2002 Honda Accord Rapid turn single blinking

Our 2002 Honda Accord's left turn single has begun to blink very fast. When this happens the front turn signed does not work, but the back does work and with the rapid blinking. We took the car to the dealer and at first he thought it was the bulb, but when he went to check it, and tapped on the lens to indicate where the light bulb was, it started working just fine. The front left turn signed light came on, and both the front and back began blinking at the normal speed. He told us that that usually means there is an electrical ground problem, and advises us that if this happened again to just tap the lens. Well it is still happening and now I'm afraid that we will need to pay high labor costs for the dealer to locate and fix the problem.

To avoid all of this I was hoping to troubleshoot the problem, and go to an independent repair facility. From what I'm reading it appears that this might be the actual turn signal light socket that has the short in the ground, so would you think it best to purchase the light socket from the dealer, but have an independent repair facility do the actual work, or are we just asking for trouble and purchasing something that may not be the problem? We are on a tight budget and large car repair bills are not what we want right now, especially since we just spent $700.00 on routine repairs, on this car, over the previous weekend.

Thank you