1993 Dodge Shadow Brake lights

That's the classic description of a bad ground on any car that shares the brake / signal filament and tail light filament in the same bulb.

Your car has unusual rear sockets that have plug-in ground terminals. They get corrosion buildup or the terminal corrodes off. You will see that the left brake light is not as bright as the right one. Current must go through the brake light, tail light, and over to the right tail light to get to ground. That's like three people standing on your garden hose instead of just one. Current goes down in the hose and in your brake light.

The dealer has repair terminals, but it can be hard to get inside the opening to shine up the contact. You might be better off just buying a new socket, or see if you can find a place to solder on a new ground wire. Do not use Scotch-Lok connectors for your new socket. The only professional repair in a high-moisture environment is to solder splices and cover them with heat shrink tubing.

caradiodoc

I have a 93 shadow, similar deal. I checked the fuses, replaced all the bulbs and actually replaced both the rear sockets. My hazard flashers all work but my turn signals don't! The turn signal switch(stalk) is also new. I have been told there are two separate flashers but after tearing the dash apart I can only find on grouped with two others next to the fuse block. HELP!!!

The signal flasher is near the fuse box, hanging by the two wires in the connector. The wires are black and red with a white stripe.

caradiodoc

[quote:0c042ed8ac="caradiodoc"]The signal flasher is near the fuse box, hanging by the two wires in the connector. The wires are black and red with a white stripe.

caradiodoc[/quote:0c042ed8ac]


Still not seeing it. What does the flasher look like? Square, round, color? I am beginning to think my car might be one of those mutants that is a little different than others from the same model year.

Your car is actually a really tough little gem. One of my best friends who used to own a body shop had one. His girlfriend pulled into traffic and got broad-sided in the driver's door by a Monte Carlo going 35 mph. The interior trim panel never got touched. Her only injury was from hitting her head on the window. I love these cars. They're like ostrich eggs!

If you get hit in any door in a GM front wheel drive car, you're dead. It's very common. A county cop witnessed a crash a couple of miles from my house a few years ago. Both cars on his radar were going 45 mph in a 55 mph zone. One girl's car slid sideways on ice and was hit in the doors by the oncoming car. All four people were killed; two in each car. Both were GM front wheel drive cars and neither driver was doing anything wrong. Since then I've been paying more attention and I see fatal crashes involve GM cars very often, much more so than all other brands put together.

Ok, now that the sales pitch is out of the way, the flasher is about 1 1/4" in diameter, (round), and 1 1/4" long. They can be silver metal or blue or yellow plastic. According to the service manual, the hazard flasher is in the relay block on the right side of the dash, and the signal flasher is "near the fuse box", but it is shown with a wired connector at the end of those two wires, not plugged into a socket in a box. I was visualizing both flashers in the relay box, plugged in side-by-side, but I might be thinking of a different car model.

caradiodoc

I FOUND IT!!!!! I had to take off the knee bolster under the steering wheel to expose it and there it was just as you said, hanging by two wires! Thanks sooooooo much! You do have to disassemble all of the lower driver's side dash though. Crawling under the dash you will never see it. It was hanging just to the left of the radio.

Dandy. Did it solve the problem?

caradiodoc

Yep. I replaced it with a heavy duty flasher so it will probably outlast the car. Thanks so much for the help man! I really appreciate it!