This just started today, literally within the last 90 minutes. When I started my car about tenminutes ago, my door open light came on. I checked and re-checked all four doors and the trunk and all were securely closed and other than the driver door locked. Then when I put on my turn signal at the first intersection, the turn signal indicators inside the car did not come on. I initially thought that the turn signals were not working at all but thankfully they are, front and back. Brake lights are all working too, as are the headlights. Hitting the hazard light switch activates the external lights but not the internal indicators.
Please tell me this is something incredibly small and inexpensive. I can drive the car with no problems now, but the door light being on and the flashers not shwoing up inside makes me nervous.
When you say the door light is on, do you mean the courtsey (dome) light is on? Or do you mean that the door adjar light on the dash is on? Or perhaps they are both on?
Which is it?
Anyway depending on your answer, the fix could be very simple (cheap) or rather expensive. The problem is the diagnosis might be uber expensive.
Question: In most modern cars, at some point either when you start the engine or when you turn the key to the “Run” position (before actually starting the engine), all the dash indicators come on as a self-check so you can see if any of the idiot lamps are out. Does yours do this, and if so, do the turn signal indicators light up when this happens?
FWIW when my turn signals went on the fritz, it turned out to be the flasher, which is an electrical thingie roughly the size an ice cube (one you would make at home). How easy or hard it is to replace depends on where it is under the dash.
So now, when I started my car to head over to a friend’s house earlier this evening, the door ajar light was off, the internal signal lights worked, but on the gear shift position indicator on the dash, the P for park started flashing. It eventually stopped, and on my drive home just now from my friend’s place all of the lights and indicators seemed to behave normally.
Q.E.D., I didn’t notice if the internal flashers came on at any of the various startups. I’ll try to remember to look tomorrow morning.
These erratic and intermittent symptoms sound like either transient shorts (caused by worn or damaged insulation, water, vibration and other things) or a computer issue. In other words, it can be almost anything electrical from a simple frayed wire bundle to an expensive computer failure. Intermittent problems are ususually the worst kind to deal with from a diagnostic standpoint.
Transient shorts are fairly rare in my experience. A much more likely cause is a transient voltage drop, either in the supply or in the ground.
If I were fault tracing this issue, I would look real hard at the voltage drop on the ground side. Loose ground screws cause many many strange issues.
When you look at the warning lights in the AM pay attention to how bright they are. Are they normal brightness, or dim? Do they flicker? When the abnormal lights come on are they normal brightness or dim? Again do they flicker?
The internal flashers didn’t come on at startup, but I never noticed them if they ever did. All the other dash indicators came on steady and normally bright.
I wouldn’t be surprised if all of these problems were related to a sticky door switch. I have had recurring problems on my Mercury Sable with various door switches, especially in cold weather. It doesn’t affect the turn signals, but again, this could all be related in your case. Are your problems worse during cold or icy spells?
Take some WD40 and spray it liberally into the door closure mechanism on the problematic door, you know, the latch thingy on the door frame that keeps the door closed? It’s worth a try for a few bucks.
(this would indicate a burnt out idiot light … however, since there are 2 of them and none is working - its not very likely that 2 go out at the same time)
I haven’t checked anything yet, for I am both poor and mechanically inept. The internal flashers are now working. The only time they didn’t work was on the first drive I mentioned in this thread.
Go back to the dealer, if they’re nice (and they want your business again) there’s a good chance they’ll do warranty work on something just a few days out. If they don’t, well, buy your next car elsewhere.
I’m not saying no cars are like this, but I have never seen a car that had an “ingition on bulb check” for turn signal indicators or high-beam indicators. First of all, there’s no need to, as the driver can easily check the indicators by simply turning on the turn signals/hazard flasher or high beams. Secondly, the nature of their circuits is such that it involves adding complicated circuitry to do that.
Indicators for the charging system, oil pressure, brake warning, “check engine” etc. are not easily activated at will by the driver, and their circuitry is such that it’s simple for them to be lit up with the key on but the engine not running. For those items, an ignition on bulb check makes sense.