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Good evening. I search this site for all kinds of things and it’s truly helped me learn these yotas but I’m extremely stumped with these turn signals not working and my cluster. I’ve been threw all the threads regarding these issues and can not seem to find anything to help. I tried messaging RAD4runner for further help but your inbox is full and will not except any more. I have no one to help me here. My time is becoming limited as I’m moving jobs due to a family loss and our company shutting down. I’ve put close to 6 grand in this truck motor and drive train wise in the last few months and I almost have it where I am happy but these electrical issues are driving me bat s**t crazy. Yes I’m not a very good mechanic and I’m self taught because I have no one to help. Anyone that may want to help is welcome to reach out to me. I live in southwest Florida if it helps anyone and anyone can shoot me a text or a phone call 941-302-2147 as you can tell I’m getting very desperate thanks again for anyone help and I greatly appreciate everyone’s time and sorry to bother
Hey Bird,
What is the problem, specifically?
What year truck, motor, what will the turn signals do and not do? any electrical mods?
What is going on with the cluster?
do you have a multimeter?
Fsm?
Will pictures help us?
State the problem clearly, and someone will be along.
Its also Christmas time and a lot of people are very busy with life.
Hope this helps
Ok so here goes... 1984 pickup cab and chassis at the moment. Here in the last few months I’ve done a full emissions delete. Complete LC block off plate kit. All the AC and heat have been removed. Offenhauser intake. 32/36 Webber carb. LC header. Crane ignition. Webber electric fuel pump. Webber fuel regulator. H4 headlight conversion. Electrical system was completely exposed and gone over by more then one person. All the deleted sensors and AC / heat wiring has been removed from source of origin. All the lighting has been rewired from the front bumper to the rear bumper exactly as it was from the factory. Spent the entire day going over everything multiple times and slowly putting it back together. Headlights work great. Running lights work fine. Break lights work fine. Hazards work fine. I did get the turn signals to work as they should before I put all the wiring back in place and the turn signal switch back on the steering column. Now I got them to work by taking the switch apart on the steering column cleaning everything up and adjusting it multiple times. First I could get one side to work and not the other. I could take it apart swap the contacts and get the other side to work but not the one previous working. Finally got it adjusted and working right and got all the signals working as they should. I put the switch back together on the steering column and now when I hit a blinker I get a click noise from the flasher relay and it goes dead. Nothing working but the hazards. I can take the switch back apart put it back together and get power to the 2 circuits in the switch for the blinkers. Hit the blinker and it goes dead. Could it possibly be the flasher relay? Or is it my original thought.. the switch on the steering column?? I just don’t understand how I can take the switch apart and put it back together and I have power to the circuits again until I hit the blinker and this is a never ending circle. All the switch does is slide a spring loaded bar Up and down making the contact points to turn the blinker on. Yes I have 2 sets of lights running to the rear of the truck. 1 set for tail/stop and 1 set for turn.
You mentioned the cluster in the original post.
Is it stock and from this truck or another truck? Did it work properly before all the wiring work?
From my limited experience, especially with these trucks, I would start with the relay.Test it and rule it good/not good.
You can then move to the switch. Test and determine good/bad.
Troubleshooting is about being methodical and logical.
Do you have a multimeter?
The cluster doesn’t seem to be quite as big of a deal at the moment. Sometimes when you hit the wiper switch the cluster goes dead but I haven’t completely but the dash back together and put the cluster back in to see if that problem still exists. It was all working fine earlier when I had it plugged in and had the turn signals working. The temp gauge won’t work because of the offenhauser intake. Gas gauge is working again but not reading right but probably just the sender. Only thing in the cluster I want to work that doesn’t is the tach and I can’t for the life of me trace the wire that works the tach. I’m pretty sure it hooked up to the one I believe is correct but it doesn’t work. I did read something in the crane literature that mentions depending if it’s off the pos or neg on the coil not sure which one at the moment it could need an adapter to work but if I can’t figure it out I’ll get an aftermarket and just hook it up. I’m not good at reading electrical schematics they confuse me. I think I have a multimeter but I’d have to go get it out of my work truck and see what it is and I’ll be honest I have no idea how to work it. I have reasons in life to be scared of electric so I’ve always kinda avoided it. But seems the older I get the more it intrigues me and I want to learn more about it. And it seems to be the one thing in vehicles that gets the best of me so I’m determined to start learning more about it. I’ve been trying to get this truck done before the first of the year but doesn’t seem it’s going to happen. I’ve been chasing these turn signals for a couple weeks now and get aggregated and want to burn the truck to the ground but walk away and try another day. I’ve seem to make head way but am still stumped. Everything worked before and after messing with the electrical besides the turn signals. Some would not work consistently but that was bad wiring or a plug not making good contact. I’m not sure the turn signals ever worked to be honest. I bought the truck maybe 10 or 11 years ago. It’s a turd to be honest and the cab is pretty ˟˟˟˟ but it’s my baby and I’ll never part ways with it. I really want to learn them in and out and plan to do more of them. Just want to get this electrical figured out so I can put it back together and start on the axles and brakes so I can get the rest of these parts out of my living room lol ... not that I care but I’ve been catching heat for awhile now for boxes of yota parts in the living room hahaha
Wiring diagram fro a 90 attached, have to assume yours is similar unless you have other info. Power for turns flows through fuse,then hazard switch, then flasher, then turn signal switch. Unlikely to be flasher if hazards work. Could be a contact inside hazard switch which routes power to flasher from turn signal fuse (haz fuse is different circuit, at least here). Most likely IMO would be the turn signal switch itself, they can be temperamental. Possibly some corrosion built up on one of the contact in there (appear to be several, don't know never taken one apart) limiting votage from activating flasher. You can use your meter set on volts to test for power, set to 20 on DC current, touch red probe to contact you want to test to see if it has power and touch black probe to good ground (clean metal or wire to neg battery terminal)
Your tach runs off signal from igniter, on most it's a black /red wire.
Switch sitting where it goes but not screwed in Switch opened up. On the bottom part top side is hazard circuit bottom side is turn signal circuit. The little metal bars are spring loaded and when you flip the hazard or switch left or right it just slides the bar to make the correct contact and put power where needed The wire all the way to the right is the hazard circuit as it has power all the time. The 2 to the left are only hot with the ignition on. I get power every where needed with key on checking with my test light. As soon as you flip the blinker it kills the power to the 2 that are hot with the ignition. As soon as you flip the blinker you hear sometimes 1 click from the flasher relay and it kills it ... sometimes it sounds like a buzzing it clicks so fast for a split second and kills the power. Once it kills the power to the 2 circuits hot with ignition I can not get power back unless I take the switch apart .. make sure the turn signal is in the middle (off) and put it back together. Then I have power where it’s suppose to be until you hit the blinker and it kills it and the circle continues....
For my tach I’m trying to locate the wire that comes from the cluster. The only wire I think it is and goes to the right place in the engine compartment is a black wire and I don’t think it had any marking on it. I hooked that to the tach wire out of the crane ignition box but the tach isn’t working. I traced the other 2 wires in that plug for the cluster and 1 goes to the oil pressure (assuming) and other goes to the starter. The truck doesn’t have stock coil or ignition.
Sorry, my inbox is full and it's a pain clearing the personal messages box.
Unfortunately I have not disassembled a turn signal light to understand exactly which contacts do what.
Originally Posted by Birdslayer86
..But seems the older I get the more it intrigues me and I want to learn more about it....
THIS^^^ is most important, but this project could take time.
We need to know more about your truck, especially because those years were like Frankenstein just starting his career - LOL!
Is yours a first gen truck or a second gen truck that looks like the first-gen 4Runner?
Do you have similar wire colors to these going to your switch and blinker relay? (1986 and 1988 wire colors shown) Do not mind the cross-bands, just the STRIPES.
Do you have a fuse block like this behind driver side kick panel?
Does your flasher relay look like this?
You can also test your relay this way. No special equipment needed:
Please find your multi-meter and make sure it has fresh batteries. If no multi-meter, get a $7 from Harbor Freight. Good to have one always in the truck.
We'll go from there...
Last edited by RAD4Runner; 12-14-2019 at 09:18 PM.
The buzzing you describe sounds like the noise a relay makes when it's wired so that it turns itself on and off at its mechanical limits, and the contact arm is just flapping. Like your flasher isn't getting hot enough to fully flip the contacts when getting voltage from the turn fuse, just enough to move the spring steel close but then it snaps back - and on and off very quickly. With switch open take jumper cables, hook one to positive and hook an alligator clip on other end, or piece of wire. Touch this wire to either turn signal terminal (not middle one). Does it light up and flash? Then your problem is most likely worn contacts in your switch, probably the wiper side (longer one). You can build these up with electrical solder if you're careful and file/sand to shape after, just remove from plastic or you'll melt it. Might also try conductive epoxy or conductive tape, like HVAC, but I never have.
It'd also be good if you could see how much voltage you're actually getting at each of these contacts. Might be enough to turn on your test light but not enough to turn on the flasher. Check the turn fuse terminals for corrosion, as well as the fuse itself, and swap for a different one if you have one. If hazards work you're essentially performing the flasher test in the FSM, so in my opinion it's just the other half of the circuit that gets key power you need to focus on.
Edit: also I was mistaken about tach color, it is black. On My 90 2 wires from igniter go to coil, two go to ECU, and black one goes to junction connector and split from there to datalink box and your tach
The wire all the way to the right is the hazard circuit as it has power all the time. The 2 to the left are only hot with the ignition on.
EXACTLY what color wires go to each of those pins? Need to know so we can correlate with schematic pins.
Test light is not enough for this kind of troubleshooting it does not tell you whether you have enough voltage at points.
I’m pretty certain I’m hooked to the right wire for the tach. It is black and does exactly what you say it does. Ok these damn blinkers. I played with that switch in the column again this am. I had power to it and lost it again and could get it back. Took it apart numerous times. I think I used my meter right. I have 11.6 to the hazard circuit and when I could get power with ignition on I had 10.6 to the other 2 circuits. Killed the circuit took it apart again played with it some more. Had my 7 year old come out because my go go gadget head wasn’t working took a jumper wire jumped them from the hazard circuit and could turn the lights on but couldn’t get it to feed threw the blinker so it would flash. Hit the blinker to shift the contacts in the switch and the damn things are working again. Now I have 11.6 to the hazard circuit still and 11.5 to the other 2 circuits. I switched it around a few times and it’s not killing the circuit now and blinkers are working. I truly feel it’s the damn switch in the steering column not working correct all the time. Yes my fuse panel is similar to the one pictured above but my flasher relay is green and there isn’t nearly as many fuses in mine. But when I look it up online I have fuses where they need to be. Mine doesn’t have a cover and isn’t nearly as nice as the one pictured above lol mine is a turd that I love dearly hahaha I’ve never blown a fuse and have put new fuses in everything on the truck even though they were all good. I honestly have no idea what gen truck I have other then it’s an 84 and body parts 84-88 work as they should. The wires feeding into the switch are green ... green with a orange line and green with a blue line ... the wires that feed the actual blinkers were green with a yellow line and I don’t remember what the other one was but it was green with maybe a black line or brown. But I’ve rewired all them so colors aren’t the same now but I traced the wires inch by inch and rewired them exactly as they were from the factory. It just doesn’t add up that the flasher relay is bad because it works the hazards as it should and works the blinkers sometimes. The only thing I have touched to get them to work and not work is the switch in the steering column. I’m currently trying to find one in better condition just to see and seeing about getting a new relay and replacing to make sure the switch and relay aren’t the problem. Sorry if I forgot to answer something I’m trying to keep up the best I can and not get myself to confused
here’s the Turd in question. Figured y’all might need a good chuckle for the day. Not as nice as it could be but it was my first 4wd truck I bought and my first Toyota. Which this is my kind of truck.
Cool I’ll have to check that out. I’m limited with tools and the ability to pull the cab but that’s what I really wanted to do. I did jack it up off the frame and sand it to bare metal but it only has a good rattle rattle can paint job. I did put all new cab mounts on it. Next on the list once I get this electrical done is learning how to redo the axles. I have all the parts sitting there to do it front and rear axle and the rear disc brake conversion as well. Plus all new brake components. I have some body panels to change out to once I get the list above done. Hopefully I’ll find a thermostat housing from an 81 or 82 before I have to start driving it daily so I don’t have to run the adapter for the offenhauser intake. Hopefully this truck will be my first of many. The next one I’ll probably do in a little different order but I’ve learned a lot in general with this truck.
I'd agree on the switch being likely it. Since you're not building it to be a beauty queen you might even consider bypassing the switch if it happens again and you haven't found a working one for the right price. Scotchlock to each of the three blinker wires with another length of wire going to same position on a SPDT switch, and the switch should function just like your blinker (minus the auto-off after turning). Not big on Scotchlocks generally but they're easy to use and easily reversible, as long as you get the right size and don't slice the wire, and it's a dry location. Might even be able to mount the switch right behind your blinker stalk and have them connected with a zip tie or something to retain auto-off.
Birdslayer, may I suggest u dedicate this thread to "Troubleshooting" hazards, turns issue so it does not get confusing?
Have another for other issue.
Then have a "build thread" for general stuff like showing progress, etc. If u hit a major snag that needs troubleshooting, search for existing thread or start new one and put link on build thread.
12-13-2019, 02:34 PM
