Turn signal stalk making weird high pitched noise.

[FRS-Learner]

Hey guys, I tried searching for this problem but came up blank. Car is 2014 Fr-s with 17k miles. No mods that would affect the turn signal stalk.

Recently whenever I turn the turn signal stalk, either to turn right or to turn left, it emanates this weird high pitched sound. It sounds exactly like a defibrillator that's charging up. Like the ones in movies where they try to "jump start" people whose heart stopped working with electricity??? Whenever I turn the stalk this weird noise comes from it and sounds EXACTLY like a defibrillator. I only clean the stalk from time to time with a microfiber cloth. But this started happening randomly and not after I had cleaned it. I have no idea what't going on and I do not think this sound is good in the long run. Plus it would be hard to reproduce the sound at the dealer because this sound is does not always happen, which makes me wonder a lot about what it could be.

All replies would be helpful, thanks.

[SoCal80six]

Originally Posted by FRS-Learner

Hey guys, I tried searching for this problem but came up blank. Car is 2014 Fr-s with 17k miles. No mods that would affect the turn signal stalk.

Recently whenever I turn the turn signal stalk, either to turn right or to turn left, it emanates this weird high pitched sound. It sounds exactly like a defibrillator that's charging up. Like the ones in movies where they try to "jump start" people whose heart stopped working with electricity??? Whenever I turn the stalk this weird noise comes from it and sounds EXACTLY like a defibrillator. I only clean the stalk from time to time with a microfiber cloth. But this started happening randomly and not after I had cleaned it. I have no idea what't going on and I do not think this sound is good in the long run. Plus it would be hard to reproduce the sound at the dealer because this sound is does not always happen, which makes me wonder a lot about what it could be.

All replies would be helpful, thanks.

Is it blinking really fast?

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[FRS-Learner]

Originally Posted by SoCal80six

Is it blinking really fast?

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No, no of the lights blink fast and the dash arrow does not blink fast. The only occurrence is the really weird sound. Sounds like something electrical from the turn signal stalk.

[SoCal80six]

Originally Posted by FRS-Learner

No, no of the lights blink fast and the dash arrow does not blink fast. The only occurrence is the really weird sound. Sounds like something electrical from the turn signal stalk.

Weird might be an electrical issue. Had my front left parking light go out and my rear left blinker started blinking super fast ahah.

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[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by FRS-Learner

No, no of the lights blink fast and the dash arrow does not blink fast. The only occurrence is the really weird sound. Sounds like something electrical from the turn signal stalk.

The whining you hear on TV is usually the sound of a capacitor charging up to store current to be discharged from the defibrillator. In our cars the turn signals use an electromechanical relay which is also where the "click noise" comes from as the turn signals go on and off. Its under the steering wheel and above the foot well and you can literally grab at it and pull it out, in fact for people that do an LED swap this is a necessary evil so the LEDs turn signals blink at the correct rate. I am sort sure where the charging noise is coming from or if it's just some sort of coil whine, but I'm pretty positive it is from both the capacitors resonating at some weird frequency:

This is a good image of what's inside a flasher relay, not ours mind you, ours are sort of beige in color on the outside and has 8 pins not 2 prongs:


The arrow points to the capacitor

OR It could be from within the turn signal stalk


To fix this if the whining is a serious annoyance and if it's from the relay you're just gonna need to buy a new stock LED relay:http://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-Scion-F...NSjoX6&vxp=mtr

Honestly I'd order it just in case when the relay might fail, because none of our cars do the charge up whine it might mean yours will fail prematurely.

[FRS-Learner]

Originally Posted by FRSBRZGT86FAN

The whining you hear on TV is usually the sound of a capacitor charging up to store current to be discharged from the defibrillator. In our cars the turn signals use an electromechanical relay which is also where the "click noise" comes from as the turn signals go on and off. Its under the steering wheel and above the foot well and you can literally grab at it and pull it out, in fact for people that do an LED swap this is a necessary evil so the LEDs turn signals blink at the correct rate. I am sort sure where the charging noise is coming from or if it's just some sort of coil whine, but I'm pretty positive it is from both the capacitors resonating at some weird frequency:

This is a good image of what's inside a flasher relay, not ours mind you, ours are sort of beige in color on the outside:


The arrow points to the capacitor

OR It could be from within the turn signal stalk


To fix this if the whining is a serious annoyance and if it's from the relay you're just gonna need to buy a new stock LED relay:http://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-Scion-F...NSjoX6&vxp=mtr

Honestly I'd order it just in case when the relay might fail, because none of our cars do the charge up whine it might mean yours will fail prematurely.

Thanks, I just have one question. Can I pull this relay out and test it by any chance?

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by FRS-Learner

Thanks, I just have one question. Can I pull this relay out and test it by any chance?

It's super easy,anyone like me or others that do LED swaps have had to do it, it's right under the steering wheel:

Skip to 0:50

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAEz3YC8SCA"]FR-S / BRZ Fix Turn LED Hyperblink with Flasher - YouTube[/ame]