Why do my hazard lights work, but not my turn signals?
Hazard lights and turn signals use the same bulb, so it is not the bulb, the lamp, or the cables to them. Turn signals only work when the ignition is on; hazard lights work whether the ignition is on or not. The two systems have separate power supplies, so they have separate fuses. You may have a blown fuse.Different vehicles use different circuits, and it is not possible to accurately diagnose the fault with the small amount of information provided. You need a circuit diagram and a voltmeter, and a continuity tester. First locate and test the turn signal fuse. Do you have voltage to and from the turn signal switch?The hazard light switch is not a simple on/off switch. In the “on” position, a fused battery feed connects to left and right turn signal. In the “off” position, the left turn switch wire is connected to the left turn lamp and the right turn switch wire is connected to the right turn lamp, so there are 3 inputs and 2 outputs.The fault could be a fuse, turn signal switch, hazard switch, flasher unit, or a broken wire or connection.
If headight is out, is it better to leave on the brights and blind a cop with both lights? Or not blind them, exposing the fact the headlight is out?
I might overlook a car with one headlight traveling down the road, but I usually stop people who are driving with their bright lights on.First, you're not just blinding me, you're blinding everyone else on the road.Second, while you're blinding everyone else on the road, you are giving me a horrible headache.Third, one headlight out is obviously an equipment problem and can eventually get fixed. Driving with your brights on could be an indicator of another problem, such as DUI, which is something I will stop you for.Even if you're driving with your brights on to mask the burned-out bulb, I will usually just give you a warning about it (the first time). If you're doing the same thing a week later, you'll get a citation for it.
I changed the spark plugs, Why is my engine light blinking now?
On most cars I’ve driven, a flashing check engine light means something is very seriously wrong. That means don’t drive the car till you’ve fixed it.An OBD2 scanner is pretty much a necessity for working on modern cars. They don’t even cost that much anymore. Plug it into your OBD port, and it’ll most likely tell you what’s happening to make the check engine light flash. Look up the code and error message on google or youtube, and you can most likely find a description of how to fix it.If it says something vague, and then think about what you did and what the problems might be. If changing the plugs was ALL you did, there are a few things that come to mind as the first things I’d check. Think about what you touched, and what those parts do for the engine. The plugs, wires and coil are all things you might have disturbed or miss-installed, and they all have to do with ignition. My thought is that you might have one or more misfiring cylinders. An engine will continue to run, although poorly, with a surprisingly large fraction of its cylinders failing to fire, but the computer that controls it will see this as a pretty serious problem, and either detect the misfires directly, detect the extra oxygen in the exhaust, or both.Are all your spark plug wires back in place and making good contact with the terminals, both at the plug end and the coil end?If you have ‘coil over’ plugs, are the connectors to the individual coils tight?Did you check gap on all your plugs before you put them in? If the gap is too small or too large, the plug can fail to spark or spark so weakly it doesn’t ignite the gas.Did you tighten all your plugs to the proper torque? A loose plug can result in a misfire due to lack of compression.Did all the plugs have their crush washers, or was one missing?Did you reinstall all the plug wires to the correct plugs, or are some of your cylinders firing out of sequence?Are all your spark plug wires in good condition, or were some damaged during your work? It doesn’t take much damage to high voltage wiring before sparks come out at the wrong places.Is the coil in good condition? Is it dry? If you had the hood open in the rain, a wet coil can malfunction, as rainwater is quite conductive at high voltage. The plastic shell on an old coil can get brittle, and working with it can crack the insulation. Oily gunk on the coil can bake into a carbon layer that’s conductive and short out the coil too.
Battery light just came on in my car and steering wheel tightened up...?
I waS on my way home and my battery light came on so i turned off the air and the radio (thought maybe it would conserve some of the energy if the battery was dying. everytime i tried to turn a corner the steering wheel was sooo tight i had to force it to turn. I got home and turned the car off and back on a few times, turned the radio and the air back on to see if they still worked...everything was still working but the battery light was still on and the wheel was still locking up...does anyone know what would cause both of those things to happen at the same time?
Is it normal for dashboard lights to be on when ignition is off?
On some cars the lights stay on for like 30 seconds after the ignition is off. But if they are on all the time even when the light switch is fully off, something is wrong, that is NOT normal.That happens sometimes due to somebody wiring some accessory to the nearest hot wire, which might be the dash lights wire. That’s fine unless there is another source of power to the device, and that feeds back up the dash lights wire.The old Audi’s had this bug— if you held the high-beams flash switch, that would feed power back into the accessory circuit, even when the key was out. They considered that a “feature” not a “bug”, as it let you close the sunroof without the key.Anyway, if someone has done some wiring lately, that’s probably the problem. Has someone added a security system, a radio, an amplifier, or something else electrical? That’s probably it.If nothing has been messed with lately, then it’s likely that there is a short in the module that controls the lights. In the olden days the lights had a regular plain old switch, those very rarely failed. Today they use transistors to do the switching and they do sometimes fail, usually shorting out. They can be helped along toward shorting out if someone accidentally shorts out the cigar-lighter power outlet, with like a bad charger cord.
The anti-theft in my car won't turn off. What should I do?
Answer from WikiHow. Can be found here as well.Some cars have an automatic theft system built in that can sometimes become activated without any threats. Here is how you can correct this problem without causing your battery to die.Method 1:Turning the Theft System Off from Inside the Car1 Check for a light on the dashboard. It will say System on "Theft System" or something similar.2 Make sure nothing is loose if you tried to take anything apart.3 Check to see if the battery has not been drained. At that point the car will not do any thing, except make a slight effort to start. If the battery is dead, ask someone to help jump start it for you.4 Place the key in the ignition, and turn it slightly to the right. This is also known as position 2, in which the car is on but the engine is off. This gives power to the necessary components to allow this method of bypassing the alarm to work. When you turn the key the radio should work, and the dash lights should light up.5 Keep the key that way for ten minutes, maybe a little more. The theft system light should turn off, and the car can be started.Method 2Turning the Theft System Off Outside of the Car1 Insert the key in the driver's side door. Even if you have a keyless entry, you'll want to use the actual, physical car key and place it in the lock on the outside of the driver's side door.2 Turn the key and hold it. Turn the key so that you unlock the door, but hold it in place for several seconds. This can sometimes bypass the factory alarm and allow you to start the vehicle. This method lets the vehicle know that you have the actual key to the vehicle and in most cases will bypass in the even the key fob (the part that permits keyless entry) is broken, misplaced, or has a dead battery. This method most commonly works in BMW's, Mercedes, and VW's.
Why do you have to change a car's alternator when changing the battery?
Well, three possibilities here.One. You alternator failed, killing the battery. Replace the battery, test the alternator. You can't test an alternator with a failed battery. Start the car with the new battery, voltage should go up from 12.5ish to 13–14 volt range.Rev the engine slightly (2500–3000 rpm). Turn on all the electricals, lights, air conditioning, etc. If the voltage drops below 12.8 for more than a second, look at replacing the alternator. It should spring back to 13ish.Often alternators will have a modular regulator. Most parts shops can test and determine if the alternator itself is blown, or if it's just the regulator. The brushes may be gone, and are sometimes integral to the regulator. Either way, it's cheaper than a full alternator.If the alternator is bad — doesn't make voltage; or is weak — doesn't hold voltage: then fix or replace it with the battery.Check the feed cables and battery connections on the off chance they're bad. You should do this regardless.Two. This is a low probability. Your battery failed, killing the alternator. This can happen in the case I forget a dead short in one of the cells of the battery, or a near total loss of liquid in your battery. Either way the battery case will likely be distorted, or even cracked. It will have a voltage less than 9. It may even stink of rotten eggs, with a slight taste of chewing on foil.Three. Your mechanic is a liar and a thief who's trying to get more money out of your pocket and into his. If he says that you have to replace the alternator because the battery is bad, this is the case.