flasher problem

[spivey]

On my '78 1100 the right side flasher wont work. The left side front and rear works fine. The right side will come on but won't flash. Here is what I have checked.
1 Checked bulbs all work
2 Checked the flasher cancelling system. Plugged in or unplugged right light will come on but not flash.
3 Replaced relay. Left side works fine, right side will come on but won't flash.
4 Checked for voltage on brown/white wire at the handle bar end and relay end. Good voltage on both ends.
5 Checked for ground. Ground was good.
I am overlooking something simple. I really thought once I got to the relay that my problem would be solved. The fact that the right signal will come on and go off if I manually cycle the swithch lead me to believe that the relay was at fault. I get the same results with my original relay and the replacement. I would think that the relay would either work or not work, not just work on the left side.
If anyone has a solution to my problem let me know.
Thanks

[Crazcnuk]

On mine, it's the connector under the seat that goes to the rear lights. When I first got it going, the left side would onoly work when it felt like, and the right seemed to work fine.

I took all the connectors apart (whole bike) and cleaned them as per the tech tips.

Now the left side works fine, but the right is not working. I took the seat off, jiggled that connector, under the seat, and voila it worked again.

Now the right side has stopped again, and I will have to pop the seat off and check that connector again. However, with snow falling every other day, not much incentive to work on it.

[TopCatGr58]

5 Checked for ground. Ground was good.

Hey SPivey,

Just where did you check for ground? The turn signals use a round washer type fitting onto the stalk of the signals where they mount to the frame, and they can corrode, especially the ones on the rear fender area! Also, the bulb sockets can corrode, the ground wire that's screwed into/around the base. As has been said, if it works for 1 side, it should work for the other side. It's usually a poor ground that prevents enough current to flow to heat up the flasher to throw!

Also, checked bulbs, are you sure they are the right type? Front uses 1157 dual filament, but the rear uses 1156 single filament. You're positive both bulbs on right side are lighting?
T.C.

[spivey]

The way I tested the ground was to do a continunity test between the ground connector under the seat and the neg post on the battery. I would get a continuity tone on my meter at this point and also between the ground connector and any bare metal point on the frame. I did check the bulbs and they are the correct type. The fronts are double filaments and both filamdents left and right will light up at the proper time. The back ones are single filaments and will light up when the turn signal switch is engaged. The left will flash, the right will come on and stay on. I will physically take the fitting loose and check it for corrosion. Another test that I saw on an earlier post was to switch the left and right circuts and see if what happens. Thanks for the info. Let's see what happens

[spivey]

Here's the latest. I cleaned and,sanded the ground contact on the rear right tail light. The light will still come on but not flash. Then I swapped the left and right hot leads on the rear. Now the right side will flash but the left won't. When I switched the leads back to their normal positions the right would come on but not flash again. Could the handle bar switch be the problem? Any thoughts

[TopCatGr58]

Hate to say it, but try cleaning the ground on the right front light!

When you swapped the rear hot leads, the right had good ground on the newly cleaned right rear, and left front so it flashed.

The swapped right hot lead still had the front light with a possibly bad/poor ground, so even though the left rear light is good, the suspected poor right front ground is still keeping it from flashing!

That's my theory! T.C.

[spivey]

After I posted the steps that I had taken, it occured to me that the front could be the problem. Guess how stupid I felt after I sent my reply. Thanks for all the help.

[spivey]

Ok the problem is fixed. It turned out to be a combination of grouonding issues. I ended up cleaning the grounds on the front and back right side signals. I also cleaned the bullet connectors where the wires in harness plug in. I would have never thought that a grounding issue would cause the problem, especially since the lights would come on. Thanks to everyone who sent me some ideas. Also thanks to Andreas for getting me the parts I needed to get my bike back on the road.

I am enclosing a couple of pictures of my '78. This is how it looks after setting in the back corner of my shop for the last 20 years. It's like an old movie star. It looks good at 20 feet. The tank needs replaced and repainted and the case covers need to be rechromed and the frame needs powder coating. For sitting neglected since about 1991 it cleaned up pretty nicely. This is one of those bikes you never get rid of. It is already planned that my son will get this bike when I can't ride any more.

[spivey]

This is my last try tonight. I still don't think it will give me a picture in this message http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2140/...c8c3049db2.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/...31d61833a7.jpg

Anyway here's my '78

[skids]

It looks like new original. Looks good. The Travelcade LTD seats can no longer be found. What kind of dual-rate shocks are those on the rear?

Originally posted by spivey

Anyway here's my '78

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Spivey,

Looks GREAT!!! You almost had the photo links right, just needed to paste what you had into an IMG link instead of an URL link, just hit the IMG button next time, and you'll have it! I editted your previous post to include them for easier display!
T.C.

[spivey]

Thanks

Thanks for fixing the picture problem. I probably shouldn't try to do stuff like that at midnight. To answer Skids question I don't remember who makes the shocks. They are made in the U.S. I ordered them from Dennis Kirk somewhere around '85 or '87 when I did a complete frame off rebuild. The seat was on the bike when I bought it. The paint is House of Kolor. It was a pretty close match to the original maroon.