W114 Turn Indicator Issue

[Bad Benzo]

My 1976 280 sedan has recently developed a problem with the turn indicators that I do not understand.

Driver's side: indicator works fine, but when the brake is pressed, the indicator blinks (no clicking sound though) Could this be a ground issue?

Passenger side: The indicator works fine for about 20 minutes of driving, however, the bulb will eventually go out and the front indicator blinks rapidly. If I park the car and drive it again two or three hours later, the indicator will work fine until the problem repeats itself. When I first noticed the problem, I thought it was the bulb, but after changing it, I realized this issue was more complex.


Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[meltedpanda]

Id look at replacing the blinker relay.

[JimFreeh]

Seems like the light assemblies themselves need attention. I would look at the sockets, burnishing the contacts and perhaps bending the center contact up a bit. Also clean the connection at the housing itself where the harness connects.

The turn signal relay is not inexpensive, try some free diagnostics first.

Jim

[meltedpanda]

just going on my experience with my 114/5 ,the relay was my issue
You are right though start with the basics, I would include the bulbs as well, inspect for looseness between bulb and base

[bcbens@embarqma]

I would also recommend that you try your four way emergency flasher and see how they work. May assist you in troubleshooting. One tip that solved my bulb problem. It appears that most all new replacement bulb housings are minutely smaller than the original bulbs. This makes the bulbs loose and have poor contact with the socket. After many failed attempts to get the bulb to be tight in the socket I finally put a small drop of solder on the bottom of each bulb where solder already exists. It made the entire bulb just a mm longer. All of my bulbs are now tight in the socket and I have no more intermittent/non working parking. tail/turn/brake lights. Good luck.