Turn signal issue

[brods]

2005 SLT built August 04 IIRC Everything fine Friday when parked. It rained Saturday while truck parked. Sunday morning very humid and truck has a lamp out indicator. Turn signals perform as follows:

Left turn signal requested = fast flash on cluster indicator, neither front or rear bulbs flash.

Right turn signal requested = fast flash on cluster indicator, front bulb nothing, rear bulb fast flash.

Hazards = normal speed flash on cluster indicators, only right rear bulb flashes.

Left stop bulb does not light, no power at the connector, right stop bulb lights. Hazard and turn signal behavior does not change with the left tail lamp assembly connector disconnected.
All parking lights work. I assume this eliminates the fuses and the grounds. Pulled right front parking light bulb: with parking lights and hazards on (engine off) one tang has 12.xx volts another had 9.27 volts, both steady, no bouncing with flashing, nothing at the other two. Put in new bulb, no change. Went looking for the flasher relays and learned the clicking is fake and is driven by the module. It appears the 9.27 volts is the lamp out sensing voltage.

Could it be the multi function switch? Could it be a dead short somewhere? Seems like a short should have knocked out the right rear blinker as well? The Front Control Module?

I might just pull the multifunction switch to clean it. The intermittent wipers have been acting up for years. There is a led stop light on the cap that taps in to the stop light circuit. It works. Only other thing that might be remotely related is I lubed the steering column bearings around a month or so ago.

 

[Tuesdak]

I have had the front turn signal bulb socket fail and generate lamp out messages at random. The contacts would visibly leave burns from arcing on the bulb connector.

If you have voltage use a test light to see if it will light up. I would be suspect of the ground connection. A high resistance connection will read full voltage till you put a load on it. The other connector you can clean and check is from the harness to the socket itself.

The rear tail lamp boards are famous for failing. You might disconnect it and see if the front starts working.

 

[ckh]

I had a similar problem to this, it was the relay.

 

[brods]

Which relay was it? The only relays the FSM lists are the Parking Lamp relay and the Trailer Tow right and left turn relays. It appears the turn signals are driven directly from the Front Control Module.

 

[ckh]

My error, I meant multifunction switch.

 

[brods]

Got it. Thank you.

 

[Killgore]

I turn on my left-turn signal and the right indicator sometimes flashes. Sometimes my window controls don't work and the radio is kaput. I rewired my fog-lights to the battery with a relay so I could turn them on. One day I hope to meet up with the yahoo that put that TIPM in my truck.

 

[jgillott]

I turn on my left-turn signal and the right indicator sometimes flashes. Sometimes my window controls don't work and the radio is kaput. I rewired my fog-lights to the battery with a relay so I could turn them on. One day I hope to meet up with the yahoo that put that TIPM in my truck.

I've replaced the TIPM in my '07 and the Power Distribution Center in the 04.5 after many many similar issues. Not a fan of either design.

 

[seafish]

I turn on my left-turn signal and the right indicator sometimes flashes.... One day I hope to meet up with the yahoo that put that TIPM in my truck.

The MFS (multi function switch) on the steering columns is a very common cause of problems with turn signals and other functions that it controls. In short (pun intended), the switch contacts can be overgreased from the factory and as the contacts wear, conductive particles work their way through the grease thereby allowing the wrong contact being made inside the switch even at the right position. The relatively easy solution is to replace the MFS with another one. The oem part# is 56049823AB, but you can buy Mopar part #CNH3X200AA which is the EXACT same part, but offered at a discount due to the MFS recall on some 3500 trucks. Why the recall was never extended to other trucks using the same switch, I will nverunderstand, but I have been using the CNH3X200AA in my truck for years now and have never had another MFS related problem (KNOCK WOOD).

Replacing the MFS is NOT difficult as there is no need to remove the steering wheel. I'll see if I can find my write up about it, and I am sure there are youtube videos as well. Tat being said, DO be sure to remove battery grounds first as. a safety m measure while working near the air bags,.

 

[brods]

Pulled the multifunction switch and opened it up. Looked pretty good. Cleaned it anyway and re-installed. No luck. I'll try removing the IPM and cleaning the connections. From some searching it appears the circuit boards corrode inside the IPM and cause these types of lighting issues.

 

[brods]

So it looks like the IPM is the problem. The corrosion can be seen through a hole in the bottom of the housing:

I have the housing ready to split but there is something holding it together on the end where the FCM mounts. Anybody know what that might be? Six of the locking tabs are held out with qtips. Can't see a seventh. Ideas?

 

[seafish]

So it looks like the IPM is the problem. The corrosion can be seen through a hole in the bottom of the housing:
View attachment 100527

I have the housing ready to split but there is something holding it together on the end where the FCM mounts. Anybody know what that might be? Six of the locking tabs are held out with qtips. Can't see a seventh. Ideas?

Good find!!! Going to have to check mine now...same year as yours, with the IPM mounted to the PDC.

 

[brods]

Got it open and the corrosion is pretty bad but localized to that one spot.

 

[DonFitzwater]

Dorman products offers new TIPM's with current updates applied. I went through hell with my 06 trying to get the dealer to fix it but they kept blaming my plow harness. I removed the plow harness and it still failed. They blamed my trailer lights after that.

 

[jgillott]

Dorman products offers new TIPM's with current updates applied. I went through hell with my 06 trying to get the dealer to fix it but they kept blaming my plow harness. I removed the plow harness and it still failed. They blamed my trailer lights after that.

I used one on my '07 last spring and it works well. I don't know about now, but they were on a national backorder when I bought mine and I had to wait several weeks to find one.

 

[DonFitzwater]

Summit Racing showed to have one in stock when I googled it earlier.

 

[brods]

Earlier today I could not find a Dorman IPM for an 05, just TIPMs for 06 and up. The dealers want $400+ AND a $150 core charge even though it is a new IPM. A core charge on a new part disgusts me so much I'll go out of my way NOT to buy from them if I can. Eventually I'll buy an IPM and a FCM too before they go obsolete. For now I'll give repairing this one a try. There is only the one spot and when a light is shined from under the board it is clear that the copper trace has corroded all away where the 5 pin holes are to connect to the other side of the board.

It is kind of cool to see how it was built. It also has six plastic plates with heavy metal traces that stack up sort of like a heavy duty circuit board.

 

[seafish]

Can you tell why the corrosion happened...any traces of water??

 

[brods]

Not sure. When you look at the board with the lighting right you can see where a clear protective coating is. There are spots where the coating did not flow to, mostly near holes or slots in the board. I can't tell if it was on purpose, but my guess is the coating should be everywhere. If you look closely at the picture you can see the slight color difference where the green is lighter there is no coating.

 

[seafish]

Seem like you have everything under control, but I just found this thread about rebuilding the PDC with pic links in part 2

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com...stribution-center-pdc-repair-part-1-a-222371/

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com...stribution-center-pdc-repair-part-2-a-222373/