My turn signals aren't working or making a clicking sound or even lighting up on the dashboard panel

Hello fellow members,

I have a 2001 Tacoma I was driving today to work (already in the free-way, and not close to the house) my turning signals stopped working. Both front and back turn signals aren't working, also my turning signals lights in the dashboard panel don't light up, and there's not even "clicking sounds" are being heard. All I can remembering changing was the corner lights couple weeks ago and got LED. I've read older post about it, but all had changes the turning signal lights not the corner lights to LED. Any help would be appreciated! Unfortunately, I will be stuck at work till 7 PM mountain time and wont be able to check or work on my truck till I leave work, but would love to see some helpful replies so when I get out I know where to start.

Thanks!

 

Corner light has nothing to do with turn signals. Not even the same fuse. Speaking of which did you check the Turn fuse (10A inside the cab)? Did you test Hazard light functioning? They share same part of the signal lights circuit but different fuse.

 

Thanks for replying. Ill check as soon as I get a lunch at work. Well I'm glad it could be a simple fuse fix. That older thread I read was talking about replacing the flasher relay and/or also doing a mod to your original one so it wont keep busting (though, that is with LED on the turning signals only) that's why I was confused as for I only did the corner lights.

 

Turn signals are down low in the bumper. Corner lights are next to head lights. Corner lights (or park lights) don't blink.

 

Yes I’m aware of that. Thanks for describing the location of the turn signals. For whoever doesn’t know that.

 

Regarding swapping to LED (We are talking stock setup)
Corner lights are 5W front markers connected to "Tail and Illumination" circuit. They are powered by the "Tail" fuse (I think it is under the hood in a fuse box). Basically they turn on when the light switch position is on "position lights" or or "headlights". Can be easy swapped to T10 base LED bulbs with no need for any other changes.

Turn signal lights located under the front bumper (because of the location some people mistake it for Fog lights) share the circuit with Hazard lights including flasher. The only thing that is not shared is power source (and fuse). They are in 4157NA form (or 1156 in older 1st gen models)

Stock Tacoma flasher has "burned bulb detection" feature that goes into hyper-flashing (fast rapid blinking) when one of bulbs is burned. This is safety feature to bring driver's attention that he/she might not be signaling the turn because of the burned bulb. It works by measuring the current going through the flasher. Standard incandescent turn signal bulb is 21-28W front and rear so both take about 3.5 - 4.6A. If flasher detects less than about 2.5A taken by the circuit then it goes into hyper-flashing mode.

When you replace only one bulb per side with LED you might be OK for hyper-flashing as long as the LED is at least 5-6W or more. Replacing both bulbs on one side with LED will trigger "burned bulb detection" in a stock flasher. Solution is to replace the flasher with LED compatible flasher (read: the one without burned bulb detection feature) - they are cheap (less than 15 dollars) and available in any auto parts store (and on-line of course). Some people solve the problem by adding load resistors which is less preferred method (read: dumb IMHO).

The information above might be useful for someone who does not know, or new to 1st gen.

 

Again thanks for the reply. The only place I have LED bulbs are in the corner lights. Headlights, turning signal lights, brake lights are not LED's. I still need to check the fuse box and look for "10A" and see if its blown. So your saying that if its not blown and fuse is still intact to check the "Tail" fuse which is under the hood in the fuse box? Sorry a bit confused.

 

Sorry for the confusion. "Tail" fuse has nothing to do with turn signal so leave it alone. The easiest way to test it is:
1. turning on hazard lights.
a. If it does not work, check the horn.
- If horn works but hazard don't then problem is either in some broken wire, disconnect, stuck or burn switch (either the hazard switch or turn signal switch or flasher).
b. If hazard works but turn signal don't it is most likely the Turn fuse blown or having bad connection.


Confused about horn? Horn shares the same fuse as Hazard. So by checking the horn you can be sure the hazard lights fuse is OK.

Confused about possible faulty or disconnected hazard switch killing turn signals? Power to flasher goes via that switch.

 

That diagram helped to complete that picture you drew. Well, I will check and troubleshot and see where this problem is coming from. I'll keep you posted!

 

And the verdict is ...

 

........ A damn simple 10A fuse !!! Thanks man for a fast fix! Got out of work and I pulled out the 10A (red in color) fuse and to my amazement, it was blown. I realized I had a little box that contained some fuses, not sure if I had the one I needed, but kept looking and found that 10A. So replaced the fuse and wala.... problem fixed!!

 

I had a similar prob recently, feels good to get it going again and know it's usually a simple solution to most problems.

 

Now the bigger question is "why did it blow?". If you haven't manipulated lately with turn signal lights (like replaced a burned bulb, attaching a trailer if you have one) you need to watch for this to happen again. The fuse does not blow just because it is old. It worked as overload protection so it must have detected a short. It might come again. Lose wires with cracked insulation are the worse to trace. Especially when the short comes and goes. Just have a spare 10A fuse ready in a glove box.

 

Definitely! Will keep a look out and will buy some spare fuses too. Again, appreciate you help you saved me some time since I got out of work late.

 

Soooooooo fuse blew again. Ugh, guess I need to look into it more. The bad thing is I believe I dont have another spare 10A fuse. So going to drive without turning signals for a bit at night

 

Bummer. Like I wrote, fuses don't blow for no reason. Did it blow while signaling or while starting the truck? That might narrow down your searching. Do you have trailer adapter? They quite often go bad and mess up the truck (by the way it reminds me to remove mine, especially that it is useless/not legal in Poland).

 

Never tried testing it out this morning while turning on the truck. I believe it happened when I tried signaling, no warning or anything just all of a sudden everything stopped working, no lights on the panel indicating turning signal, no sound, no nothing. Don't have a trailer adapter. Working again today so ill check the fuse at lunch time, but I'm most certain its blown.

 

If it is, don't just keep replacing fuses. You will have electrical fire eventually if you do. You have to find that short.

 

Agree. I'll look into it deeply Saturday. Ill keep ya posted incase I find the source.

 

The way I'd do the diagnostic is to remove the turn fuse and MacGyver 50W bulb in place of that fuse (simple H4 bulb with two wires connected to the bulb on one side and stick into fuse socket on the other). Now you can test the circuit without blowing any fuses. If the H4 bulb goes full blast you see a short. The flasher might go into hyper-blinking but that's expected. H4 bulb will protect wires from burning.