please help a beginner diagnose what's going on:
--putting left turn signal on, very fast unusual clicking noise while lever is on, front lamp lights and flashes properly, but rear turn lamp does nothing; (

--using right turn signal: normal slow clicking noise, and both front and rear turn lamps work fine
--stepping on brake: no rear stoplight on left, rear light fine on rt
--putting in reverse; no reverse light on left, light fine on rt.

if it were a bad flasher, would not both rt and left turn signal lamps be non flashing and/or non-lighting?
if it were a bad relay, or burned out bulb, would all 3 light functions in rear be nonfunctional this way?

could it be one burned out bulb on left which is supposed to be lighting all those things (stop, reverse, turn) on left rear?

i do have a 12v tester and think i can find the panel that covers the left rear tail light assembly from the interior of the van.

since my nearest dealer is an hour away it is cheaper for me to buy a new bulb, a new bulb socket, a couple extra fuses and a new relay and start replacing them in order rather than to take 3 hrs off work and pay the local dealer ( who is actually pretty good .. have had the van there on more complicated stuff...)

thanks for all your thoughts.

 

Welcome to the forum. I almost didn't respond because you don't say what you have (year, model, trim level, engine size, all make a difference). Anyway, check the left backup lamp socket for voltage as well as ground with the backup lamp on. Do the same with the left tail stop/turn signal lamp socket with brake/turn signal on. I think all three share the same ground and thus maybe you'll find a grounding issue.

 

oops! van is chevrolet express 1500, year is 2004, engine is 6 L. 45K miles and running fine, though no left turn signal... just bought the haynes manual on this van...

 

oops again! as i for got to say thank you.
tomorrow is lamp project day...

 

Did you get your van light problems resolved? If you did, what was the fix? I am having the same problem with my '04 van.
Thanks

 

yes i did get mine fixed. it was a burned out bulb. the fast clicking was put there as a sign by chevy that the bulb is burned out. access was pretty easy, there is a rear cover panel for the lights that you can only see after you remove a trim panel which hides the vocer panel for the bulb assembly. bulbs available at any decent autopart store. while i was fixing the bulb i checked all the g rounds and retighteend the ground screws and smeared on some dielectric grease. this van has been great, all i've done is oil changes and 1 burnt out bulb...