Have had a problem develop whereby the N/S indicator is flashing at over twice the rate of the O/S. It is not the fault of the relay. A towbar has been fitted but all of the connections have been removed. Continuity checks from the fuse box to the relay, relay to the switch, switch to the column mounted terminal block and terminal block to the indicator bulbs show now excess resistance. Running new wire (temporary) to the bulbs does not alter the flash rate. Earths are good as are bulbs. The switch is mechanically and electrically sound as far as I am aware (and can teat). When placing the (temporary) new wire in the lamp circuit, the dash warning lamp was bypassed (therefore sound), but the problem persists.
Can anyone spot anything atall that I may have overlooked. I am a Mercedes trained diagnostic technician/auto electrician, but have little experience of Toyota's and this one has got me.
Any advice (except burn it!) would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Gary Randle - (#2054) Gary Randle, 1 Feb 02

Gary,
Normally, the only reason for the indicators to flash really quickly is if one of the main bulbs is blown or missing, I assume they are all sound. Do the hazard warnings all work OK? If you had a high resistance then that would put more load on the flasher relay and subsequently you would get short on, long off on the relay. But if you are just getting a fast flash then that normally indicates (no pun intended) that there is a low current drain. When the towbar electrics was removed, was one of the lamps left out or running off a relay or something? HTH.Regards Rob. - (#2057) Rob Drinkwater, 1 Feb 02

Thanks for the response Rob.
Hazards were removed from the equasion (electrically) and work fine anyway. However, I have since found remnents of an alarm installation which is of less than good quality and also several radio hack jobs, all in the vicinity of the loom, running behind the centre of the dash. Tomorrow I am goint to remove everything that is surplus to requirements and start from there. I am certian that the fault lies pre-flasher relay, so it is just a matter of time.
Life is so much fun on a strange vehicle with no wiring diagram and beautifully crafted "modifications" using a selection of brightly coloured wires, isn't it!?
Thanks for your time.
Gary - (#2059) Gary Randle, 1 Feb 02

Gary, if you look at some of the other threads that have been running recently, you'll see the kind of electrical fun I'm having at present, having had a CAT1 alarm professionally fitted, now the cassette deck stays on with ign off, and turns off when sidelights on, then ejects when you turn the sidelights off again. So if the elecetrics are as butchered on your Townie as you say they are, it could be happy hunting for that fault. Good luck, Regards, Rob. - (#2064) Rob Drinkwater, 2 Feb 02