This 2011 Nissan Rogue came in with the complaint that the right turn signal would flash very quickly when turned on. I did a quick visual inspection and found that the right front turn signal bulb was flashing on the wrong element. It was evident to me as it was not as bright as it should have been and as compared to the other front turn signal. both rear bulbs flashed equally as bright. Also looking closely at the bulb I could see that the taller element was the one that was lighting up and not the shorter/brighter element. This is generally caused by a poor ground to the bulb. The element cannot utilize the main bulb ground so it uses a back fed ground from the park light element.
The front turn signal/park light socket is shown in the following picture. It is the recessed white part at the very center of the picture.
It can be removed without removing the headlight assembly. It twists and pulls out of the lamps assembly.
Once it was out I realized that the bulb had been recently changed. I checked and the bulb itself was okay.
However removing the bulb revealed the problem that I was looking for. The side ground terminal was collapsed and not providing an adequate ground to the light bulb. The power contact terminals also seemed to be collapsed. There was absolutely no evidence of heat build up so the diagnosis was that of possibly aggressive bulb replacement coupled with a weak design had collapsed the terminals. I used a small pocket screwdriver to bend the tabs back out and restore the spring tension to the terminal contact points.
If there had been any evidence of heat build up or if the terminals had seemed excessively weak I would have had to order new sockets.
Now the light was working as designed. While I had to hood up I repeated the process on the driver’s side front turn/park light socket.
