I am posting my experience in hopes that others may benefit and to thank all the posters who have leant their knowledge to me in the past. I apologize to the experts out there who already know this stuff. My turn signals would intermittently stop working. The four way flashers worked even when the turn signals were unresponsive. So I knew the bulbs were good. One youtube I found said that if the four ways work then the flasher relay was good and you should replace the multifunction switch. I did. That did not solve the problem. I noticed that after I ran the four ways that the turn signals, both left and right, would work for a few seconds. So I theorized that the flasher relay was lazy and the extra current from operating 4 bulbs warmed it and woke it up. I went online to find a flasher but there weren’t any that exactly matched the original. The original had an extra pin in a corner and no one, not even Ford, had one with that extra pin. Then I noticed that the female connector had no corresponding socket for that extra pin! It just went into a cubby with no wiring connector. Someone on the Explorer forum also reported not being able to find an exact replacement with the extra pin, but never got back to say how he resolved the issue. So I am. I guess at one time the extra pin had a purpose but Ford apparently redesigned the flasher without it but used up the old parts in their bin. Anyway, the flasher was the culprit. I have put a few hours on the truck and the turn signals are A-OK.

 

Good stuff

Yes, in 1995 and up Rangers the 4-ways and turn shared the same Flasher but..............they used different power paths thru the flasher, i.e. 4-ways work all the time and turn only work with key on, so they also have different fuses
So yes, failed/failing flasher can just effect one or the other