NFB----signal light issue 2000 Impala

[jodyg]

My wife's car (2000 Chevrolet Impala LS 3800) is having some issues with the signal lights. They work most of the time, but it always seems in the dark or rain, they will not work. Maybe 5 minutes later if you try to use them, they work. I haven't checked anything...bulbs, etc. Any ideas...suggestions?

I'm assuming they don't work during the day as much as night, I just know we drive it more in the afternoon and night. We were headed to church this afternoon and they would not work...I turned them off and back on and they worked. On the way home, I was just playing with them going down the road....they wouldn't work no matter how many times I turned them off and on. I stopped trying....then all of a sudden when I have to turn, they work perfectly.....

[Noggin]

Hmmmm.... I used to drive a Chevy Celebrity (I know its a totally different beast) and I dismantled the steering column. When I did, I found that there was a ball bearing that rested under the end of a spring. When I flipped the blinker stalk up or down the spring would roll off the bearing and make contact with a switch. This is also from my head so I could be way off.... but if its the same in an Impala it sounds like this may be an issue.

I also remember in that car (thing was always falling apart) that I had something that looked like a capacitor fall out of the dash. When it fell, my blinkers went nuts until I replaced it. Basically they just blinked WAY too fast.

If any of my signal lights were out, of the blinkers would work. If one of the lights had a bad contact, then they would work intermittantly.

Perhaps there is a relay with fouled contacts?

I can't think of anything else to check at the moment...

[Joe 1320]

It appears to be a common problem with the dual element bulbs. The contacts on the base of the bulb have two "nubs" that can become flattened from the heat and cause an intermittant contact. Opening up each tail light and front turn signal for bulb inspection will be required. You didn't mention if both sides cut out or only one side. Chasing this down used to tick me off. The bulbs would still burn just fine... only the contacts at the base made intermittant contact. Sometimes they work, other times not.

[wolfdogs]

It appears to be a common problem with the dual element bulbs. The contacts on the base of the bulb have two "nubs" that can become flattened from the heat and cause an intermittant contact. Opening up each tail light and front turn signal for bulb inspection will be required. You didn't mention if both sides cut out or only one side. Chasing this down used to tick me off. The bulbs would still burn just fine... only the contacts at the base made intermittant contact. Sometimes they work, other times not.

joes right, in fact, there is a recall on the Envoy and Trailblazer for this.

[jodyg]

Thanks guys. Looks like I'll be inspecting bulbs.

Joe...when this happens, of the signal lights work.

Ken...what exactly was the recall for on the Envoy and Trailblazer?


Thanks again...

[Joe 1320]

...when this happens, of the signal lights work.

Then I doubt it would be bulbs. When a bulb acts up, it only affects the same side and not both sides. The odds of two bulbs on two different sides both acting up intermittantly, but both at the same time is pretty remote. I believe the problem lies elsewhere. Perhaps a bad turn signal switch maybe? When the turn signals don't work, do the hazzard flashers work?

[jodyg]

Joe...I couldn't tell you....never thought about checking. I'll check next time the signals stop working. Thanks again...

[jodyg]

Update...

I was making a left turn tonight and the signals would not work. I left the signal switch in the left turn position and hit the hazzard button. The hazzards immediately came on, so I turned them off ASAP. The signal was working at that point and worked fine the rest of the night. Any ideas or suggestions??

[MN6WS6]

I don't know, but I've had some of my customers that had the same problem. I put in handsfree kits for cellular phones, and I've done a lot of Impalas. Of course, when this shows up after you put the phone in, they blame the phone, even though there is no possible way that the phone could have anything to do with it (which I have proven, but that's another story). Anyway, the point is that it is common, because I have heard of it from at least two different customers of mine. And the hazard thing works EVERY TIME to fix it, because one of my customers just kept hitting them whenever they'd quit working correctly, and they'd start back up. It sounds like a body control module issue to me, being as the hazards make it work right again. But of course, the dealer doesn't want to be told by some "non-experienced installer" about how to do their job. The sad thing is I have more 12 volt troubleshooting experience than probably 3/4 of their service department