99 explorer sport turn signal issue

Okay, please read this whole post before answering. Turn signals do not work at all...everything else works. We were first told to replace the entire multi-function arm..our son did that and it didn't make a difference. Have been told by two auto parts stores we need the relay that looks like a 1-inch square box with prongs at the bottom to plug it in. Great! We just can't find where the bad one is to replace it.

We have looked extensively..my husband, myself and our son(it is his truck)on our backs with a flashlight at the underside of the dashboard. We have pulled up some of the carpet/flooring and looked under there. Obviously we have already looked at the fusebox next to the driver's side door and the one under the hood does have the same kind of relays but according to the owner's manuals they are not for the turn signals.

We have removed the glovebox and looked up in there...nothing. Can someone please tell me where this thing is hiding so we can get it replaced. It is a 99 Ford Explorer Sport, 6 cylinder. Thank you!!

I believe you are looking for the yellow box seen to the left of center in the first picture of this post: Link.

OneLever has it nailed. You will probably have to remove the plastic trim piece under the steering column, and the metal plate under that, to get at it.

Okay....we removed both panels and have the yellow box in view but it doesn't look as though you can plug the relay that the autoparts store said it needed into it....when we turn on the fourway hazards, the sound is definitely coming from that yellow box, but those work fine and from all we have researched, the two are not related in regards to where in the vehicle the repair would be done...

The box in your pics has relays in it that look similar to the one the autoparts store said we needed but none of the labels you indicated sound like anything to do with turn signals. I told my son he has to drive it with the panel off until it gets fixed cause just taking those panels off took him forever....

OK - did some research with the search function. The yellow box apparently is the flasher relay for both the hazard and turn signals. However, the hazard control "over-rides" the turn signals, and it is possible for the hazard portion to work while the trun signal doesn't, so make sure that your hazard switch is really off. Make sure that your turn signal fuse is good. Make sure that the connector to the new multi-function switch is securely plugged in. Then, if turn signals still don't work your next step is to replace the yellow flasher relay with a new one. Pull it out and take it to the parts store to make sure you get the right one.

Crazy4Camping said:

Okay....we removed both panels and have the yellow box in view but it doesn't look as though you can plug the relay that the autoparts store said it needed into it

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The "Turn/Hazard flasher" as it is called is not a relay it just looks like one. If you need to you can take the old one out and carry it into the store and have them look at it.

Crazy4Camping said:

...when we turn on the fourway hazards...those work fine

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The Turn flasher controls the flashes of both the hazard lights and the turn signal lights. If the hazards are working that suggests the Turn flasher might not be bad. Check the Interior fuse panel again for any blown fuses. I'm not sure what numbers they are on a 1999 because there are wiring differences, but on a 1997 Fuse 21 & Fuse 22 control the power to those two functions. If the fuse for one function was out the other function would still work. I would replace the fuses in question, which should be listed in the owners manual, to rule them out.

Crazy4Camping said:

The box in your pics has relays in it that look similar...

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The auxiliary relay box shown in that post is not related to your issue. I was answering a different person's question in that thread. Additionally, things are wired slightly differently on a 1999 than on a 1997 which is what is shown in that thread. Picture 1 of that post was the only one I intended to reference.

the yellow box under the plastic and metal covers controls the hazards and turn mine was yellow also one reason is for mounting i bought a replacement at the the auto store it was black unplug the yellow connector and plug the replacement in IT WILL FIT you will have to zip tie the unit back in as the mounting parts are part of the original ford design(unless you want to spend 30+ at the dealership) i had the same issues my 99 sport didn't have 4-ways from day one then while checking fuses the turns went out replaced this part and whala all work now

This was exactly the problem I had with my 99 Explorer. Hazards worked, but turn signals had gone from flakey (they would start and then for no reason stop) to not working at all.

I got an EP-27 from an aftermarket store, took off the plastic trim piece and the metal plate under, and was able to remove and replace the yellow relay with my aftermarket one. I used an elastic to hold the aftermarket one down to the place where the OEM flasher had attached. Once replaced, turn signals worked again!

In hindsight, I probably could've done it all faster without removing the trim piece and metal plate (it should be relatively easy to slide the relay off of the plastic holder that anchors it to the dash), but I wasn't certain about how the relay actually came off and I didn't want to break anything that was a more permanent fixture.

Thanks OneLever and bobflood, you guys were a great help !

You're welcome glad to have helped.

flasher on 2003 ford explorer

Can someone tell me where the electronic flasher is located on a 2003
Ford Explorer. In detail?

replacing the yellow box with a new flasher fixed my turn signal issues. Got it from Kragen/O'Reilly's for 20 bucks.

Have 1997 ford explorer. We had replaced the whole steering column, bought explorer that had been vandilzed. Blinkers were working, ingintion wasnt. With "new" column from junk yard the ingintion works, when we plug in the multifunction switch the right blinker stays on and hazard, neither blinker works. We took all fuses out, put back in, checked ground black wire, even took old mutifunction box off old steering column that did work and it the right blinker just stays on solid. HELP please!!

Try taking the MFS off your "old" column and mounting it on the new one (sorry - you already did that!). Also, there are many threads here that talk about the connectors themselves having problems (pins slipping out, wires broken, etc) so check all that very carefully. Good luck.

Yep!

socholo said:

This was exactly the problem I had with my 99 Explorer. Hazards worked, but turn signals had gone from flakey (they would start and then for no reason stop) to not working at all.!

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This is EXACTLY the problem I'm having on my 99 that I just bought! I figured that since the flashers were working, that it must be the MFS, so I bought a new Borg Warner for $71.00, and installed it. It worked better, but was still having intermittent problems. Drove it for a few days like that, then all of a sudden, it worked properly every time for a few days. NOW it's worse than ever!

When I use either turn signal, sometimes the light goes on on the dash, sometimes it doesn't. And it's not flashing at all (ok, I got it to flash once on my way to work today).

I found a parts store that will let me test a new flasher before buying, so I guess that's the next step. I will also check the connections while I have it apart.

Thanks for all the great info!

Jaime

Problem fixed! It WAS the flasher unit. Got it from Ford dealership for $37.00. Got the run-around from O'reilly's and Ford on availability/price, finally went with Ford for an extra $7.00, thinking it would be the same as the one I pulled out.....NOT! Still, it's working, and I don't care about the BS I went through anymore, as it's DONE!!!!

was going to say working on one that its the lever on column, windshield wipers only works sometimes, then all works fine again, lever on column is problem, another thing I have to fix soon...

Crazy4Camping said:

Okay, please read this whole post before answering. Turn signals do not work at all...everything else works. We were first told to replace the entire multi-function arm..our son did that and it didn't make a difference. Have been told by two auto parts stores we need the relay that looks like a 1-inch square box with prongs at the bottom to plug it in. Great! We just can't find where the bad one is to replace it.

We have looked extensively..my husband, myself and our son(it is his truck)on our backs with a flashlight at the underside of the dashboard. We have pulled up some of the carpet/flooring and looked under there. Obviously we have already looked at the fusebox next to the driver's side door and the one under the hood does have the same kind of relays but according to the owner's manuals they are not for the turn signals.

We have removed the glovebox and looked up in there...nothing. Can someone please tell me where this thing is hiding so we can get it replaced. It is a 99 Ford Explorer Sport, 6 cylinder. Thank you!!

Click to expand...

its yellow it should be right there if you have taken off the metal cover as well