Slow Blinkers

[Vicinity]

Every once in a while Im noticing my blinkers are slowed down, sometimes both of them. Process of elimination time?

 

[Green T]

Have you ever replaced the flasher relay?

 

[XR7-4.6]

I'd check the battery voltage, though I don't think the flasher speed is effected by voltage fluctuations. More likely than not it's probably the flasher itself

 

[Vicinity]

Ahh yea its looking toward end of life. Turning the engine over isnt a big struggle though. This battery is marked 8/20. The prorated charge is interesting, I hope I have the receipt in the bin. Maybe the parts store has a digital copy somewhere. Anyone experience collecting on that?

 

[Derphound01]

Start the engine and watch your voltage gauge. If it dips when you turn your headlights on, it's battery time.

 

[Derphound01]

Also check your belt and pulleys. I thought my battery was dying for the same reasons until I saw my idler pulley was seized up.

 

[girdnerg]

The last time I exchanged a battery under warranty, they just scanned the bar code on the battery and that pulled up warranty info. Didn't seem to care about the receipt. If nothing else, you can use the old battery to offset the core charge on a new one.

 

[Vicinity]

This thread got me thinking:

I got around to changing out the battery on the LX over the weekend, and I noticed a shift happening about 5-10 mph sooner than it should be (or that Im used to). At first I thought the OD off button wasn't cooperating.

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Also, to update this discussion. Periodically called the parts stores asking about the prorated motorcraft warranty and bringing up my purchase history. Their responses were usually awful. I found a time to instead come inside before it got busy, and got half off the new battery. Also swapped out the corroded screw holding the wedge, guess I hadn't realized that those were standardized and easily available


I don't know if its the battery, the foam posts, or the grease but that battery never saw any of those acid crystals

I will report in if the the slow blinker issue happens again​

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

I got around to changing out the battery on the LX over the weekend, and I noticed a shift happening about 5-10 mph sooner than it should be (or that Im used to). At first I thought the OD off button wasn't cooperating.

I mean since you had to disconnect the battery to replace it, whatever "intelligent" behavior the PCM has learned would have been deleted, right?

So you'd expect  some different behaviors.

5-10 mph sooner sounds like a very significant change though. Which shift are you talking about specifically?

 

[Vicinity]

Its behaving like it would with overdrive on, between 40-45mph it shifts. I noticed this on hill driving though, its not subtle. I need to take it out and drive it for a long while yet, because these are brief observations

 

[theterminator93]

Under light throttle the standard shift for the 3-4 is about 35 MPH.

If it's not shifting until 40-45 MPH, the first thing I'd check is the TPS. Should be under 1V at idle, over 4.5V at WOT, and the progression as you open the butterfly should be smooth with no spikes or dips in the voltage as it increases.

 

[White Lincoln]

Ahh yea its looking toward end of life. Turning the engine over isnt a big struggle though. This battery is marked 8/20. The prorated charge is interesting, I hope I have the receipt in the bin. Maybe the parts store has a digital copy somewhere. Anyone experience collecting on that?
View attachment 1548

Meh... you have a few years left on that battery. I honestly have never seen a Motorcraft battery! Something to marvel at. I guess you don't see nice things like this at a Walmart...

Check your voltage output on the battery while the engine is running to ensure your alternator is pumping 13+ to 14 volts to the battery.

 

[Grog6]

My original motorcraft batt lasted 11 years. check/add water, and do an equalizing charge every 3 months, they last a lot longer.

BU-404: What is Equalizing Charge?

BU meta description needed...

batteryuniversity.com

 

[White Lincoln]

My original motorcraft batt lasted 11 years. check/add water, and do an equalizing charge every 3 months, they last a lot longer.

Use DISTILLED water only. I used tap water once and the battery lasted another 3 months and was crap.

 

[Grog6]

You can check the condition by charging it fully, letting it sit overnight, and measuring the voltage. The closer it is to 2.25V/cell,13.5V, the better. You can also check each cell with one of those droppers with the floating balls.
Only use distilled water for anything you need water for in a car.

 

[Derphound01]

Replacing the Infamous Flasher Relay

My turn signals recently stopped working and all signs pointed to a bad relay. As many of you know, the "Electronic Indicator Flasher" relay on these cars is not exactly where the FSM says it is. Searching the old forum found me no photos of anything that looked like a flasher relay near...

forum.birdcats.com

If it's not the battery, it's this.

 

[Grog6]

The og style ones do die, they're bi-metallic strips. The new transistor ones should last forever.

Blinking Lights! What is a Flasher Unit?

Modern day indicator flasher units are triggered in a circuit by pulse switching. Historically flashing units worked differently by using bi-metallic strips.

www.arc-components.com