Wacky Blinkers!

[03corolla]

First post all!

I'm not actually a Corolla owner. A friend has an 03 that is having a weird problem with the blinkers and she asked if I could help. Not knowing a thing about Corollas, I fugured I'd ask the experts on this forum.

She says that the left blinkers came on by themselves earlier today. Soon after, the right ones joined in. The emergency flasher button has no effect on their operation and the signal lever is equally ineffective. The lights continue to blink even after the car is turned off.

Sounds like it may be a bad relay to me, but I don't know where to even begin looking for it.

Anyone have any ideas?

[REN69]

Could be a battery warning, maybe the battery or charging system is not working properly.. I never heard of this before, I wonder if other 03 and up owners have experienced this.

[Williams]

get the blinkers going with key removed:

1-remove fuses one at a time till you find defective circuit
2-remove flasher
3-remove relay/etc

and isolate problem
-is there a chance something got wet? maybe a water leak above flasher or relay? did she do something to lead up to this problem like recent car wash or recent work done can be a clue. I have even seen defective bulbs cause these kind of phantom problems

[03corolla]

Since she is 600 miles from me I can't check anything myself. So as not to drain the battery, I told her how to disconnect the battery. I figured that disconnecting it might also reset a circuit or relay that was stuck.

Anyway, it worked. No more possessed blinkers. I told her that she should have it looked at because if it was a sticking relay it will eventually stick again.

Thanks for your suggestions.