jims911

Car is a 2002 Carrera 4S. Intermittent problem, comes & goes. When I put on the left turn signal, inside indicator flashes really fast. Front outside signal does not light. Rear outside signal flashes rapidly. Pulled out the headlight assembly, checked the bulb. Looks good, has less than 1 ohm resistance across filament. Put back in, works fine for now. What is the normal symptom of a bulb that is burned out? Old American cars would have the inside indicator just stay lit instead of blink.
Thanks for any help!

jyoteen

been chasing this for a while now with my 03 c4s. replaced all of my bulbs, blinker relay, cleaned contacts. Mine is the front right headlight blinker. i even cleaned and retightened the ground connection near the headlamp.

the only thing really left is the springy contacts in the harness that connects into the headlAmp but i dont know how much that harness is or whether its the true culprit.

One thing for me is that when I wash the car, the turn signal is ok. But of course, a day or so later, it returns to the faster blinking. So it's a short, but I don't know how to go about testing where it really is (I can only surmise it's at the headlamp).

However, if it's the harness, then the headlight would flicker as well, which it does not. Only the blinker. I have to find out what pin that is in the harness.

Quix

This happened to me when I first got my C4 a few years ago. The dealer here was able to fix it on the second try, and it had to do with the contacts for the whole headlight assembly. At first they thought that the whole assembly would have to be replaced but the mechanic was able to bend the contacts and the problem has not recurred since.
Good luck! Might be a DIY if you're comfortable pulling out the assembly and can figure out which pins to work on.

Shark Attack

Had this issue... Was a ground point inside the frunk under the carpet near the release hole for the head lamp. Cleaned it up and all has been good for 2 years. Mine is a 99 C2

MiamiC70

Same problem and after a LOT of taking light assembly on and off it turned out to be the pins in the bulb holder. small screwdriver and pried them back out also backing out the assembly like 1/8th of a turn rather than locking it all the way solved the problem. Oddly enough mine was also the left turn one the right turn has always been fine.

jims911

Thanks for the ideas. It's been about a week and it's working fine by just removing and reinstalling. I'm hoping it was a dirty contact on one of the connector pins and that disconnecting and reconnecting cleaned it up. We'll see!

targa996

Had same problem - was not the bulb, or the bulb holder - but rather the spring contacts inside the headlight assembly that make contact with the bulb holder. I did a bulb replace and that worked for a couple of weeks - but then the problem came back - simply bending the spring contacts outwards - inside the h/l assembly with a screwdriver - fixed the problem for more than a year now ... seems to be a fairly common issue . 20 min DIY - the hardest part is getting the headlight assembly aligned and back in right - follow the instructions in the owners manual for that ....

Bob_H

I have an '02 C2 with the standard halogen headlights (not the bi-xenon) that I bought in July 2011. It had this problem when I bought it and I've been struggling with it ever since.

On my car, it's the driver side turn signal and the passenger side low-beam and fog light.

At first, it seemed to be several different problems because tweaking the contacts in the turn signal bulb holder like MiamiC70 says in post #5 worked for a while. But my main problem seems to be a bad contact between the pins in the headlight assembly and the spring contacts in the female portion of the electrical connector inside the fender.

I've tried slightly bending the pins and that works for a while. I've tried spraying silicon spray (not WD-40) inside the female side of the connector and that works for a while. But the problem always comes back after some time.

The other day, my mechanic advised using a blob of dielectric grease inside the spring contacts on the female connector to improve the connection between the pins and the spring connectors. BAD IDEA. Turns out dielectric does NOT conduct electricity. So...after about an hour of cleaning out the connectors with contact cleaner and a toothbrush, I got all the lights working again. But I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before they act up again.

This is driving me nuts. I love my Porsche but I think this connector is a crappy design because so many people have the same problem.

After much internet searching, I found something at Nye Lubricants at http://www.nyelubricants.com/products/nyogel.shtml . Nye 760G is A silica thickened, medium viscosity, synthetic hydrocarbon grease for lubrication and protection of electrical contacts. Benefits include good water resistance.

I'm thinking of buying some of this and applying it to the female side of the connector pins very carefully. Does anybody have any experience with something like this, and is this a really bad idea? I'm concerned about shorting out the various lights across the connector, but I'm pretty much out of ideas.

jdjones2010

Bob, keep us informed. This is one of the same problems I've been having also & its been a PIA! Its NEVER just as simple as changing out a bulb or replacing something or another. It always seems like it could be 10 different things & its NEVER the one you try! jmo

Bob_H

Will do. Sadly (very very very sadly) I got rear ended about two hours after I posted that on Saturday. Aagh.

The guy has insurance and the damage isn't horrible, so it will all turn out OK in the end, but I have bigger issues to deal with than my flaky lights.

No pic. Stupid flikr.com giving me fits.

Cornbread

Uh...I think the turn signal quit working when you bumped them during the accident?

mrfeh

I had the fast directional symptom today. First thing I did was simply to push on the headlamp assembly a bit, which corrected it (for now).

So, is there a tried & true procedure for improving the electrical connection of the headlamp assembly? Fine grit sandpaper and some dielectric grease?

Thanks.

sasilverbullet

First, make sure that the headlight is seated correctly, use the tool to make sure it's locked in place.

Also, check that none of the wiring inside the headlight assembly has the plastic insulation hard and brittle. I had that problem, taped it up and no more bulbs burning out.

heligear

If the bulb checks out ok gently bend the contact tabs to increase the contact with the bulb, common issue.

mrfeh

The problem isn't the bulb; it's the connection between the headlamp unit and the chassis (in my case).