Drivers rear indicator not working - strange fault

[Duke Thrust]

My drivers rear indicators is not working, odd as it shows 12v at the connector and the bulb works perfectly.

If I plug the multi-meter into the connector I can see 12v until the bulb is plugged in, where it then drops to almost zero. (All whilst the indicator is on)

Neither the hazards or the alarm can activate it.

I suspect it's a poor connection somewhere providing a high resistance. Can anyone point me in the right direction before I start taking the dash top off?

[ianwayne]

Switch the bulbs and see the fault moves sides.

I had an intermittent fault with an indicator and it turned out the bulb had a higher resistance than it should.

[Pinx]

Could it be that you have 12v but no ground ?

[PH430]

Bend the sides of the bulp fitting slidly inwards, till they are spot on to the bulp.

Had the same problem.

[Duke Thrust]

Both bulb and bulb holder are perfect, when connected to the fog light feed it functions as you'd expect.

Similarly if you connect the fog to the indicator it no longer works.

I think a connector elsewhere has gone high resistance hence why the voltage drops off as soon as there is load on the circuit.

[Pinx]

Have you tried running a temporary ground from somewhere else ?

[Pinx]

Have you tried running a temporary ground from somewhere else ?

[Colin RedGriff]

If it's just that one location then you need to test the wiring from where it splits off from the front.

If you have the rear lights on and turn on the indicator, do the rear lights start to flash? That would be an indication of an earth fault
I don't think the indicator has a separate earth from the rest of the lights in the cluster from you description it sounds like the problem is on the feed side.

Not sure on how the loom connects on to the light cluster assuming it is a multi plug like the Griff, but might be worth pulling the connector off and checking the connections have not corroded.

[burnsatspeed]

Ok this is going to sound odd, but try this . On passenger side at the side of the seat near the door where the bolster is there is a cover under the carpet open this and you will find a great bundle of wires give them a " wiggle" or better still check all the connections.This really did fix this problem for me.

[Duke Thrust]

Yep, checked the earths and fine.

Was as I suspected a bad contact in a connector.

Behind this panel is a bunch of connectors:



Then this multi-connector:



Pinched up the pins and some contact cleaner and all now working perfectly.