Left Turn Signal is Acting Irregular
 

When I turn on the left turn signal, it hesitates or signals intermittently. If I press the stalk down further, it seems to fix the issue.

Any ideas? Is it an electrical connection at the stalk in the steering wheel hub? Bad ground some where? Other?

I once read in the Questions section of Bimmer magazine that dirty bulb sockets can mess up the resistance and cause a similar issue in BMWs. Maybe I'll pull the bulbs and clean the contacts.

Bob

Most common cause of problems with turn signal when it isn't the bulb would be the stalk itself

Thats a problem i have been having every once in awhile. I noticed it was my turn signal stalk also. Might want to start with that.....not the simplest solution and probably not the cheapest, but seems logical since you constantly push it down and up..some times with force and sometimes not with force.

The left turn signal on my wife's XC90 has gotten intermittent. Today I removed the stalk (2 Phillips screws) and then removed the little board (1 Phillips screw) which has the contacts on the underside. I scrubbed the contacts with a pencil eraser then wiped with a Q-Tip dipped in isopropyl alcohol. I did not rub the finger contacts in the body of the stalk, but only the flat contacts on the board.

I wonder if this board could be obtained as a separate part?

The turn signal now works, but we will see for how long.

I basically followed the procedure here*, but I didn't have contact cleaner so I used a small amount of 70 % isopropyl alcohol. * .

I have now done the same to my 2004 V70 which also had an intermittent turn signal function (left turn erratic) and it now functions properly. Before I scrubbed with the eraser I wiped the grease off the contacts so the eraser would scrub to shiny metal.


I now plan to pull out the stalk on the other side (windshield wipers) and see if a similar treatment will remedy erratic behavior of the wiper functions.


Note If I recall correctly on my two Volvos a torx 25 (not a torx 27 as I reported earlier) is required to remove the steering column shroud.
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Thanks. I'll try your fix next time it acts up.

Bob

Here is an alternative possibility on the nature of the fault and its repair.

When I flipped over the little board with the flat contacts I noticed there were discolored channels in the flat contacts caused by the wiping action of the prong contacts. These lines of discoloration might be deposits in these channels which prevent contact OR the metal might be worn away so these is unreliable contact.

It is possible that a slight change in position of the board when I replaced it (after scrubbing with the eraser) caused the prong contacts to wipe in different arcs and not in the original channels, and that this is what restored electrical contact and not the scrubbing with the eraser.

I bring this up to just introduce the possibility. Personally I think cleaning the contacts is what rectified the fault.

By the way I did not unplug the little board from the body of the stalk (as was done in the video). I just removed the single Phillips screw and flipped the board over to work on the underside.

Today I removed the right-hand stalk (windshield wipers) and removed the little board and scrubbed the contacts to bright metal with a pencil eraser.


The wipers now function properly. For example, when I switch to low speed I get it and when I switch to high speed I get that without having to fiddle with the stalk. I did wipe the grease off the contacts before scrubbing and did not reapply it. This may be a mistake, but that's what I did. I also did not wipe with isopropyl alcohol.


Note that, at least for the right-hand stalk, reinsertion of the board requires slipping it under an overhanding plastic tab which is opposite the hold down screw.