Fitzauto

Hello,
Recenetly began working on a new to me 1982 gsl and its been interesting to say the least ( I build old Z cars for the most part).
Right now I am having an issue with the turn signal ecu where the flasher relay is clicking very quickly whenever the battery is connected. Resoldered the joints and sprayed the relay down with electrical cleaner and it still happens. And for whatever reason as soon as it started clicking the car wont get spark now.
Any tips?

LongDuck

Welcome.

Most common cause of 'fast turn signal relay' is as simple as a burned out bulb in the front or rear on that side. The relay uses resistance from the bulb to delay the flashing action, and when a bulb is burned out, the total circuit resistance is reduced - hence a faster flash rate. Easy fix - just walk around the car and figure out whether it's front or back and replace that bulb.

Your other reported problem of the car not getting spark now could be a number of different things - but unrelated to the flasher relay.

My guess is that you soldered connections on the relay or possibly the fuse block and one of the fuses burned up, either from direct heat or a short across your iron. Take a close look at 'IGN' and 'ENG' fuses and I'll bet you have a blown fuse. If not, reply back and we'll look deeper.

Incidentally - are you keeping this car, working on it for a customer? Just curious,

Fitzauto

The car is actually for my girlfriend. Its her autocross car.

And the fuse block was replaced with a non-stock one so Im not sure which fuse it would be. Only thing I can add is that the car ran before the flasher went goofy.

LongDuck

Well, if you look at the bulbs and can't find one burned out - now you're back to chasing electrical gremlins. From your symptoms, I suggested the most common cause with factory wiring harness, but if yours isn't stock - I can't help you much from here.

I would go back to the last few repairs or maintenance you did on the car and figure out if that affected any of the existing wiring harness and/or fuseblock. If so - that's the likely cause for both the flasher issue and the car not getting spark.

Fitzauto

Okay. As far as I can tell the harness is stock apart from the fuse block. Guess its time to chase wires...again.

73JPS

iTrader: (1)

I seem to recall that if the bulb wasn't burnt, a replacement of the flasher relay usually solved the "fast flash" problem?

Fitzauto

Well I checked all the qires. Everything is in its place. Problem I am having is that the signal ecu thing doesnt have a pinout that matches any of the documents I have.

LongDuck

What do you mean by the 'signal ECU thing'? Are you talking about the turn signal? That's entirely switched by the column and the flasher relay - there's no ECU tie-in for the turn signals at all.

Fitzauto

The flasher relay is clicking like mad. Just put a new one in and have the same problem.
Checked all the wiring and its all connected and not shorting anywhere and all the bulbs are in good shape.
The owner (my gf) reminded me that the issue started happening right before we pulled the choke cable through the firewall. Any chance there is a ground on the choke cable thats gone now?

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

Pulled the choke cable through the firewall, huh? She must be a pretty string gal! LOL.

If the cable was pulled that hard you start looking for disconnected harness connection up around
where the cable goes through the firewall on both sides. I bet something just pulled loose.

Fitzauto

Checked everything. Nothing loose that I can tell and nothing cut/shorted out.

Fitzauto

No idea what happened but it works now.

LongDuck

One of the harnesses you moved is now connected properly. Tell your girlfriend that she doesn't need to use her turn signals on the racetrack, because all that does is tell your opponents where you intend to cut corners!

Glad you got it fixed,