Fuckit, less than $20 parts, and very little labor. Works perfectly 👍
OP, from what I can see your fix appears to remove the fuse for the circuit and brings the contacts down on a length of loose wire dangling near the door jamb, with bare quick connects exposed. If the fuse has indeed been entirely bypassed, one of those wires/terminals will have 12V on it without fused protection and is at risk of shorting out to ground on bare metal, risking further electrical damage or potentially a causing a fire.
Yes, you are correct on all accounts of your words…
If you had any idea how the windshield wipers worked, you really wouldn’t worry much…
Please at least put an inline fuse there or something 😭
Why does everyone seem to assume that every circuit is gonna outright short out?
Fuck, it had a 30 amp fuse in it, when it only called for a 15 amp. At least my bodge fix is literally a circuit breaker.
Because not assuming that makes fires occasionally.
Tell me about it. I had a blower fan motor go out in the cab of my JD 4720 tractor. I need to remove the roof of the cab to get at it. And then the blower motor is $450. I can deal with the roof, it’s just 13 bolts and is lightweight polymer. But the only damn thing wrong with the blower is the 3 speed motor resistor is toast after 15 years. A $30 part. But JD doesn’t sell the resistor, just the whole unit. Nor does anyone else. A third party blower is still $300.
The worst part is that they do not mark the resistor with a number to trace. I spent a month searching forums and suppliers for the correct part. But I finally found one. $30 vs $450. Such a scam.
You repaired your machine without John Deere’s expressed written authority, and without an authorized technician to boot.
The extermination squad has been deployed, please make all necessary end of life preparations.
My 4720 is over 10 years old. And has no JD tech I can’t fix myself. It’s just the stupid parts cost that comes with the green paint tax.
I would bypass the resistor and replace it with a PWM motor controller. Resistors waste energy via heat, and you likely don’t want extra heat in the cab most of the time. As a bonus, you’ll have fine speed adjustment instead of just high/medium/low.
Actually, I want the heat. I mostly use this tractor in the winter to plow snow with.
When youre poor and need transportation you do what you need to. I drove a shit box and for a couple weeks with only the e brake to stop because the master cylinder went. I’m always jealous of the privilege people have to judge people for being inventive in poverty.
My man, driving on public roads with only your e-brake to stop is reckless. It endangers other road users. I don’t care if this guy burns down his own car and subsequently catches his home on fire, all due to an electrical short, but it will suck if it goes up in flames in a parking lot and takes down some other innocent, poor person’s car.
I was once a struggling, working student driving an older car. I did what I needed to do to keep it running. I didn’t endanger others, however.
You go right ahead with that train of thought.
You ever had your brake booster diaphragm bust while you’re driving?
Probably not, but I have. You know what happens? That brake pedal is gonna kick back with full force, and it’ll take either both of your feet and/or the emergency brake to slow/stop the vehicle.
Of course not ideal, but if shit goes wrong on the road, you should absolutely already be prepared in your own mind as to alternate ways to slow/stop your vehicle.
I’m glad to hear your life has been privileged enough were you weren’t forced to do that.
Thank you for understanding. Ideally this isn’t meant to be a permanent fix, but it gives us working flashing blinkers…
But if you could find some way to tuck it up out of the way, you know what they say? Nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution
it’s a pretty good hack, nice one!
Nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution
6 years ago my bathroom drain line snapped because a drunk idiot tried to move the sink to be more “aesthetic”.
I emergency globbed it back together with a caulk gun and cling wrap. Its been water proof to this day.
I’ll give it a proper fix Soon™.
Pics or it didn’t happen…
LMFAO just at the thought though 👍
100% fire hazard. Something was already wrong with this lighting system and THEN they bypassed the fuse. Buddy of mine once installed a set of Hella lights and just ran the wires along the body and through the door jam, car burned up that week and damaged his and his neighbors house in the process.
Also how does this even work? The lights are always on, and this makes them blink constantly.
Realized while I was typing that flashers probably mean hazard lights. If thats a GM with the button on top of the column, then its probably just dirty and you might fix it by clicking it on and off a couple of times.
Door jamb*
Unless it had blended pieces of door in it when you canned it, of course.
Oh shit, my bad, I meant door preserves.
I figured. Easier to keep them whole in my experience.
Can’t you just also have a fuse in a setup like this? I know OP doesn’t, Im just wondering if you think something could be reasonably jerry-rigged.
something like this is relatively easyUmm, what in the flying fuck is that, and what does it have anything to do with the price of weed in Colorado?
That’s an inline fuse holder, it’ll let you add the fuse back into the system. Highly recommend, you can leave this temporary fix basically forever if you reinstall the safety feature!
Fair enough, gotcha 👍
If I do bother with that, I’ll just solder a proper 15 amp fuse directly inline with the bodge fix.
At least I made sure it’s got an easy undo, just pull the bodge out and drop a fuse back in, whenever I manage to locate the original flasher module…
Oh, you’re fun, you assume lots of things…
Nothing about this truck makes sense, I’m literally playing it by ear.
Fuck, it’s missing the passenger side dashboard…
This is a redneck nightmare, but still runs pretty nicely…
Nothing in my post is an assumption, but this is: Your driving that turd on the streets and its breaking down, thats why I think you need you hazards. I’ll also assume you are in over you’re head and that you’re cheap (or broke).
Seriously, no reason to shame anyone over this. We are all struggling in different ways. If this is what makes it work, so be it. Not like they are defeating their airbags or some safety issue.
You’re correct about the shaming, it was not my intent, but I’m sorry if that happened.
That being said, worst case scenario with this setup is the ground fault failure that is not fused and continues to increase in temperature until a fire starts on the road. Second is the vehicle simply shutting down due to loss of power while driving.
I appreciate your concern.
There is absolutely no way this can short out, all wires and clips are fully insulated, and the module itself is completely surrounded by plastic.
Whenever I manage to figure out where the OG flasher module is, I can very easily pull my redneck fix out and put a 15 amp fuse back in.
But this works for now…
That’s fine, you’re entitled to your words.
The truck was a gift, I had to figure out how to crank it up first.
Sadly there are no hazard lights, the previous brain damaged owner jammed a screwdriver down in the steering column and fucked all that up.
This is Mississippi homie, we’re good here, I got it roadworthy…
In this age on unrepairability, you give me hope. Clever solution. Congrats!
Just don’t ask how we activate the radio and windshield wipers…
Something something dome light toggle switch…
The magicks and arcane lore are strong within you. Now go help the world! 😊
You had better have fused that line somewhere
This is still a project truck. Note that most fuses are 30 amps…
The flasher circuit is meant for a 15 amp fuse.
Right now, IDGAF, it works…
If a fuse can handle more current than the wire, the wire becomes the fuse.
Every wire is a fuse, once…
I hope this thing is parked far away from flammable things. You NEED to give a fuck. Just jamming 30A fuses is reckless, If the circuit is blowing the fuse it is designed for the problem is NOT the fuse.
This is a bit like people not masking for covid. Road safety depends on everyone having secure vehicles that follow all rules and that won’t suffer power failures in the middle of the road. A bodged circuit that can pull that many amps can cause a fire, even if the truck is parked, and could cause a house, a field/forest or other cars to catch fire.
The worst part about it isn’t just putting other people at risk, it’s the dismissive attitude. “Oh, but it’s my car, and it works for me” “why do you mind it so much if it’s not your car” and “well, the rest of the wiring is even worse, so it’s alright”. OP should be worrying about their car a lot more, and you can have your car towed for this in many countries with tighter regulations.
While this bodge will work in a pinch, OP should really consider fixing it before using that car again, and they should definitely care a lot more about it and the possible consequences to other people.
Power failures in the middle of the road? What the fuck are you talking about?
This is just a blinker light module. You want us going out driving like BMW drivers with no blinkers?
Bro, chill…
No, I want you to not be driving around with something that could cause power failures. If your blinkers don’t work, you shouldn’t be driving, period. Bodging them in a way that could be dangerous doesn’t count.
And yes, I’ve had one car burst into flames in the middle of the road because of electrical issues caused by a bad bodge done by a mechanic. And it was precisely a bodge with the fuse. Don’t mess with that stuff.
Please explain to me how this could ever possibly cause a ‘power failure’
The whole goddamn circuit was already short-circuited. I just bodged in a flasher control module in the middle of an already shorted circuit.
It works perfectly.
The whole goddamn circuit was already short-circuited
It’s not, the bulb is limiting the current. Until it stops limiting it. Then you have a fire
mucho amps = mucho sparks when shorted
You don’t understand shit from our side.
I’m literally unbodging the wires here. The last 2 owners were literally brain damaged. I’m patching the wires up back as correctly as possible, one headache at a time.
Go ahead, tell me where the flasher module actually is in the truck…
3 possible locations, I can’t find a fucking thing. So I decided to install a flasher module myself.
Guess what? It works, and we’re not driving a BMW…
I have not jammed any nonstandard fuses in it, this is just kinda how we inherited it.
I’m slowly but surely rearranging the wires and such as they’re meant to be.
Just not in a hurry to replace the entire steering column, we need a driver’s side door first.
Welcome to Mississippi, inspections aren’t a thing, and nobody gives a fuck…
Since you need a door, and from another response of yours, a steering column, it sounds like your going to be going to a pick and pull. 96 sonoma does not have a super complicated wiring harness, and half of the dashboard is already out.
Can’t find right now. Steady looking for parts once or twice a month…
It’s your time and money, but I’d really consider putting an inline fuse on it. Better than it burning down.
Yeah I thought about that.
This truck is a fun hot mess, I’m figuring it out though…
Best of luck!
OP, please add an inline fuse to that! And cover those exposed contacts with some electrical tape.
There are no exposed contacts. I was very cautious about that.
It’s basically a fuse to flasher adapter cable, custom made.
Works perfectly 👍
Cover this
Don’t need to. Even if the wires somehow short out, then that’s just back to the original problem, flashers stuck on…
It works and flashes fine, and the electrodes will never touch each other.
Touching each other is not the problem, if either of those touch any part of the body you will have a ground fault failure.
It’s literally a thermal circuit breaker. It works perfectly in circuit.
It’s literally a thermal circuit breaker.
One of these contacts is connected directly to battery power without going through the ‘thermal circuit breaker’ first. If it touches any grounded metal, it will create a direct short circuit that won’t be broken until the wires melt. (Not just the insulation around the wires – the wires themselves.)
It’s a big risk of fucking up the car’s electrical system much worse than it already is, and could even end up starting a fire that burns the whole car if wires near the melting point of copper touch anything flammable.
Come on, OP. It’s just a little electrical tape. You can do that.
(And a fuse is still a good idea. What if your ‘thermal circuit breaker’ fails – like the previous one did – and gets stuck in the on position? Your car had a fuse on the blinker circuit for a reason. Permanently bypassing it without a replacement is a bad idea.)
This literally cannot touch any ground points. It’s impossible. I made damn sure of that.
And even if it somehow does fail someday, what’s the worst that’s gonna happen?
Back to the original problem, blinkers don’t flash, just stuck on.
This fix works fine though.
Good point.
II wasn’t able to turn of the windshield wipers in my old car. So I installed a simple switch after the fuse and glued it to the dashboard. You just have to know how to help yourself.
Put a switch in the dash and flick it twice a second.
No need, this is literally the fix.
You kids and all your fancy automation.
Check your manual, it is probably in your engine bay fuse box.
Looks like it’s buried behind the radio/cigar lighter
Interesting.
This truck is missing the entire right side of the dashboard. It’s a wonder it even runs.
But it actually runs really good, ignoring the lac of heat or air conditioning…
Classy
did you try just replacing the fuse first. usually blinkers on without flashing is just how they fail. Im like 90% sure I have fixed it by changing the fuse in the past.
I’ve checked basically everything. The last two owners of the truck were officially diagnosed as brain damaged, no shit…
I’m still reverse engineering the original wiring…
Whatever works, works for now…
For what it’s worth, I asked Google Gemini. Can’t verify what it says because I don’t happen to have a 96 Sonoma.
On a 1996 GMC Sonoma, the flasher relay is located under the lower driver-side dashboard panel (knee bolster), positioned behind and just to the left of the ashtray / center stereo area.
How to Access It:
- Remove the lower dash cover: Unscrew the fasteners/Torx screws holding the lower driver-side knee panel beneath the steering column. (Note: Be sure to pull out the ashtray, as there is often a hidden bolt behind it).
- Locate the convenience block: Look upward toward the center console area to the left of the ashtray housing. You will see a small electrical relay cluster/harness holding round, cylindrical flasher units.
- Identify the flasher:
- Turn Signal Flasher: Mounted on the right side of the convenience bracket.
- Hazard Flasher: Mounted on the left side of the convenience bracket. (If your hazard flasher still works, turn it on while listening under the dash to quickly pinpoint the exact relay cluster by ear).
Ya know what, for shits and giggles, I decided to go ahead and read over the AI slop. It actually is describing one of 3 possible expected locations of the module on this family line of trucks, but I’ve already checked all 3 expected locations and haven’t had any luck finding the OG flasher module so far.
When we first got the truck back running back in April, the flashers actually did work, but somewhere along the way they just stopped flashing and stayed stuck on. Now, this part of the AI instructions gave me a good chuckle…
If your hazard flasher still works, turn it on while listening under the dash to quickly pinpoint the exact relay cluster by ear
LMFAO! Even when the flashers did work, it never made any sound whatsoever!
This truck has a rather interesting history, to say the least. I’m inclined to think the ‘original’ flasher module isn’t even original itself, and just might have been replaced with some sort of digital flasher that doesn’t make any sound. I dunno man, but this truck has had numerous modifications from previous owners, and I’m still sorting stuff out, with almost no expectations and gradually learning what the hell is what.
And the previous owner is unfortunately now deceased, so I can’t exactly ask him what all got modified, I’m finding this stuff out for myself. And it’s too damn hot lately to keep going out chasing wild geese to find this otherwise simple module, so for now this is what I’m working with and keeps the truck effectively road legal.
I’ll find that damn module someday, eventually…
Do the turn signals work, and do they make a sound? If they do, I’d probably follow that sound and look for the hazard flasher module nearby.
Can’t verify what it says
Then don’t post it.
Just don’t.
Nobody wants your AI slop.
Attacking people who disclose when they’ve used AI won’t bring the future you desire, it will only encourage people to not be forthcoming about their sources. I could have come here and dropped some paraphrased version of Gemini’s response and passed it off as my own, and no one would’ve been the wiser. I use AI sparingly, and when I do, I make sure to be clear about it.
I get that AI isn’t a favored technology around here, but with the enshittification of search engines, niche answers aren’t easy to surface anymore. It seems OP has done as much searching as he was willing to do, and I figured pursuing traditional search results on my own wouldn’t yield anything better, so I searched with AI.
You can call it slop if you want to, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wrong. An LLM is a tool that groups words together by probability from training data. If that data includes documentation or forum posts that discuss the location of the flasher relay module in a '96 Sonoma, there’s a decent chance the LLM is going to spit out a worthwhile answer.
What are the stakes?
Job impact? OP clearly wasn’t going to bring this to a mechanic.
Environmental? An AI search has less environmental impact than a burning vehicle from a rigged bandaid fix.
Safety? This particular AI query hasn’t produced any dangerous suggestions. It’s exploratory.
Waste of time and effort? The LLM suggested a place that takes very little effort to verify for someone who has the truck in question. I don’t, so I can’t. If the information is correct, it gives OP the opportunity to implement a proper fix and undo the fire hazard he’s rigged up. If it’s not, no one’s in a worse position than they were before.
I use AI sparingly, and when I do, I make sure to be clear about it.
How about instead, you just don’t use it at all.
And especially don’t inject AI slop into a conversation with other people when nobody asked you to. You’re not adding anything of value to the discussion. If you have nothing of your own to say, it’s okay to say nothing at all. Go ahead, try it. Say nothing at all. Easy, isn’t it?
You’re not adding anything of value to the discussion.
If that’s your complete, honest take, I don’t see eye-to-eye with it. It was correct information, posted before anyone else came here with the same information. That’s the definition of adding to the discussion. That I sourced that information from an LLM and that I couldn’t independently verify on my end without access to the truck in question is irrelevant. Fuck AI for other reasons, but sometimes it’s useful.
“My confirmation bias confirms that it worked out.”
This is no different than writing, “the first ten Google results for Sonoma flasher are…” It’s the most basic, non-contributing information that anyone would get with even cursory investigation. It’s fake-work that doesn’t contribute anything, but gives you the warm-and-fuzzies for “helping”, while most likely muddying the waters with misinformation.
I don’t see eye-to-eye with it.
Dude, look at the vote totals on your posts here. Nobody sees eye-to-eye with you on it. Nobody wants it.
And it’s up to the people you’re ‘helping’ to determine if your slop is useful or not. Pretty obviously, nobody here thinks it’s useful.
If you don’t have anything worthwhile to say without AI, then just don’t say anything at all. If OP wanted AI slop answers, they could have just googled it and got google’s AI slop directly. In all likelihood, they already did. Who would ask a question like this without googling it first? And google always throws this shit in your face every time you search for something.
Next time you want to add AI slop to a conversation, just don’t. Nobody asked you to. Nobody wants you to. We’re here to talk to real people. We don’t want to talk to AI.
I gotta give you this much though, you apparently noticed that I installed this bodge fix with an easy Undo button.
All I gotta do is pull the bodge out and plug a 15 amp fuse back in, if I ever manage to find the original flasher module anyways.
This works perfectly for now. Easy Undo…
Slop
Can’t verify what it says because I don’t happen to have a 96 Sonoma.
Don’t post slop when you have no idea if it is accurate.
