This shows you how to modifry the blinker relay (turn signal relay) to avoid the fast blink effect when you replace your regular lamps with LEDs.
The factory blinker relay measures the current drawn by the turn signals, and it it's less than 'normal' it assumes a bulb is burned out and makes them blink fast so you know to get a new bulb. The problem is that when you install low-current LEDs the blinker relay always thinks a bulb is out and causes the turn signals to blink fast all the time.
To correct this we have to fool the relay into thinking the lower current is normal, and we do that by changing the current-sensing resistor. The resistor is more like a shunt wire and is located inside the blinker relay. You'll have to remove the relay from the under-dash fuse box, take it apart, and replace the shunt wire with either a .1 ohm 2 watt resistor or a 3 amp diode. Check out the photos below to see how it's done.
| Red box is where the blinker relay sits. It's a bugger to get out. | Here's the relay, slightly "modifried" by the removal process. | |
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| Inside of the relay. The rectangular wire is the shunt that senses lamp current. Changing the shunt allows lower current bulbs or LEDs to work without "hyper-blink". | I replaced the shunt with a .1 ohm resistor. This worked pretty good. Replacing the resistor with a 3-amp diode would work too. | |
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