93 mysterious turn signal issue

[helloish12321]

My girlfriend and I have been having an issue with her turn signals in her 93 for the past few months.

The problem keeps coming back. Each time the temp and fuel gauges drop all the way and the signals stop working. Pulling over to juggle the fuses has become a bit of a hassle and doesn't seem to work all the time so I don't know if it's even doing anything or just restarting the car fixes it

Does anyone have any advice on where to start fixing this before I start tearing apart the dashboard looking for grounding issues?

[Dragonhealer]

Tearing apart the dash isn't the first place to start. I don't have my guide here in town right now, but get a copy (or find it on line) of the Festiva electrical and vaccum trouble shooting manual. 93 has a few differences but 90 to 93 should set you on the right track.

Two things of note:
If the 3 fusable links in the engine bay are corroded, or have been replaced with SHORT leg pal fuses, there will be problems.
Another problem with high mileage or rough road usage is the pins on the back of the instrument cluster get loose.

[firebush357]

^Basically what Dragonhealer said... Makes sure your 3 Fuses under the hood are in good shape, most people replace them with LONG Leg PAL fuses because they are more convenient to change if they ever go bad.

With all of the Gauges going out at once and coming back on, my guess would be the plug on the back of the Speedo Cluster is loose. If you have never pulled one apart before, make sure you unscrew your speedo cable from the Transmission using a 19mm wrench (Unplug your battery first).

[dcentmane]

my turn signals occasionally stop working in my 93 but the gauges dont stop working. i can turn on the flashers once or twice and make them start working again.

[WmWatt]

Turn signal flashers can be a problem. Don't know the proper name but it's the electronic device which turns the lights on and off to make them flash.