so, picked up a new-to-me truck about a month ago.. 1998 Dakota with 67,000 miles on it

yesterday while i was working i had my emergency flashers on and everything was fine.. turned them off and got back on the road.. when i pulled to my next stop and turned them on they made a terrible buzzing noise and then wouldn't work..

very random because the turn signals work fine but when i go to turn the emergency flashers on they don't make a sound and just don't work..

went to my local carquest and picked up a new flasher relay (the little green one that is in the fuse panel just above the emergency brake) and turn signals still worked no problem, but the emergency flashers wouldn't work..

the weirdest part of all is the old flasher has burn marks when i pulled it out.. could the emergency part be melting the flasher?

i saw in another thread that the combination switch might be the culprit? if anyone has any thoughts that would be fantastic.. i need to be able to turn on my 4-way flashers and i also don't want to turn my truck into a pool of molten metal by using them.. lol thanks!!

 

I would check the switch it sounds like that is the problem.

 

check the switch? do you mean buy one and swap it out? (and if not then what?) or do you mean check it as in the continuity of the switch getting power?

 

DAMN IT... just swapped both the relay and the switch and for some ungodly reason same outcome.. turn signals work fine, but the emergency flashers are not working.. WTH.. has anyone else had this problem?

 

great.. so.. gets even weirder.. just plugged the old relay back in and gave it a little wiggle while i had the flashers on and BOOM! it works fine now.. fantastic.. ?

 

So loose terminal or corroded connection.