Turn signals

[Never2L84Ridin]

On my 80 xs11 special. My turn signals just quit working. I replaced my fuse. Took apart the switch mount and cleaned the connections. Not sure what else it could be. Any thoughts or experience with this? Thanks in advance

[fredintoon]

On my 80 xs11 special. My turn signals just quit working. I replaced my fuse. Took apart the switch mount and cleaned the connections. Not sure what else it could be. Any thoughts or experience with this? Thanks in advance

Hi Never,
Quit cold? Nothing? If it quit just one side or if a signal comes on and don't flash, there's things those symptoms point to.
With nothing at all happening you and your multimeter have to play detective.
Check where the power goes to. Check each and every ground point. Bypass the flasher, bypass the switch, check each bulb to see if it lights.

[donebysunday]

Switch

Did you take a look at the soldered connections on the switch director. Seems your not getting power to the controllers/relays ?

On my 80 xs11 special. My turn signals just quit working. I replaced my fuse. Took apart the switch mount and cleaned the connections. Not sure what else it could be. Any thoughts or experience with this? Thanks in advance

[GLoweVA]

Have you tried your hazards? If they work, that'll at least narrow down the problem by about half.
I've haven't found a good drawing of the 80/81 turn signal light circuit, so I added the approriate stuff to an old (78/79) drawing.

[IMG][/IMG]

Hope this helps a little.
You say you "Took apart the switch mount and cleaned the connections" those 30+year old switches don't like to be man handled and you may have broken off a solder joint, or you may have grounded out the 'hot' hazard lead (Tan(Br)/Yellow) thus causing one or more of your fuses to blow.

Note: the stock flasher requires a certain amount of load in order to 'flash' this is why we need to put 27W bulbs in our signals. Another thing is the flasher also needs a solid 12+ volts in order to flash, if your battery is a little weak or your connections are a little dirty, the the light may come on, but not flash until you've got the revs(rpms) up a bit so the altenator can put out enough juice to make them flash.
The switch is 2 mechanical parts. the top is the cancel relay tabs, that part of the switch self-centers itself and then those tabs shouldn't touch. the bottom part of the switch (white block with detent ball) is the selector for right/left and stays right or left until you press in on the switch to re-center it thus interuptting the circuit and turning off the signal.

The self canceling relay counts the 'pulses' from the speedo to judge distance traveled and also counts time, so that when you've gone far enought (about 1/4mile) AND enough time has elapsed, then it sends a voltage signal to the flasher relay to turn off.
Some/most have totally bypassed the self canceling feature by putting in a 2 prong automotive flasher and then they can use whatever bulbs they like.

Hope this info is insightful and helps you find your problem.

[jetmechmarty]

Open the switch assembly. You will see some cross point screws in there. Make sure they are snug. My signals failed recently, and that turned out to be the problem. The loose screw took out the emergency flasher as well.