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California98Civic · 03-18-2018, 08:50 PM

Every once in a while something on my car will fix itself. That seems to have happened today.

For years I've been waiting to fix a left front turn signal problem. So today I have the bumper cover off and the light fixtures out to possibly replace the bulb. Inside the Civic's side marker light bulb are 2 filaments. With the light bulb plugged in and out of the headlight fixture I tested it again. The directional filament would not light up under any conditions and caused the parking light filament to intermittently shut off whenever I turned on the left turn signal. Hazards also worked improperly.

I did a "known good" test by swapping the left front turn signal bulb with the right front turn signal bulb. I didn't do anything else. I didn't clean anything or detach and reattach anything other than the bulbs. Suddenly both light bulbs worked normally. Then I put them back in their original places. And the bulb that has been failing consistently for two or three years of daily diving started working completely normally.

I am guessing that in removing the bulb I cleared some kind of minor corrosion or dust/dirt (the bulb housing was coated in fine road dust).

I suppose it might also be an intermittent open in the wiring.

Or a ghost in the machine.

03-18-2018, 08:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
California98Civic Cyborg ECU Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Coastal Southern California Posts: 6,299 Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe Team Honda 90 day: 66.42 mpg (US) Black and Red - '00 Nashbar Custom built eBike 90 day: 3671.43 mpg (US) Thanks: 2,373 Thanked 2,172 Times in 1,469 Posts	Ghost fixes lightbulb Every once in a while something on my car will fix itself. That seems to have happened today. For years I've been waiting to fix a left front turn signal problem. So today I have the bumper cover off and the light fixtures out to possibly replace the bulb. Inside the Civic's side marker light bulb are 2 filaments. With the light bulb plugged in and out of the headlight fixture I tested it again. The directional filament would not light up under any conditions and caused the parking light filament to intermittently shut off whenever I turned on the left turn signal. Hazards also worked improperly. I did a "known good" test by swapping the left front turn signal bulb with the right front turn signal bulb. I didn't do anything else. I didn't clean anything or detach and reattach anything other than the bulbs. Suddenly both light bulbs worked normally. Then I put them back in their original places. And the bulb that has been failing consistently for two or three years of daily diving started working completely normally. I am guessing that in removing the bulb I cleared some kind of minor corrosion or dust/dirt (the bulb housing was coated in fine road dust). I suppose it might also be an intermittent open in the wiring. Or a ghost in the machine. Attached Thumbnails __________________ See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.