Forum Discussion

Tom_Barb's avatar
Tom_Barb
Explorer
Jun 06, 2019

Electric issues

2000 Newmar Mountain Aire, 8.3 Cummins, Smart wheel controls.
I have a green arrow (right hand signal indicator) that comes on and stays on any time I use my parking lights, or windshield wipers.
signal lights work normally, but emergency flashers won't flash. they just stay on.
The only way you can make it go off is to turn all electrical equipment off then turn on the head lights on and shut them off and the green arrow will go off too
all fuses are good.
the left turn lamp on my left mirror, is out but the bulb is good.

any clues as to where to look for the cure?

8 Replies

  • ^^^ I was thinking I'd just run a new ground and leave it! :B

    Grounds can be a bear to hunt down, no sense in making it harder than it needs to be.
  • Tom/Barb wrote:
    Bruce Brown wrote:
    Might be a bad bulb too. I'd probably check there first as it should be the easiest - and I like easy.


    Checked that already. bulb is good.
    we have power to the light, but no ground.
    now to find where the ground wire goes, it does exit the mirror thru the fiberglass body. connections in the mirror are good.

    ground wire shows no continuity to a known good ground.

    working on it !


    Did you find it? I was getting excited reading and tracking your progress up to this point as it sounds like you're on the right track.

    If you didn't already I would suggest running a temporary ground from the mirror to see if that fixes the issue.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Ah. the mirror lamp is not likely the problem
    The FRONT turn signal was the culprit on my RV.

    Bulb was good. Just needed to reseat it.
  • Bruce Brown wrote:
    Might be a bad bulb too. I'd probably check there first as it should be the easiest - and I like easy.


    Checked that already. bulb is good.
    we have power to the light, but no ground.
    now to find where the ground wire goes, it does exit the mirror thru the fiberglass body. connections in the mirror are good.

    ground wire shows no continuity to a known good ground.

    working on it !
  • Might be a bad bulb too. I'd probably check there first as it should be the easiest - and I like easy.
  • wa8yxm wrote:
    The turn signal indicator staying on suggests a bad ground on one of the turn signal lights. MOST LIKELY the front Turn Signal light (bout other options are possible) And I stress the word "SUGGESTS".

    Why?
    The parking light and turn signal lamps are usually dual element lamps with a common Ground. IF the ground is bad for any reason (IE bulb not making good electrical contact with socket) power to the Parking element back feeds the turn signal circuit

    WHy front

    The rear turn signals are connected together as STOP lamps on most vehicles unless you are signaling a turn but the FRONT connect directly to the indicator.
    Thank You
    Today I have time to Chase this..
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    The turn signal indicator staying on suggests a bad ground on one of the turn signal lights. MOST LIKELY the front Turn Signal light (bout other options are possible) And I stress the word "SUGGESTS".

    Why?
    The parking light and turn signal lamps are usually dual element lamps with a common Ground. IF the ground is bad for any reason (IE bulb not making good electrical contact with socket) power to the Parking element back feeds the turn signal circuit

    WHy front

    The rear turn signals are connected together as STOP lamps on most vehicles unless you are signaling a turn but the FRONT connect directly to the indicator.
  • Normally there is a separate flasher for the turn signals and the emergency flashers. They usually look the same (about 1” diameter silver can.) Did you try replacing the emergency flasher? It’s really just a timed relay switch, and it’s possible the relay inside the flasher Is stuck.