'95 CS Convertible hazard lights flash only in the rear

[Human]

So I had the convertible out this evening and for whatever reason started to get slightly irritated by how slowly the turn signals were blinking (they've been very slow for as long as I've owned the car). By the time I got home, I had become curious as to whether the hazard blinkers were that slow also, so once in the driveway, I turned them on and from the driver's seat, it looked like they weren't working at all. But when I got out of the car, the taillights were blinking (at a more normal interval than the turn signals) but the front lights weren't and neither were the panel indicators. These lights work just fine when either turn signal is flashing. The car passed a sate safety inspection last August so the flashers must have been working then.

I did have a dead battery this afternoon (I had left a map light switched on) and the car, of course, wouldn't start. I put the charger on it in the 60A "Start" mode but It still didn't start so I shifted it to the 10A charging mode and let it sit for two hours, after which it still wouldn't quite start on its own. When I turned the charger back to "Start" mode, it cranked right up. The only odd thing was the parking brake light on the instrument panel was on, even though the brake was most definitely off. I set and released the brake a couple of times but it stayed on, so I decided to go out for a drive to further charge the battery. After about 40 minutes, I parked the car, then went out about an hour later and it cranked up just fine and the parking brake light was off, as it should be. 

I'm not sure what's going on, whether I fried something with the battery charger or the inspection station just missed that the hazards weren't fully working or perhaps verified them from the rear. Any suggestions of what I should check?

Edited October 15, 2019 by Human

[Schurkey]

Turn signals are slow but ALL THE LIGHTS WORK?  Possibly the wrong flasher.  Standard-duty flashers are rated by the number of bulbs they activate.  You may have a flasher that's intended to drive more turn signal bulbs than the car has,

Hazzard lights don't work in front, and don't light up the dash indicators?  Need a wiring diagram to track that down.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Schurkey

[Human]

6 hours ago, Schurkey said:

Turn signals are slow but ALL THE LIGHTS WORK?  Possibly the wrong flasher.  Standard-duty flashers are rated by the number of bulbs they activate.  You may have a flasher that's intended to drive more turn signal bulbs than the car has,

Hazzard lights don't work in front, and don't light up the dash indicators?  Need a wiring diagram to track that down.

Thanks for that information. I ordered a new flasher module from RockAuto because it was cheap and we'll see if that helps. But today I kept messing with it and eventually got it to work At first, it was still doing the rear only thing, but eventually it started working with only the left panel indicator blinking. Walking around the car showed all the flashers working, except for the right front. When I tried the right turn signal, everything on that side worked fine and then the flashers worked fine. Weird. But through all that, a new problem has arisen in that it the flasher button on the steering column won't stay pushed down. I have to hold it down and wiggle it around to get it to stay, then it takes a little more pushing and wiggling to get it to release. The button eventually came out in my hand and one corner is broken off at the bottom, where it attaches inside the steering column. If it's not one thing, it's another.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Human

[oldmangrimes]

I would double-check your battery.   How old is it?   A map light should take a very long time to kill a healthy battery to the point that you couldn't quickly start it with the charger plugged in.    I know from experience that a low battery voltage can make many car electrical systems behave strangely.     Removing the battery is a bit of a hassle, but I think it would be worth it to have it tested.   Or if it's more than 3 years old and questionable I would just replace it.     

How do the hazards behave with the charger plugged in?   Or with the engine running?    Any faster?    A low battery voltage (from a bad battery, bad alternator, or voltage regulator, etc) can affect the flasher speed I think.    

[Human]

I had last driven the car Sunday a week ago, so the map light had been on for a little over a week. I have no idea how old the battery is but it's safe to assume it's at least two to three years old. It was in the car when I got it a little more than a year ago. The previous owner had not driven the car in about a year when I bought it but he had kept the battery on a trickle charger during that time. It's a good quality Interstate battery and it has never failed to start the car—until yesterday.

The turn signals have always blinked slowly (a little more than a second for a complete blink cycle) as long as I've had the car. The hazard flashers blink at about twice that rate. 

[Human]

So the new flasher module came yesterday and I just put it in a few minutes ago. It does exactly the same thing the original did. Very slow flashing on the turn signals and normal flash interval on the hazard blinkers. The one that came out and the one I replaced it with are both 552 flashers, designed to drive six bulbs, according to the box the new one came in. I'm thinking part of the problem may be the broken hazard flasher button. It won't stay down on its own without a lot of coaxing and as I moved the button from side to side, the passenger side flashers will momentarily stop working and if I ever get the button to stay down, it's the very devil to get it to release and come back up. I may make a pilgrimage to the boneyard tomorrow to see if I can harvest a button and go from there.

UPDATE: A little while after I wrote the above, I cranked the car up to move it back under the carport and just for fun, I tried the turn signals. They were sluggish at first, but after a few seconds they were blinking at a fairly normal rate. 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Human
updated information

[57lxi]

Had same slow turn signal issue with my recently purchased 95 CS very. Replaced turn signal flasher with electronic one from rock auto. Problem solved. BTW, flashers and turn signals are on separate flashers.