviour usually means a burned out bulb, but I haven't heard about it hapening while the blinkers are off.

The problem actually has nothing to do with the relay or the hazard switch, or even a burned out bulb.

The contact lubricant in the turn signal switch over time has accumulated enough microscopic pieces of wear metal from the switch contacts to form an intermittent conductive path across the contacts.

Some have fixed it by lubing the switch assembly with a contact cleaner/lubricant or even WD-40. You can also replace the switch assembly but I recommend saving that as a last resort because it involves pulling the airbag and steering wheel to get to the switch assembly.

Search on "flakey turn signals" etc. and you'll get MANY hits. There have been many posts on this in the past. There is also a how-to thread posted somewhere about replacing the switch if you decide to replace it.

Someone a few years back even started a joke thread about "synthetic blinker fluid" and "muffler bearings" after someone fixed their flakey turn signal problem by spraying the switch with a synthetic lube spray. I guess you technically could call it "synthetic blinker fluid" or something like that.

I've had it happen to me last winter in my 02 Golf TDI. Hasn't done it lately though.

Good luck.

Something like that happenned on my A3 last week. The right turn signal would blink really fast, but really slow when I was braking. No bulb was burnt though as every light was working.

Turned out to be corrosion on the right rear turn signal socket. Scraped it off with a screw driver and it now works as new.

Note that the OP is having the classic turn signal clicking issue when the turn signals are OFF and the switch is in the OFF position. You can hear the relay/flasher circuit clicking rapidly and erratically but no lights are flashing because the switch is in the OFF position. This is a telltale sign of metal filings from the switch contacts getting into the grease inside the switch and forming intermittent conducting path(s) across the switch contacts. Enough current can flow through this path to operate the flasher circuit intermittently and erratically.

This is a common problem and there have been many posts on this in the past. The fix is to lube the switch contacts or replace the switch. I recommend lubing the switch first because it's a majore PITA to replace the switch because the steering wheel and airbag has to come out to get to the switch assembly.

Good luck.

oilhammer said:

Other possibility, unlikely on the 2003 but possible, is the turn signal stalk itself.

Click to expand...

This is what I'm suspecting. I've had it happen to me on my 02 Golf. I never did anything about it because it stopped before I could do anything about it. I was ready to spray it with "synthetic blinker fluid" but the problem went away by itself.

Wingnut has this under the "How to" section:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=1622429

The '03 already has the newer turn signal stalk. Well, the even MORE updated version. Usually when they go wacky and you press the hazard button a few times and it stops then it is the hazard/flasher module, which is likely under recall anyways.

I replace a bunch of these. A few turn signal stalks, but far more (10x) the problem is the flasher module.

However the stalk is easy to replace except the airbag can be tricky to get released if it is the TRW-supplied unit.

oilhammer said:

The '03 already has the newer turn signal stalk. (snip)

Click to expand...

__. There has been some thought that this problem can be caused by Armor-All. When I bought my '03 in Dec '06, it had been "detailed" and the interior Armor-All'ed heavily. And the turn signal clicked like mad. A shot of WD-40 helped for about 3 months, then it began to flash the right turn signal at all times, no matter where the stalk was located. If you pulled the stalk to the left, you got "4-way" flashers.

__. At that point, I gave up and ordered a new stalk from World-Impex. Problem solved. (BTW, to keep me going until the new assembly arrived from W-Impex, I pulled the red-triangle button/switch from the dash center and unplugged the flasher unit. To make right turns, I'd plug the flasher back in. I went for a couple of days without making left turns ... but in a small town, that's not hard .)

Yeah, Armor All can do wonders for the radio knobs too

That stuff can be pure evil.

oilhammer said:

Yeah, Armor All can do wonders for the radio knobs too That stuff can be pure evil.

Click to expand...

__. I'm not sure that it was the problem in my case, but my car had been *slathered* in the stuff. In fact, Matt ("Car 54") positively chuckled when we opened the hood on my car to change the timing belt. All the plastic/hoses etc. under the hood had been slimed up.

__. But others have noticed the "clicking" problem after expose of the stalk assembly to Armor-All and it sure was co-incidental with my problem.