So I pull out of the parking garage at work today and immediately notice I have no turn signals - either left or right. Directional indicator light on dash doesn't come on for either directional. As I'm driving home doing the arm signal thing I'm testing left, right, left, jiggle the turn signal arm, left, etc. and nothing. Hazards seemed to be working once I got somewhere it was safe to use them (out of traffic). Then the signal worked once at an intersection, but at the next turn nothing again. As I'm doing the arm signals I'm using the turn signals as well for each turn just to see if they come back on. About 10 minutes into my ride, about a mile after I got onto the highway, I put my signal on to change lanes and the light came back on. From that point on they worked the rest of the way home.

As I recall when I lost a relay in previous cars, the indicator lights would come on and stay on when using them for either directional. This was always the differentiator between a bad bulb (left or right dash indicator would stay on) vs a bad relay (both left and right dash indicators would remain on). So I'm leaning toward, but not convinced, something other than the relay. Perhaps the switch in the arm? I've heard this is a real tough install due to the airbag in the steering column - not simple like it used to be 20 years ago the last time I changed one.

Any other ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

What kind of car? What year?

If it's a '95-'99 Monte or Lumina, your multifunction switch is probably bad

 

Geez, in my editing before posting looks like I pulled out the first section. The car is a 2003 Monte. I've been doing some reading tonight. Sounds like it could be the hazard switch, and that sounds relatively simple to replace. It might also explain why the directionals started working again - assuming they started working after I tried the hazards, which in thinking about it I believe that could be the case.

 

Yeah, the hazard switch isn't too bad to replace