New from Ohio - here for some help...

[evan938]

Nice to find this forum so easily!

Im from columbus, ohio. just bought a 97 explorer saturday. needed something to haul stuff around in. nothing major, but making trips to lowes, home depot, carrying my canoe and kayak, etc was difficult to say the least with the kia rio i DD...it sucks, i hate the car, but i can justify getting rid of it. it runs fine, save for a slightly wobbly wheel bearing and a broken fuel gauge...its a 2002, 61k miles, and its fine on gas. other than that, i hate the car. lol

im not new to forums, i know to search, i know how people can be, so im sure there wont be anything here or coming at me i wont have already seen before.

bought the explorer with a stumble at idle...changing out 6 spark plugs found that the cylinder on the passenger side rear (the ***** to get to) had busted off the electrode. so really it was a 5cyl car. got them replaced, much better. someone previously installed some camber plates (i believe) upside down, so when i took it for an alignment, they couldnt get it adjusted...working on that this week

the main issue that im having though, and keeping me from driving (safely) until i get it fixed, is the drivers side turn signals are out. dont work with hazards, all bulbs checked out fine, yet i can't get a left blinker. rights work fine. head lights/brake lights on drivers side work, just no blinker.

any ideas for this? im getting ready to leave work and will poke around a bit when i get home, but if this is a common issue, maybe someone will have an answer for me and can post here.

thanks and i look forward to getting some info from this site and fixing the issues with this car.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! The light bulb's socket might have corrosion. What brand did you purchase for the replacement spark plugs?

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome

 

[evan938]

Welcome to this forum! The light bulb's socket might have corrosion. What brand did you purchase for the replacement spark plugs?

as i found out after i spent 2.5 hours scratching my arms up and having just a fantastic time switching them, the wrong ones. i put bosch platinum +4, and most everyone on the local forum im on said i should have went with motorcraft or autolite...still debating if i want to go at it again this weekend...in reality, it'll probably be next summer before i feel like doing it again. lol.

but the sockets didnt seem corroded. even if it was, does that sound right for none of the indicators/blinkers to work, via the turn signal switch or the hazard lights?

 

[fixxxer]

Welcome evan. Do the blinkers turn on and stay on or are the lights dead, both front and back? do the turn indicators in the dash light up for either or both sides? if everything works on the right but not the left, (or visa-versa) it could be your multi-function switch (The turn signal stalk)

 

[evan938]

everything works completely normal on the right. they blink at normal speed, dont stay on, etc. blinks the same with hazard switch. right only, correct speed, etc. only the left doesnt work. the indicator works on the dash for right turn, both front and rear turn signals blink

left side nothing comes up on dash (from turn signal or hazards), front/rear turn signals dont light up, dont blink, etc.

im going to hit up a junkyard this week...maybe tomorrow or wednesday if i feel motivated to get up there before i have to be to work until about noon or later. i'll pull a multifunction switch and hopefully itll just be a couple bucks...then if it doesnt work, im not out that much

 

[evan938]

just to update - didnt even need to replace the switch...i went out tonight to figure out how to disassemble the dash to get to the switch...after getting it apart, i find that theres a couple wires that have popped out of the back of the plug...push them back in, voila! it left and right signals front/rear and indicator work fine.

then while im letting it warm up and finishing putting the screws to hold the bottom of the steering column cover in, i hear an odd noise. im going to assume this is just the heat shield covering a cat, but why would anything be leaking here? it sounds like when you heat up oil on a stove top and throw water on top to test it...whats leaking out though is clear, doesnt smell of gas, just seems like condensation water.

 

[1Aauto]

welcome to the site.