Back when I installed my High Country Offroad bumper, I lengthened the wires to my rear bumper turn signals. They've been great without problems until today. I started getting the double-time flashing on my left turn signal. I knew what the issue was right away. On the highway, my driver's side turn rear signal assembly fell out of the bumper (The entire assembly) and was dangling by the wires. I got out, pushed the assembly back into the bumper, checked the signal, still blinking twice as fast. I took it home.

Once home, I pulled the assembly out and could see that at the little blue plastic wire couplers I used when lengthening, a little copper was showing between the coupler and the wire insulation, indicating that the 2 of the 3 wires had backed out of 2 of the 3 couplers just a bit. I started the vehicle, turned on the left signal so it was flashing, then went back to the back to wiggle the wires and couplers to see if I could get the signal to go on. No dice. I let the signal hang to see where the wires were in contact with the bumper and they rested right where the small amount of copper was exposed making contact with the steel bumper. The copper on two of the wires touched the steel simultaneously.

Now neither signal will work at all!!! When I turn on the left signal, the left arrow on the instrument panel illuminates once briefly then no more, and doesn't make a click noise. Same with the right turn signal. I checked the fuses for the turn signals and they're good. I restripped the wires and reconnected them with new couplers. Still no dice.

Any ideas on if I managed to EFF something up when the two exposed copper wires hit the steel bumper? If so, what? How badly? and Can I fix it?

Help! ...and thanks in advance?

 

Anybody on this? It's frustrating the heck out of me because I have zero knowledge of electric anything.

 

Does anything happen when you turn on the Hazards?

The bad news is the short could have killed the flasher relay or control in the fuse box (passenger) and, as far as I know, it's not a serviceable part, so you're looking at a new fuse box. Just for the fun of it, replace the flasher fuse sanyway. Sometimes they can look fine when they're not. Then start checking voltage at the harnesses with the blinkers on. If nothing you could always try beating on the fuse box. If the relay's just stuck and not fried sometimes you can knock them free, probably not going to happen in this case but worth a shot.

 

Unfortunately, same thing as trying the signal. One brief blink of the turn indicators on the instrument cluster and that's it. And even though it blinks the one time on the dash, the actual lights on the vehicle don't light up at all. Same situation when I hit the keyless entry button - car locks and unlocks, but the lights no longer flash when I do it.

Here's something else that may help, or further confuse the issue: when I turn on the left turn signal, the little green trailer indicator light on the top right of the instrument cluster blinks continuously until I turn the signal off. Only with the left turn signal though...

Somebody, please tell me you are a Rover 12v whiz and can help me out. I am seriously baffled.

 

VICTORY!!!! The day is mine, Trebek!

After racking my brain all day, jacking around with the tail lights, turn signals, towing harness, all trying to figure out why the hell these signals weren't working - even when the fuses were still good - when it finally hit me... the OTHER fuse box!!!!

It didn't even strike me to check the fuse box under the hood. Maybe there were turn signal fuses both under the dash AND under the hood? I grabbed my owners manual and checked the list of fuses associated with the box in the engine compartment and SURE ENOUGH!! There it was staring me right in the face! One fuse in there for turn signals/hazard. Checked the fuse, yep.. fried, swapped it and TADA! It's Miller time!

Lesson learned: Don't forget about the other fuse box under the hood!

Everyone's homework assignment tonight: glance through your manual and get a general idea of what fuses you've got under the dash and under the hood. A 1 minute fix took me 18 hours of totally unnecessary frustration. On the bright side, I really got to know my way around my rear tail light assemblies AND discovered where my trailer light harness is hidden! And all this time, I just thought my truck came with a hitch but no wiring harness... VICTORY!

 

Congrats!! I sort of know the feeling. When I put my headliner back in last weekend, I shorted out the cargo light bolting it in. I checked the manual, found "interior lights" and checked that fuse. Good. I mildly freaked, broke out the multimeter and spent the next 20 minutes checking things, all testing good. I went to the manual again, and found 2 other fuses for interior lights. The third fuse was it.