HELP: left and right turn lights out. Hazard okay.

[gcorolla99]

99 Corolla

HELP: left and right turn lights out. Hazard okay. I replaced four turn lights with LED lights. Something then happened to the hazard light and it won't blink anymore, no click, nothing. I then notice the 10 amp fuse for the hazard light was blown. I replaced fuse and hazard light is okay but left and right turn lights won't blink nor click even after I've put back the regular bulbs.

If I replace all 4 turn lights with LED, the hazard light will blink rapidly. If I put back the non LED, the hazard light blinks at the correct rate, however, how the left and right turn signal light's won't blink nor make clicking sound.

Checked all fuse, all is good.

I believe the hazard light and blinkers use the same flasher unit? How can I get my car to flash left and right signals again - did I blow my turn flasher? If I did, how come the hazard light still works?

Here someone said that the non-led lights were reversed .. could this be the issue?
http://forums.off-road.com/jeep-shor...nals-dont.html

Thanks.

[gcorolla99]

Help.. i'm panicking now.. I replaced the flasher with an LED flasher and turn lights still doesn't blink nor click at all. Hazard light is okay. Turn lights were working perfectly before I replaced w/ LED turn light on the front. Put back regular pubs still problem.

I should never have modified this car. what was I thinking.

[fishexpo101]

Where did you get the LED bulbs from?

As you've already figured out - LED bulbs, unless they specifically say, are not plug and play "electrically", compared to incandescent bulbs. The LED flasher relay should have done the trick, unless another fuse or relay got burned out.

First thing to do - put all the regular bulbs and regular flasher back - make sure the bulbs are still good (use a voltmeter or continuity checker). If you don't have a multimeter - then get that one first. Extremely useful to debug this sort of thing, without it - you are just taking stabs in the dark and wasting your time.

Check for operation - if they don't work, check all fuses - as many circuits are shared in the car. Verify operation of other electrical components in the car - radio, all lights, dash lamps and gauges, cigarette outlets, etc. If all of those check out - then test each socket for ground and hot. Note that it is good practice to disconnect power before monkeying around with any electrical. Doesn't take much to accidentally short something out - piece of wire jumped across ground and hot, bad part, etc.

Overall sounds like there is a short or open somewhere that is not allowing the lamps to work. Where that is exactly is harder to say. A blown 10A fuse is definitely not a good sign as that could point to a short somewhere. If the fuse keeps blowing on you, could be a possible issue with the relay (sometimes can get bad ones right off the bat) or a short inside the main integration relay.

[gcorolla99]

Thanks Fish. I was out this morning buying a new flasher that's LED compatible - which didn't fix it. Nope had nothing to do with LED / regular light bulbs - I made sure they work.

Took it to a friend who is an auto mechanic.

Issue fixed by finding an extra 10 amp fuse that blew.

Now I'm really pissed at toyota! I'm just pissed, majorly pissed. I thought I had all the fuse checked, but there's a major fuse panel that everyone should know for the Corolla 99. It's located on the coin holder that's labeled "storage only." What idiot Toyota would write "storage only" when it's obvious it's a coin storage box?? Why not write Storage / Fuse ??? Nissan has that easy access fuse box and they make it known it's there!

If I recall, the extra 10 amp fuse that blew is in this fuse box, upper left corner.

Take out the coin storage box on driver seat, close by the turn signal.

Putting a blurb in the FAQ for location of this main fuse box. Toyota, you're a total a**wipe!!

[landphil]

While I understand your point about the labeling I think it's to discourage the use of that coin drawer as an ashtray. And hey, look on the bright side, it wasn't a major repair.

[gcorolla99]

oh crap, got a ticket the other day. Found out the tail lights and dash lights are no longger lighting after I fixed the previous fuse. Now, another fuse (stop light) fuse blows every time I add in a 15 amp fuse.) I'm taking it to a friend mechanic once again, but the bottom line is that it's not worth preforming LED mods! It has cost way more than bulb replacement. I'm not sure what the heck is causing the 15 amp fuse to blow continuously even though if I press the breaks, the lights would go, but night time, if I don't press the break, the rear lights doesn't come on.

[gcorolla99]

Issue fixed. My uncle helped me to find a short. What's "shorted" is the LED light bulb! Though the bulb can fit in the second in two different ways, LED light bulb requires that it be fitted only one way. The socket itself does not tell which is the correct way. The problem is that if it's fitted the wrong way, the LED bulb will not glow, and if you reverse it, it will glow. One would think nothing has been damaged, but the problem is that if one of the LED in the bulb is shorted, it will cause a short and this is what constantly blew the fuse.

I would love to attach some pictures to let you guys see what the semi damaged LED bulb looks like if someone can tell me how to send an attachment. I've previously used 3 browsers but I'm still not able to send an attachment. I dont' want to link to an external URL.

After all this trouble, I strongly don't recommend anyone to replace with LED bulbs unless they are able to use a meter to figure out the polarity of the bulb plus socket, otherwise, any mistake will render the LED bulb potentially blow 3 fuses!

I do recommend that everyone buy spare regular bulbs and carry it in the trunk so that if anyone gets pulled over by a cop, tell the cop you have the replacement bulbs and change the bulb on the spot so you won't get a ticket.