turn signal help!

[portero72]

a turn for the worse

wore myself out today, now have a new problem. ALL signals died, even with the old clamp on. got a few small flickers of the left signal(originally the bad one)if i revved the motor up high, and NO rights. gonna charge up the battery, rough up the clamp/risers, and start from scratch. am currently reading the manual that came with the MM, but exactly how do i test for continuity? i know i've said this 15 times in this thread, but i really appreciate the help you guys have provided.

[TopCatGr58]

Once you get the clamps and bars on, then take the MM, put it on OHMs which checks resistance, the less resistance the better the continuity. Put one lead on the bars where you can find bare metal, and put the other lead on the frame,lower portion of the TT's. Check the ohms, hopefully it will show 0 or very few ohms. IF it shows NO reading, then electricity can not flow from one lead to the other so it can't measure....NO CONTINUITY. Just make sure you have a good exposed bit of metal on the frame, sometimes you can get false bad readings because it can't measure thru paint!
T.C.

[mro]

Just a thought

Control (thingee with turn signal switch in it) will need to be grounded too. If it is mounted over a painted bar...this may "insulate" it from the bar..........which was "insulated" form the bar clamp, which was "insulated" from the.......


mro

[portero72]

no dice

still have no signals, which is worse than when i started. have all the old stuff on,which was at least partially functioning a while back-old clamp, no risers, switch. still zero signals. did a test for ohms on the bar/clamp, got 1(still uneasy with the MM-doubt i'm gonna learn to use that thing in a day). horn works, high/low switch works, but no signals. odd this happened after i got them all to work for about 2 mins last night. considering paying someone to fix this. help?!

[TopCatGr58]

Sounds like some loose wires in the control/switch assembly.

I've seen the wires actually pop off from poor or corroded solder joints. Take the switch assembly off, and take it apart and inspect the wires inside. With all of the on and off, you have been bending wires, possibly making contact but then breaking contact as the wires bend!?!?
T.C.

[portero72]

getting stucker....i've inspected and alternated between 2 switches, all with the same result-no signals. whats killing me is for about 5 minutes the other day(with a replacement left rear signal)i had all 4 functioning. it gets worse-i'd forgotten that most shops in my area won't work on bikes this old. so i guess i'm stuck. thx for the help

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

Portero,

I'd listen to TC, especially with the fact that you had it working for 5 minutes. Go over the harness from switch to lamps and reset all the plugs you find. A small wire brush or a really tiny jewelers file can help clean them up. Then, if you really want to be sure, give each connector a light clamp with a pair of pliers to tighten it up. Don't go King Kong on them or you will never get them apart again.

I know most of this is old stuff, but it sounds like you are very close.

[portero72]

whew! lotsa work, maybe getting closer. this afternoon, still no signals. so i bypassed ALL the grounds on all 4 signals and ground them elsewhere on the frame. tried swapping, etc, same situation-nothing. at one point i had accessory signals (single filament) hooked up to both front and rear left side. both lit up and stayed lit, but no flash. odd. as i was tinkering, tho, i was wiggling the harness up by the switch and noticed a distinct clicking down by the flasher. A-HA! thing is, i have 2 switches, both of which are pretty ugly, and they both caused a click at the flasher. tried swapping flasher with the 2 and 3 prong cheapos from autozone and couldn't reproduce the clicking. the internals of both switches 'appear' intact. sorta odd they would both malfunction the same way. was getting dark, so i started to button it all up. just for grins, i tried signals with engine on. rights flashed like new. but, i couldnt get it to stop-toggled left and right, rights kept going. then i wiggled harness again, everything died. looks like a short in the switch, no? its sooo tiny in there. i can solder, but i'm not sure what to look for. any ideas? THX GUYS

[mro]

any ideas?

Yup, plenty,
but need to repair or replace switch first....

Would open up the control and inspect/clean contacts on switch and wires. Think when you take apart switch there is a small spring/ball or pin you don't want to loose...been awhile since I've had one apart so not too sure (CRS)


mro

[xj11john]

Sounds like broken wire

Sounds like you have some of the same probs I've been having, when you loose something like signals, and you moved a wire and suddenly your flasher starts clicking - you suddenly got power through that wire that previously was a broken circuit- via broken wire inside the insulation of that wire. You either need to repair or replace that broken wire.
That may be the whole problem, and may not be the switch since when you moved some stuff earlier you had em all working for five minutes, then some wires got move and the break or breaks in the wire separated again.
My fuse box has long since rusted out so the P.O. just put fuse-able-links (fuses in between the wire that use to have fuse box fuses between the connections) and some of those wires are broken inside.
Last night signals stopped working, my fronts are continuously lit but I have no rears, and the lights on the instruments cluster that lights up when you slide the turn signal left to right does not light up to indicate left or right either, I'm going to mess with it when I get off here, in fact that is why I was on here to get some ideas what to check. Hope you get it all figured out soon.


Good luck,

[portero72]

a-ha!!!!

found/fixed my problem. turns(pun intended) out, 2 of the 3 signal wires inside the switch had broken loose from their original soldered joint. had to buy a needle nose soldering gun and be VERY careful. to see if this is your problem, u have to take the entire switch apart. everything must come out inside the control. pay attn, too, all those tiny wires have to go back in a certain way, as well. i'm sure there's a busted solder inside your switch, as well. sounds like you are having the exact same issue as i did. THX GUYS, FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!!!!

[xj11john]

Well I took apart my signal switch, and didnt find anything out of place?? I guess I may look one more time on a non-rainy day, but I'll prob end up taking it to my buddy that has a shop, we'll see. Glad you found your problem!