Everyone,
I just wanted to close the loop as a courtesy to everyone's helpful advice. I ordered the cheaper turn signal from Big Mike's and they got it to me in 3-days which was great, but I intentionally sat on it because I wasn't ready to continue the half-day trace to find the root-cause (I just assumed the gremlin would be somewhere OTHER THAN the turn signal unit). Took a deep breath and did the easy 5-minute swap and God had mercy on me - everything worked like a charm!! The unit had the serial and part number on the face so I'm thinking it's a legit part, plus they sent me the hose clamp as advertised in the pic - I didn't know why but now I do. The original bracket is welded onto the steering column and of course it was too narrow to accommodate the new unit.
Because of the mounting offset and the slightly longer control arm on the new unit, left hand turns bump my leg but it's a minor inconvenience to me. I got the safety inspection done yesterday for only $7, apparently they don't check the expensive emissions test because it's a diesel. Inspection was 5minute signal, headlight, brake light, high beam, windshield wiper rubber check and done, didn't even drive it around. Funny detail - of course I drove up door-less and the guy immediately said I needed car doors to pass the test.
I can't thank you gents enough for the helpful advice, now onto the DMV to change titling over.
