Turn signal doesn't work when in housing?

[Terzo]

Friday my front driver's side turn signal was clicking fast. I've been told that's generally a sign of a bad bulb, and indeed when I looked the front signal was not working (all the other turn signals were working fine).

After some fun taking the casing out of the car (apparently the screw hole broke and it's zip-tied down) and taking out the socket I luckily discovered the bulb does work. Figuring that the connection must have been loose or something, I returned the socket to the housing and tried it one last time to make sure everything was peachy.

Except it didn't work again. What the hell?


Cliffs:
Turn signal works when socket is outside of housing, but does not work when inside housing. What is my problem? Car is 93 civic if it helps.

 

[sdifox]

short of some sort when you put it back in?

 

[Alone]

Could only be a short. Check all the wires and make sure they're not falling apart.

 

[BUTCH1]

Maybe the filament makes a connection when jarred, buy a new bulb and give it a shot..

 

[Bignate603]

When you say it works outside the housing are you testing it while still in the socket on the car or are you testing it using another power source?

 

[Terzo]

When you say it works outside the housing are you testing it while still in the socket on the car or are you testing it using another power source?

The former. In the socket, power coming from the car.

Considering what's been said so far (a short / check the wires) I fidgeted around with the connection a bit. Knock on wood, it seems to be working fine now. Honestly, I feel a little sheepish about asking now.

As always, thanks for the feedback.

 

[Alone]

Honestly, I feel a little sheepish about asking now.

At least you didn't rip out the wiring harness on a motorcycle looking for damaged wires because a signal wasn't working. I was near dropping the wheel and taking the fender off.

But alas...the bulb was trash.

 

[Meghan54]

At least you didn't rip out the wiring harness on a motorcycle looking for damaged wires because a signal wasn't working. I was near dropping the wheel and taking the fender off.

But alas...the bulb was trash.

If in doubt, always try the simplest, easiest thing first, like a broken/burned out bulb.


It's like when the A/C in my vehicle died a few days ago....was working when parked, 12 hours later, it wouldn't turn on. Posted on a forum seeking anyone that could shoot me a copy of the diagnostic tree for my A/C system.

While I was unsuccessful in obtaining that, I did get a lot of responses about what could be wrong.....bad/need to replace the compressor was the most posted response.

Did a little diagnosis, as much as I could.....relay was good, fuses good, then decided to jump the low pressure switch out of the loop and turned out to be the problem. A $10 part and 5 minutes later, A/C is working again.


As I was taught long ago.......when you hear hoofbeats, do you think of zebras? Of course you don't, you think of horses. And the point of that is look to the simplest explanation first for a problem which usually turns out to be the answer.