1997 Honda Civic Turn signal problem: details below

LOM109

MEMBER
1997 HONDA CIVIC

1997 Honda Civic

will not turn on during signaling and the corresponding rear signal light (and light in the dashboard) flash fast!

However, will turn on when lights are manually turned on (for night driving).

I initially thought it was burnt-out, but it blinked during keyless entry and turned on completely during the night time driving mode.

7 Replies

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,815 POSTS

Hi lom109,

Check the ground wire connections for the light that is not blinking. Any bad ground would cause the light not to work correctly.

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Sunday, June 28th, 2009 AT 2:36 PM

LOM109

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4 POSTS

Thanks for the prompt and quick reply,
Follow up:

1. Both filaments in the bulb are intact (no tinkling when shaking it)
2. There is only one black wire coming from it, it cannot be a grounding problem (unless the wire disconnected downstream)

I say downstream, since the light turned on for a while, before I whipped the car in a certain direction (fast turning), and the light messed up once again.

I have found out there are 2 wires, one for low light, other for blinking (brighter)

The low light works, but the brighter one seems to be the problem, any ideas how a 3496 bulb works? (There are only 2 connections, power/ground it seems, but it has TWO filaments?)

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Monday, June 29th, 2009 AT 8:41 PM

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
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If you are refering to the turn siganl lights, they should have only 1 filament. 2 filament means the bulb is wrong, it is for the brake and taillights.

Remove the bulb and see if the socket has 1 or 2 terminals in it. Single terminal will have 2 wires while double terminals willl have 3 wires altogether.

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Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 AT 4:10 PM

LOM109

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My car I think is different than what you think. Its a civic,

the front signal lights have 2 filaments with 2 terminals sticking out.

I guess I'll send this to my automechanic, but before I do, I was wondering whether this problem can lead to one of my rear brake lights on the same side not working as well.

(again, all bulbs are fine, no tinkling), so I have a huge hunch its a wiring problem.

All I did was take out the headlight assembly. Store the bulbs. And put reassembled the headlight. Plugged the lights back in.

And something doesn't work. How the hell does this happen :(

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Saturday, July 4th, 2009 AT 2:24 PM

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
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Sorry if I had misunderstood your previous post.

The front bulb is a plug in type with double filament. Problems are usually caused at the seats where the bulb plugs in. Remove the bulb and recheck the bulb wire hooks at base of it. When it has gone out of position, installing it would cause improper contact and sudden movement can cause it to lose contact.

There should be 3 wires for the socket, Black = ground, Red/Black = side lamp and Green/White is for the turn signal.

When one signal bulb fails, other bulbs on the same (side) circuit would blink very fast.