I know it has been a while since my last post. I would like to say that I have been busy, but the truth is, I am lazy...and I have not done much because of the holidays. Anyway, I should have at least one entry for January.
Guess what...it is January 21, which can written as 1/21 or 1-21..1.21 gigawatts. How awesome is that? Speaking of gigawatts, I am having electrical issues with the DeLorean, again. It is well documented that one of the major issues with the DeLorean was its electrical system. So, that the hell is it this time? Long story, I will try to be brief, but you know how I like to ramble on.
A few months ago, my signaling function stopped working. What does this mean, exactly? Well, throwing on the direction indicator and not blinky-blink. This makes driving a bit unsafe and very annoying to other drivers. I hate it when people do not signal, and being that person is embarrassing.
Blinky not blinking, but the hazard was working fine. My first thought was to check the fuses. Easy to get to, and easy to fix...maintenance that even I can handle. Fuse was fine. Disconnecting fuse resulted in both hazard and signal not working, which is what is suppose to happen. Good news is the fuse is good, bad news is something else is wrong.
Next thing to check is the flasher relay. The flasher relay has been there for over thirty years. Make sense for it to go bad, even if we are not talking about Lucas Electronics. I went out an bought a new flasher relay. I plan on switching all my lights to LED soon, anyway. This would require a more modern flasher relay, one that works with LED. I also ordered a cheap relay from China off of eBay, just in case.
Since the original flasher relay had been there for over thirty years, it was quite difficult to disconnect from the connector. The 'connector' being the plastic part the corresponding wires would connect to. I am sure there is an official name for it, but you know what I am talking about. Why so much fuss about the connector, you ask? Well, being over three decades old, it basically shattered as I tried to remove it from the relay. No big deal, as the wires/leads are not damaged.
I switched to the new modern relay, and it did not work...for a day. What? Yeah, I did not work for a day. But, it worked. I have no idea why it did not work. Maybe the car needed to get used to the new relay. Whatever, it was working and I am not going to question it.
I brought my original flasher unit to work and had our electronics guy look at it. Funny thing was, it was still working. Nothing wrong with it. He even commented that it was Lucas Electronics and they were not the best...okay, one of the worst electronics companies in the 70's and 80's.
So, are we all good? Well, yes...until about two weeks ago.
Driving home, I noticed that the signals were not working, again. I checked the usual suspects and could not figure out what was going on. Funny thing about it is, if I engaged the direction indicator, and pressed the hazard switch about half way in, it would blink. Pushing the hazard switch all the way in, and both left and right would blink like normal hazard function. But, pressing hazard alone did nothing. I drove the next few days by signaling and pressing the hazard switch half way to signal my turns. Again, not safe.
I did some research, and asked around for some solutions. One possible problem is loose ground connections. So today, as I was about to work on the car, the signals work. What the hell is going on?
Until I have more time to take apart certain areas to get to ground locations, I have decided to just let it go for now. Again, this is me being lazy.
Guess what...it is January 21, which can written as 1/21 or 1-21..1.21 gigawatts. How awesome is that? Speaking of gigawatts, I am having electrical issues with the DeLorean, again. It is well documented that one of the major issues with the DeLorean was its electrical system. So, that the hell is it this time? Long story, I will try to be brief, but you know how I like to ramble on.
A few months ago, my signaling function stopped working. What does this mean, exactly? Well, throwing on the direction indicator and not blinky-blink. This makes driving a bit unsafe and very annoying to other drivers. I hate it when people do not signal, and being that person is embarrassing.
Blinky not blinking, but the hazard was working fine. My first thought was to check the fuses. Easy to get to, and easy to fix...maintenance that even I can handle. Fuse was fine. Disconnecting fuse resulted in both hazard and signal not working, which is what is suppose to happen. Good news is the fuse is good, bad news is something else is wrong.
Next thing to check is the flasher relay. The flasher relay has been there for over thirty years. Make sense for it to go bad, even if we are not talking about Lucas Electronics. I went out an bought a new flasher relay. I plan on switching all my lights to LED soon, anyway. This would require a more modern flasher relay, one that works with LED. I also ordered a cheap relay from China off of eBay, just in case.
Since the original flasher relay had been there for over thirty years, it was quite difficult to disconnect from the connector. The 'connector' being the plastic part the corresponding wires would connect to. I am sure there is an official name for it, but you know what I am talking about. Why so much fuss about the connector, you ask? Well, being over three decades old, it basically shattered as I tried to remove it from the relay. No big deal, as the wires/leads are not damaged.
I switched to the new modern relay, and it did not work...for a day. What? Yeah, I did not work for a day. But, it worked. I have no idea why it did not work. Maybe the car needed to get used to the new relay. Whatever, it was working and I am not going to question it.
I brought my original flasher unit to work and had our electronics guy look at it. Funny thing was, it was still working. Nothing wrong with it. He even commented that it was Lucas Electronics and they were not the best...okay, one of the worst electronics companies in the 70's and 80's.
So, are we all good? Well, yes...until about two weeks ago.
Driving home, I noticed that the signals were not working, again. I checked the usual suspects and could not figure out what was going on. Funny thing about it is, if I engaged the direction indicator, and pressed the hazard switch about half way in, it would blink. Pushing the hazard switch all the way in, and both left and right would blink like normal hazard function. But, pressing hazard alone did nothing. I drove the next few days by signaling and pressing the hazard switch half way to signal my turns. Again, not safe.
I did some research, and asked around for some solutions. One possible problem is loose ground connections. So today, as I was about to work on the car, the signals work. What the hell is going on?
Until I have more time to take apart certain areas to get to ground locations, I have decided to just let it go for now. Again, this is me being lazy.
1 comment:
You didn't replace your turn signals with LEDs did you?
Electrical problems like are hard to pinpoint. Good luck! Enjoy being an old man!
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