I hope you guys can help, I've done a lot of research, and a lot of searching here (at least 18 pages of various search results) and I thought I had it narrowed down, but now I'm completely baffled. Here's the details, and I'll try not to take up too much of your time; sure hope someone is able to help...

Its a '99 Cavalier Coupe. Last night the turn signals started to behave erratically... as in they'd flash 1-3 times, then make an odd noise and stop working. Thinking back now, I did notice odd behavior earlier with the turn signals, not always making that clicking noise... I just dismissed it because I usually drive with my music quite loud...

My first impulse was that its the flasher unit itself, so I dug out my Hayes manual to find out where the thing was located, only to discover that the turn signals and hazard lights use a combination flasher.

So I went outside and tried my hazards, and they worked just fine. Can't be the combo flasher then can it?

Checked the fuse, it still seems to be in great shape.

Yet the turn signals seem to burn out after a few blinks...

Tried the hazards again, let them run for a couple minutes, walked around the car, and all 4 bulbs are working just fine.

My next thought is there is something wrong with the switch itself, so I come back inside and do some more searching, came across a couple posts that mentioned that extra force or wiggling the turn signal switch might tell me if it is a switch issue.

So I went out to try, and no matter the pressure or position, the turn signals did the exact same thing *click**blink* -pause- *click**blink* then kind of a quasi half *click* that seems to happen half a beat too fast...

In summation: Fuses and bulbs ok. Can't be the flasher, because the hazards work just fine. Could be the switch, but this seems to be too sequential to be a physical breakdown (wiring, the switch etc) Its just too predictable...

Anyone out there have any suggestions before I rip apart the steering column out of sheer frustration... which would probably take me a week to put back together...
Thanks in advance for ANY help.

i think the steering column on our cars has some major wiring issues...i was going to post on here asking about my headlights working only if i hold the handle back on my lightswitch....seems like these two issues could be related. i have a 98 z24 myself...and im going to be tearing into the steering column tonight most likely...maybe we can get answers by then lol.

its possible that the flasher, although it is one unit, runs two seperate circuits, therefore, it could be the flasher, but not sure about this.

As for thecavy98's headlights, two words-combination switch. The headlight switch, turn signal switch, and hazard light switch are all contained in a single, large, combination switch. The same exact thing happened on my old 93 cavy-headlights would only work, high beams, by using the flash-to-pass feature. turned out to be a bad switch. Although the switch on the 93 and and on your 98 look different, functionally, they are the same. I would bet money that it is your combo switch.

yep, its the switch, i would try replacing that for the headlight problem, but not sure about the blinkers....




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first of all does it do it with both sides or only one side you should check the ground wire on each bulb to seeif there loose caus that happen to my toyota and when you use the flashers they worked great but when I used the turn light it would go real fast