Turn signal wiring

[jetmechmarty]

I had the front end off my bike. I replaced the main wiring harness. I have TC's fuse box installed. My bike is a SG. All of the connectors went together, so I have no reason to believe I have an incorrect harness. I cleaned all of the connectors and treated them with copper grease. It sandpapered where the handlebars meet the upper triple tree.

I turn the ignition on. The tail light comes on. The oil light comes on. The low fuel light comes on. (the tank is removed) The brake light works. The four way flasher works. No instrument lights. No neutral light. I engage the LEFT signal and the RIGHT signal lights are on steady, and the pilot box LEFT signal light is on steady. I engage the RIGHT signal and the LEFT signal lights come on steady. The RIGHT pilot box light comes on steady.

In the headlight bucket, the left signal light is plugged into the dark green wires. The right is plugged into the brown wires. The ground wires are plugged into the black wire. The "hot" red is empty. The blue wires are empty. At the back, it's green to green, brown to brown, and black to black. The front brake switch is plugged into the "fat" tan wire and the green/yellow wire.

This is all in accordance with the "1980 XS1100SG & 1981 XS1100SH WIRING DIAGRAM". It's from the Clymer book. Obviosly, it's wrong.

What am I missing?

[CatatonicBug]

I'm concerned about the use of "Copper grease". You should have used Dielectric grease on all the connections except the grounds. On those, you can use anti-sieze. Any grease used on the smaller connections that might conduct electricity will cause short circuits!

If the low fuel light comes on with the tank removed, you have a short. It should not come on unless the sensor in the tank is connected, and exposed to air enough to get hot. You obviously have the signals wired backward as well. However, even if they are wired backward, they should still blink. Is the flasher connected correctly? Are you using the OEM flasher?

[jetmechmarty]

Everything is OEM, but the fuse box. I wired the front signals opposite from the diagram. At the back, I went green to brown and brown to green. Now, the signals and pilot box match, but I get no flash or maybe just once. No neutral light, inst ligts, and low fuel is on.

[CatatonicBug]

If you take it out of neutral, does the low fuel light turn off?

[rover]

signal

If your battery is less than fully charged, the signals may not blink. Try connecting a battery charger, or running the engine a 3k RPM or more. On my F and FS, the colors green connect to the green, and brown to brown.

[jetmechmarty]

If you take it out of neutral, does the low fuel light turn off?

Yep! I replaced the tachometer too. So, it might be safe to assume the lamps are in the wrong holes. The tach came off a SF.

[jetmechmarty]

If your battery is less than fully charged, the signals may not blink. Try connecting a battery charger, or running the engine a 3k RPM or more. On my F and FS, the colors green connect to the green, and brown to brown.

OK. I didn't have the battery ground cable on tight. I fixed that and the left signal works. The right one blinks a few, then quits. Batt still shows 12v.

Could the rest of the malfunction be the SF tach?

[BA80]

Mine will do that sometimes when the bike isn't running Marty. Try starting it up.

[dpotter58]

Marty, I replaced my harness and fuse box as well. My signal lights, gauge lights, nuetral and oil lights work sometimes and sometimes don't. When I read your post i thought I posted in my sleep. working throught it...

[jetmechmarty]

I can't start it because the valve cover is off. I decided to replace the cam chain. I'll be swapping some shims too.

Is the neutral switch connected to the low fuel light because of the SF tach? At some point while I was swapping wires around, I thought I had instrument lights. Perhaps tomorrow I'll take the wiring off the old tach and swap it over.

[BA80]

The tach wiring should be the same for the SG and SF.

[jetmechmarty]

OK, Mr. Bug. How did you know my neutral switch was wired to the low fuel light?

[bikerphil]

The neutral light and the low fuel light shares the same tan hot wire, the dg and the blu grounds may be swapped in the connector, JAT

[jetmechmarty]

A quick look at the wiring prints tells me the SF and SG have some differences. I'll get the wiring off the SG tach.

[jetmechmarty]

Phil, I think you're right. I put the SG wiring to the SF tach, and so far, it all looks OK.

Do the instrument lights come on with the headlight? I can't remember, but they're not on now. Everything's hooked up almost like the wiring diagram.