turn signal question

[dpotter58]

I went to look at a '80 xs1100 midnight special and when I started it up the turn signals did not work. All four of the bulbs had a dim glow and when I put the switch to one side or the other, it got bright but the other side did not go out.
He said it had worked on his last outing but he had not ridden the bike for about four months and told me it was probably the flasher unit.
The bike was too nice to pass up because of a light issue so I bought it.
I have replaced the flasher units and cleaned the grounds and looked for bare or broken wires and have not found anything obvious.
So, i have a couple of questions. First, any ideas why they would be on all of the time?
Second, they are two wire turnsignals, no parking lights, in the headlight bucket the hot lead is connected to the stud coming through the housing. Is that right? I would have thought it should have been the ground.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
When I get the tank, seat and covers back on I'll post a picture.

[thumperjsa]

I ran into similiar problems.

what is the bulb type in the flasher? 2 filament or single filiaent.

Try a piece of wire and run it from bike ground to flasher stalk to see if you are missing a ground.


A PO of my bike ran both 2 hot wires to the flashers and they were the wrong type. Also make sure you are testing with the turning flasher and not the hazard flasher.

[Dragonrider]

Fronts should be a two filiment bulb...running lights and flashers. Two wires to the bulb, ground wire to the stalk bolt.

Rears are single wire, one filiment bulbs, ground wire to the stalk bolt.

[dpotter58]

This has single filament bulbs (1146) in the front and back. Ichecked the wiring diagram i have and it shows single bulbs on this model.The front has the hot going to the stalk. I went out and switched them but no luck. I'm still working on it. At one time there was a fairing on this bike & I'm wondering if some of the wires are crossed. That may explain why they glow all of the time

[Dragonrider]

Humm...odd. Mine had the duals in the front.

Lot'sa modding may have gone on!

Good luck!

[thumperjsa]

With single filament, you should only be using one hot wire and ground to stalk. PO did this to me and this was one of the reasons I was having trouble.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there DPotter,

Well, my 81 Special only had single filaments for the front!! Apparently the P.O. must have messed up the wiring with the fairing uninstallation and reconnecting process.

The turn signals get their grounds thru the outside of the stalk, usually a ring washer type clamp that is fitted around the stalk under the securing nut goes to the black ground wire connector. The right side signals have 1 brown wire as hot, the left side uses a green wire as hot going to the center lead from the end of the stalk!. They should not be connected to the wires going to the headlight circuit !!!

You'll want to check under the seat, that's where the rear lights run and they may have gotten crossed there as well, but sounds more likely that they were messed up in the headlight wire nest!

Try separating the front wires and leave them loose, then try the signals, if the proper rear lights flash, then you know it's in the front nest. You now know what colors to look for, hopefully you can find them and get them wired properly!

[dpotter58]

I got it figured out!!! Took a while but with the help of the schematic and a mulit meter and some common sense the lights all work when they should and don't when they shoulden't. So, tommorow it's of for inspection and hopefully tags. Of course I'm sitting here in Maryland waiting on Bonnie and Charlie.
Thanks for all the imput. In case your in my area, I'm the guy with the bugs in my teeth. Can't stop grinning.