Turn signal relay noise

[John Flaacke]

Hi ....

My 2004 Sport Trac is making the buzzing / clicking noise from the turn signal relay. I have read several posts about this problem and am still not quite sure what to do. It even does it when the ignition is off.........the turn signals are operating ok. Moving the wheel tilt up and down does not seem to change it......hard to tell. Should I change out the multi funtion arm first or would it be a loose or bound wire ? The wires look to be ok but its hard to tell.......dont want to set off the air bag. Looks like a new Muti function arm is like $ 70 on ebay and it seems easy to change ( video on you tube will help ) but I hate to change it and find out it still make the noise. Oh and I am sometimes able to make the signals work even with the ingnition off and key out, wich seems strange ???



Thanks in advance

 

[EddieS'04]

My suspesion is the relay is sticking. Cheapest thing is to replace it first.

If the stick on the steering wheel was causing it. The lights would be flashing. You didnt say they were.

 

[John Flaacke]

Thanks for the info........I will first try messing around with the relay itself, the only reason I think it may not be the relay is because it makes the noise randomly and I sometimes can get the green dash signal lights to flash even when the ingnition is off by moving around the handle ? I dont remember them ever working before when the key is out, just the hazzards.

Its a strange thing here.

 

[Richard L]

yel-mel,

Eddie is correct, It is probably the turn signal relay/flasher. The reason the light comes on without the ignition is that there is probably a loose connection internally and it may actually be shorting out. Besides, Turn Signal relays are cheap and worth replacing before you start taking the steering wheel off and trying to replace the turn signal switch/lever.



...Rich

 

[Brad Schultz 2]

No where near the same vehicle, but my 9500 Sterling at work was doing somewhat the same thing. I finally tracked it to the signal stat(signal arm). With an attached trailer, only the right rear lites on the truck would flash by themselves?? Sometimes things worked fine, but hauling fuel I needed it right. While swapping it out to switch it with one from another truck, a broken contact point-type contact fell out. These thing do wear out.

 

[cjwill123]

Hi ....

My 2004 Sport Trac is making the buzzing / clicking noise from the turn signal relay. I have read several posts about this problem and am still not quite sure what to do. It even does it when the ignition is off.........the turn signals are operating ok. Moving the wheel tilt up and down does not seem to change it......hard to tell. Should I change out the multi funtion arm first or would it be a loose or bound wire ? The wires look to be ok but its hard to tell.......dont want to set off the air bag. Looks like a new Muti function arm is like $ 70 on ebay and it seems easy to change ( video on you tube will help ) but I hate to change it and find out it still make the noise. Oh and I am sometimes able to make the signals work even with the ingnition off and key out, wich seems strange ???



Thanks in advance

John my 2005 ST has the same problem i think - it sounds like the blinke is continusly going (key in-engine running and not running/ key off (outr of the car) but i have a LED turnsignal relay. so what did you do to fix your issue? or did you get it fixed?

thank you

CJ williams

 

[Wade J]

Not sure what the solution was for John but I had a similar issue in my 2004 ST XLT changed out flasher relay didn’t help, bought new OEM blinker arm didn’t help. After searching I found a thread can’t remember which site it was on as this was several years ago but the solution the other guy had used was replacing the ground wire from the battery to the starter. I did the same replaced my ground wire from battery to starter, at the same time I upgraded all my grounds (frame to body) as I was planning to install a bigger aftermarket stereo at the time. And this did fix my clicking relay I didn’t see any obvious reasons why the stock ground to starter wire was bad but a new wire did fix my issue been fine for 7 years now. Maybe this can point you to the cause of your issue.

Good luck and if you find a solution please post it.

 

[cjwill123]

Not sure what the solution was for John but I had a similar issue in my 2004 ST XLT changed out flasher relay didn’t help, bought new OEM blinker arm didn’t help. After searching I found a thread can’t remember which site it was on as this was several years ago but the solution the other guy had used was replacing the ground wire from the battery to the starter. I did the same replaced my ground wire from battery to starter, at the same time I upgraded all my grounds (frame to body) as I was planning to install a bigger aftermarket stereo at the time. And this did fix my clicking relay I didn’t see any obvious reasons why the stock ground to starter wire was bad but a new wire did fix my issue been fine for 7 years now. Maybe this can point you to the cause of your issue.

Good luck and if you find a solution please post it.

thank you