Turn Signals Stopped Working Suddenly

My turn signals in my 1999 Monte Carlo stopped working out of nowhere last night. My hazard lights still work, and none of the bulbs are burned out. When I use the turn stick it doesn’t make the usual click noise or show a blinking arrow in the car. All is just dead.

M questions are: What could this be?; and How much am I looking at to fix this problem?

Sounds like you probably need a new turn signal switch - $30-55 for parts, but I have no idea what labor would look like - I’ve never worked on a vehicle with that sort of switch design. If its like the ones I have had to replace (Taurus and Camry), then you’re looking at 0.5-1 hour labor, or $35-90, depending on who does the work. It was trivial to do in both cases I did, and not beyond the capability of an amateur mechanic. No idea though if it is as simple on your car…

Check the fuse first.

Two suggestions.

Check the turn signal flasher. The turn signal and hazard flasher modules are accessible behind the glove compartment door on my 2000 Blazer. Switch the turn signal flasher with the hazard flasher and try the turn signal switch.

The GM multifunction switch (turn, cruise, wipers, etc) from this era is prone to failure. Try spraying some CRC Electrical Contact Cleaner into the base of the switch on the steering column to clean the contacts. This got the switch working on my 2000 Blazer for a few days when it failed. The price is around $185 to $200 for the switch. It took me a few hours to replace the switch and I had the instructions. TThe job is labor intensive.

The switch on the Blazer had been replaced by the original owner under recall. I found the installation instructions attached to the recall notice on the NHSTA website. Check the Monte Carlo for turn signal/hazard switch recalls.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/recallsearch.cfm

For your sake, I hope it’s a flasher or a fuse. Check the turn signal bulbs also.

Ed B.

I thought multifunction switch, too… but when I looked up parts, I found the Monte Carlo used a completely different turn signal switch than the normal multifunction switch -

Here’s the Blazer’s switch (similar general design to the Camry and Taurus I replaced, both of which were trivial to swap):
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=97907

And here is the Monte Carlo’s switch:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=44989

I do like the idea of checking the flasher, but most vehicles I’ve worked on are wired such that the flasher relay is a single piece that controls the flashing for both the hazards and the turn signals - meaning if the hazards work, then the flasher isn’t the problem.

Does anyone know if this is the case for the Monte Carlo, or if the wiring is different?