Temperamental Indicator Problem........?

[Paul Newman]

Hi everybody, had a niggle with my C5 since buying it a couple of years ago and it doesn't want to go away ? I have an intermittent fault with my drivers side (left) front indicator and the side repeater indicator on the same front wing (fender). When it first occurred shortly after buying the car I figured it needed a new bulb? After at least four replacements and trawling YouTube I learned that it may not have been the faulty bulb after all. I regularly plug my CTEK charger unit into the Vette when not in use because of the well publicised 'battery-drain' that they suffer from. On most occasions, directly following a full charge the indicators began to work ? This seemed a little weird to me but at least I stopped buying new orange bulbs for a while. It will be going in for a service and M.O.T. later this year, around June/July and I will ask them to look at it then. However, if anyone out there has come across a similar gremlin and/or has a quick & cheap fix for it then please let me know . In the meantime I will suffer my rapidly blinking rear indicator and the dodgy front ones. Watched a YouTube video recently where a guy in America had just purchased a fairly high mileage silver C5 Vette and someone had told him that the hazard light switch can 'reset' the faulty indicators from time to time.....tried that but no joy. Hmmmmm.........it's the only real fault that I've had with the car and it does annoy me. Belated Happy 2020 to everyone and perhaps see some of you later this year at the CCCUK meet !!!

 

[Oneball]

When it goes on the blink is it both the front indicator and repeater at the same time or are they independently weird. If together I’d look at the wiring.

 

[Paul Newman]

Thanks for your response.......it seems to be both the front drivers side (left) indicator and the left side repeater. But then at times I go to the car and both appear to work fine? Very temperamental. Watched a video on YouTube recently where a guy found that his indicator bulb housing at the front was a non-GM product and that the contact plates inside the housing were loose. He levered them out slightly to give the orange bulb a tighter fit and that seemed to do it? However, on my car it's the side repeater as well.....a little frustrating

 

[Oneball]

As it’s both of them it’d suggest it’s somewhere in the wiring. I wonder if they both have the same plug into the main harness or if they both run off the same earth to the chassis.

 

[Paul Newman]

Thanks again for the responses, took the Vette out for a quick spin earlier today and they're still not working? Got the fast blinker going on the rear, no front or side indicators working at all....grrrrrr ??? I'm not an electrician so it may have to wait for its service I reckon? Will try changing the orange bulb again but I'm not holding my breath. The car was imported in August 2017 and something tells me that when it was configured for the UK spec lighting etc it may have been done slightly wrong in places....don't know really? It's a pity because other than this small fault the car is just about as good as it gets for the last model C5 from 2004. Just niggles me when things don't work properly.........

 

[Rich]

I may be wrong, but from what I recall with my C5s, US spec cars run with DRLs. These have to be disabled for UK use and because of the way modern wiring is these days, some sort of resistance has to be added to the indicator wiring to compensate. In the case of my 2003 Z06 this was simply a headlight bulb in series with the rear indicators on each side. Rather primitive but it worked. Have you looked for something similar on your car?

 

[silver50]

I’ve just today been looking into front signal and sidelight woes. My car had the two DRL relays removed to disable the DRLs (check them in footwell fuse box). Mine had a little jumper cable(s) inserted to bridge two pins that the relay would plug into. I seemed to have a loose connection here and discovered today the front lamps didn’t want to work at all so this is heavily connected (or not..). It does however sound like you might have a simple bad connection where no doubt (like my car) the side repeaters have been spliced into the front harness. Can you see how this has been done or able to check it? I have been checking all of my wiring here but admit to removing the front bumper for full accessibility. I am going to re-do my side repeater wiring with proper automotive waterproof plugs instead of the crimped spade connector set up.

While on this subject, what do most people run by way of front sidelights (if have a US spec car) ? I have currently got fairly horrible little clip on side lights that I assume were part of a Euro wiring conversion kit. They accept the same lamp holder as the front side marker part of the front corner lens. My front indicator is the larger section of the front lens (twin filament orange bulb but only running one filament)

I obviously want to incorporate the sidelight and indicator into the same unit and for it to be MoT friendly.

 

[Paul Newman]

Thanks for all the responses guys, in the end I've left it to the experts and had a new bulb holder, plus a wiring check. I've also had rear reversing lights and fog lights combined with dual LED's. If you'd care to check out Lincs Corvette on Facebook there is a short video to show how they look. Not sure if I should advertise Lincs Corvette on here but they are good. Cheers folks............

 

[silver50]

Thanks for all the responses guys, in the end I've left it to the experts and had a new bulb holder, plus a wiring check. I've also had rear reversing lights and fog lights combined with dual LED's. If you'd care to check out Lincs Corvette on Facebook there is a short video to show how they look. Not sure if I should advertise Lincs Corvette on here but they are good. Cheers folks............

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=873670836416493

A good idea. I assume probably ok for MoT. Do you have an idea how it was done?

I have the same euro tails and am currently wondering about making the inner tail lamp(s) clear indicator section the reversing lights, losing the lamps either side of registration plate and hiding two 12v red LED lamps behind each rear lower vent/louvre

 

[Paul Newman]

All I can suggest is to contact Paul at Lincs Corvette, tell him you saw my car on the video and who knows, he might buy me a pint