Why doesn't my indicator warning lamp work ?

[bernard1666]

My 1970 Elan S4 FHC has been completely rebuilt with a new wiring loom fitted, but I've got a really annoying problem. When indicating to turn, the green warning lamp in the speedometer fails to light. However, if I turn on the "hazard" warning lights with all 4 indicators flashing together, the indicator lamp DOES light. How annoying is that ? Any suggestions ........

[wojeepster]

Well your indicator lamp is not burned out. Does the turn signal on the front and rear work (on that side)? If it does then I suspect the flasher unit itself. If not then check for 12v and ground (at lamps.) This should give you a better idea what is going on. A friend at work had signals that would come on but not flash, but they worked fine on the other side. It was the flasher unit itself. Hope this helps you. Electrical problems are always fun because electricty itself is invisible, so you have to use volt ohm meters to "see" what is going on. If you are not used to working on electrical stuff it can be downright frustrating.

[schroeder]

Indicator flasher unit and Hazard flasher unit are seperate units. Suggest replacing Indicator flasher.

Stuart

[MintSprint]

There's a chance you have the wrong flasher unit fitted.

I can't remember the details of part numbers etc., but my first Elan was fitted with the wrong flasher unit and whilst it would drive the indicators fine, the tell-tale didn't function with it.

Changed it for the correct item and it worked fine.

[Frank Howard]

The correct flasher should say:

LUCAS

8FL FLASHER

12V 3.6A

Y 35048A 0969

The Y has a circle around it. 0969 could be the manufacturing date. Hope this helps.

[fatboyoz]

Bernard,
There are 2 flasher units behind the dash, one for the indicators and one for the hazards. They each have 3 lucar pins. The pin marked "P" (on each flasher unit) is the output to drive the associated warning lamp. The warning lamp for the indicators is green and is located in the speedometer. On my car, the warning lamp for the hazard system is red and is located on the dash next to the handbrake warning light. If you do not have a separate red hazard warning lamp, the "P" outputs from both flashers are probably joined together so that the green warning light in the speedo' does dual duty for both indicators and hazards.
In either case, your problem may just be a loose or no connection between the indicator flash unit and the warning light.

Colin 68 S4 DHC

[Frank Howard]

"There are 2 flasher units behind the dash, one for the indicators and one for the hazards. They each have 3 lucar pins."

The flasher unit I described above has two connections only.

[fatboyoz]

Frank,
Both flasher units that are fitted to my car are made by Magnatex Ltd of London. They are 12 volt, 36 to 42 watt and each have 3 pins. The wiring diagram in the worhkshop manual only shows 3 pin type flashers behind the dash and one 2 pin type unit for the headlight flashing system. However, the parts book shows a few different units and you never know with Lotus what happened when the parts bin began to get a bit low!!
Regards Colin.