Hazard lights... Driver side not working.

[Luisv]

Have an odd issue that I've never gotten on any other car.

The turn signals work fine. However, when I put on the hazards, the driver's side rear does not blink/cycle. When you use the turn signal, it works fine. What gives?

I searched the threads here and while there are a couple that mention a similar issue, none I saw actually gave the troubleshooting and/or solution. Just a "call John" type of answer....

 

[Jance GTS]

Change the bulb?

 

[Luisv]

Change the bulb?

Thanks for the reply....but...Bulb is fine.... Turn signal works, hazard does not. Bulb is not the problem...

 

[LifeIsGood]

I would change the bulb (or swap with the other side) just to make sure that it's not the issue..and proceed from there.


...and since I expect the same reply you gave to Jance, either take it to a Viper Tech and prepare to spend hundreds or thousands in diagnosis dollars...or check out the Wiring section of your service manual (mine is 8W) and check the appropriate wires.

 

[Luisv]

I would change the bulb (or swap with the other side) just to make sure that it's not the issue..and proceed from there.


...and since I expect the same reply you gave to Jance, either take it to a Viper Tech and prepare to spend hundreds or thousands in diagnosis dollars...or check out the Wiring section of your service manual (mine is 8W) and check the appropriate wires.

I looked into the bulb. It's a 3157, according to the Sylvania's site. If it is, the the only possibility is if one element is used for the turn signal and the other used for the hazard. Possible. I'll check it. I assumed it was a single filament bulb... Which would make sense... But it is what it is....

As for thousands on a tech... Really?... C'mon... The circuit cannot be that complex and I am confident my knowledge of electrical....

I was trying to get an answer to a question that I figure I was not the first to see... I guess I'll figure it out and then I will share the result to aid those that might come across this in the future...

Thanks for the reply... Will let you all know what happens.

 

[2000_Black_RT10]

I would grab a voltmeter and do some poking around..

 

[Jance GTS]

I looked into the bulb. It's a 3157, according to the Sylvania's site. If it is, the the only possibility is if one element is used for the turn signal and the other used for the hazard. Possible. I'll check it. I assumed it was a single filament bulb... Which would make sense... But it is what it is....

As for thousands on a tech... Really?... C'mon... The circuit cannot be that complex and I am confident my knowledge of electrical....

I was trying to get an answer to a question that I figure I was not the first to see... I guess I'll figure it out and then I will share the result to aid those that might come across this in the future...

Thanks for the reply... Will let you all know what happens.

That's why I was saying check the bulb. I really think they are 2 filament bulbs. I actually think I have had it happen before on a different vehicle.

I've experimented with all different kinds of LED's on my Viper and I'm happy with the results. It now has a high end look since I just replaced all the stock lights with LED's. It could be that simple of an issue as changing out that one bulb.

 

[DarcShadow]

I had a problem once where the driver side hazards (front and back) wouldn't work but the turn signals did. I didn't really worry about it since I rarely use the hazzards. Then one day I blew a fuse and in the process of pulling and replacing fuses I pulled the hazard fuse, put it back in and all the hazard lights started working. No idea why, since you only have one bulb not working probably not the same problem, but it'd be a simple check, pull the fuse and/or the relay and put them back in. Can't hurt.

 

[mach4444]

I had the same issue just last week. my turn signals worked, but the drivers rear hazard wouldn't. first thing I did was check to be sure the fuses where fully seated into the holders, then thought I blew a fuse, pulled out the hazard fuse, it checked good, put it back in and everything started working. haven't had an issue since and drove over 800 miles this past weekend. fuse was not oxidized and neither was the holder. the only reason I even noticed it was that while cleaning the inside of the car I accidently turned on the hazard switch and noticed no flashing light from the drivers rear.

 

[LifeIsGood]

As for thousands on a tech... Really?... C'mon...

My point was that the electrical system in these vipers can get fishy and time consuming to negotiate. As for you issue, the posts above indicate that it might be the fuse...easy check. Good luck.

 

[Luisv]

OK... so went at it this afternoon on the lunch break... First... tried to find any thread on how to get to the lights so I did not have to find out as I went... found a couple of threads that mentioned taking the rear cover (Lights, License plate, into the rear side vents) out... Let's just say I decided that it was stupid and looked myself... sure enough... you can do it from the inside of the GTS... no need to take a rear cover off. I'll post the photos of what i did separately...

On the issue with the hazards... once I got the light out (plastic enclosure) I checked to see if there was any signs of odd things. Any signs of moisture, damage to the connector, etc. It looked good. When I pulled the bulb socket from the assembly, the bulb looked fine. Without touching the bulb I went and turned on the Hazards... guess what... it worked. Since I had gone through the trouble of pulling everything out, I went ahead and made sure the socket contacts were clean, bent them for a bit added contact pressure, changed the bulb anyway, etc. I put it all back together and we are good, at least a few hours later. I'll assume the socket was odd or the bulb was slightly loose.

As a precaution, I went ahead and changed all 10 3157s back there. 6 were in the brake lights, 2 turn signals, 2 backup/reverse lights. I figured I'd eliminate having to do it again and put in all new bulbs. I used Sylvania Silverstar 3157 bulbs. They are a little brighter than the originals. Let's see if this fixes the matter.

Given this... the fuse can't be the issue. The flasher relay may be flaky and intermittently failing... let's see. For now it works....

Ken, on the electrical system... I have no issues chasing it down... I'm an Elec. Engineer... with a schematic (have one in the service manuals I just picked up) and a meter... the lights cannot be that complex. Let's see what happens now. Hopefully I scared the components into working! LOL.

 

[Luisv]

As an update... after the bulb swap on the whole rear.... I've had the flasher issue show once about a month later. Nothing since.

 

[NetkoGTS]

You are out of blinker fluid?