Wondering if anyone can help me on this one. My turn signals/hazard flashers quit working when the column is tilted down to a driving position. They work fine when the column is fully tilted up. Every once in a while they will do a real fast "clicking" noise when the column is up and not work. I tried to mess with the wires under the column thinking they might be loose but no luck. Is there any way to get inside the column and check the connections at the stick w/o getting an airbag to the face? I don't think it is the relay as they work, has to be some sort of short.

 

When your turn signals go out do your brake lights go out too? I'm betting they do. When I got my truck lifted my turn signals/flashers quit and had no brake lights. When I got in my truck I noticed when the mechanic took a test drive he put the steering column all the way down. I did a search here on FTE that night and found that in fact there is a harness inside the steering column that often comes loose. the search came w/ a link for instructions how to get in the steering column. After a couple hours of checking and a ford tech looking too I showed up w/ the fix. It felt good giving him the answer to the fix. I must have thrown away copies to those links cause I can't find em. But its in here!

 

I fixed the problem yesterday....sort of. Turns out tankhead was correct, the harness in the column came out. I had to remove the column covers, which includes removing the ignition, pretty easy to do. I did unhook the battery because I was messing around near the airbag wires. There is a large plug on the top side of the column that was the problem. Must have been the cold morning when it happened because both top and bottom retaining clips snapped off, leaving it floating and able to come out. After seeing that I needed a whole new plug end I "fixed" it instead. Betting that I won't need to mess with it anytime soon I just put a few dabs of epoxy where the plugs meet, should hold it together quite well. If it ever needs to be removed the epoxy will have to be removed but no big deal.