All my left side indicators have stopped working, right side work as normal, but if indicate left, the green-left-arrow-light on the dash doesn’t flash - it does still click, but clicking sound is about twice as fast as usual. Also checked what happens with hazard lights, right side flash, nothing on left. All other lights fine. It has done this once or twice before, but only for a minute or so at a time, has always corrected itself, now seems permanent…
As I doubt all three left indicator bulbs have gone at once, I’m guessing the likely suspect is the flasher relay (apparently located above the pedals?). Or is there a fuse that only affects these 3 bulbs? Are there any things I can definitely rule out as being the cause given the above info?
If the right hand side is OK, then the flasher relay is OK. It is possible though unlikely that both bulbs have failed, check this first. If bulbs OK, it points to the switch on the steering column.
Thanks for info, good to know I can rule out the relay. Will check bulbs, but sounds like it’s going to end up being the switch on the steering column - is there anything I can do about this?
Hold on… I thought I could rule out flasher relay seeing as the right side indicators work fine?? Taff, apologies if you missed this bit, can I just double check whether you’d still recommend checking/changing flasher relay if right side indicators unaffected (btw, when hazards on, just right side flashes)
Anyway, I just went to investigate, and without doing a thing all indicators now work fine! Not the first time this car has magically fixed itself. I guess I can definitely rule out bulbs. Only thing I can think of is it was raining yesterday, maybe this temporarily shorted something?
Probably won’t be the last time this happens though, would still be good to know what faults to check for here, just in case my car does decide to stop repairing itself…
Not in my personal experience, I had one side of the cars indicator lamps working, all working on hazard - replaced the relay and all worked as they should if you feel or look at the bottom of the bracket the relay is mounted on you may get a bit of rust residue on your finger, sure fire sign of rainwater ingress, could be that your relay has dried-out and is now working again, next time it gets wet it might not recover…
Just been for another drive in the rain, all still seems to be working fine! However I’ll definitely take a look at the relay like you suggest, seems a very cheap/easy part to replace, and the rainwater-ingress-then-drying-out theory makes sense.
Well, unsurprisingly, it’s gone again, and this time seems permanent…
Inspected the flasher relay unit, thing is it’s completely clean, no signs of rust or anything. I suppose it’s possible there’s an internal fault with the unit, don’t have a multimeter though so can’t test further.
Just wanted to get opinions on whether it’s worth replacing the flasher unit seeing as it all looks OK?
OK, solved now - will give some more detailed info on this in case anyone experiences the same problem.
Expanding my search to “miata flasher relay” (not just mx5) found some useful posts. As I’d thought, from the behaviour described, you can rule out certain possiblities. If the relay is clicking, it’s not going to be the steering column switch. Can’t be fuse for obvious reasons, ditto earth. All three bulbs going at once? Safe to assume not, especialy if problem intermittent.
So once conviced it definitely had to be the relay unit, took it out, opened it up, spotted dodgy solder connection, verified this was on the solenoid that controls the left side, went and bought a soldering iron, fixed it. Dead simple! All indicators works fine now. Just time left for a drive while the sun’s still sort of out.
otherwise you need another flasher relay, about £10-15 on ebay or cheaper from a generous member on here…