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Lighting woes

  • Thread starter Thread starter Overdrive
  • Start date Start date
Nice to see that you have it (mostly) resolved, but thought I would toss in a troubleshooting tip for those that see this later and bother to read this far.

When troubleshooting something electrical, make sure you have a proper source. One of the first things to check is the fuse. I can guess that the fuse is good because the fuse that powers the brake light also powers the horns and turn signals. Since there was a mention in the original post about the signals coming on (but not flashing), it was apparent that they were at least getting power and the fuse was, therefore, good. After you verify that you have power, start following the path to see where you lose it. If it's a rather complex system (and our bikes really aren't), it can be quicker to divide the path from source to load in half and test there. If you still have power, divide the remaining part in half, etc. Our bikes are not that complex, they only have just a few points to test from source to load.


Yes, the tail/brake light can be replaced by an 1157 bulb, the license light can be replaced by a 67.

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BassCliff and Steve, thank you very much. That is an excellent DIY presentation for cleaning up the front brake assembly. Looks like I'll have me a little project to do in the near future.

As for the signal troubleshooting, I'll be picking up a test light and multimeter pretty soon to get that going should the re-wiring of the new front signals not end up being the cluprit.

Not exactly related, but something I forgot to mention about my weekend...it would seem my tach decided to go on the fritz right before I took my spin. It was working literally minutes before, albeit kinda wiggly at the lower/idle RPMs, but I figure that's an age thing. Once it was at about 3K and higher it was solid, but it would bob at anything lower than that. Now it pretty much sits down on the arm at the bottom and doesn't move with the engine speed. Saddens me...:(
 
Overdrive said:
it would seem my tach decided to go on the fritz right before I took my spin.
Click to expand...

Sometimes the cable breaks, so unscrew it from the back of the gauge and from the valve cover, paying attention to how it was routed. Inspect the inner cable itself.

Sometimes the cable needs some lube, so while you've got the cable out, lube it!

Sometimes the indicator itself needs a few drops of lube, so since you've got the cable disconnected, shoot a small amount of your lubricant of choice up into the hole. Some folks will tell you to take the instrument cluster off and drip a few drops in, but I've had no problem with a short squirt.

All three of these have happened to me. If your cable is broken, a little JB Weld will hold it together until you can get a replacement.

My guess would be a broken cable, given the complete lack of movement.
 
Any recommendations for a good lubricant uudfourty? Thanks for the idea. I will check into it.
 
Almost done!!!

Almost done!!!

Well, a little more progress to report to you all! :D

I picked up some signals from a local member (Kato76, thank you again, sir!) off of a 1980 GS550 he parted out. Let's just say the wiring on these bad boys was looking like wire that's been in the elements should after 31 years.:rolleyes:

So I got to put my military job skills (electrician, conveniently enough:oops:) to use and went about rewiring the signals. Got the right side working, got all giddy and went to wire up the left...no joy. I ran out of daylight, so I had to do the troubleshooting the next day.

Seems the splice for the front left signal that sits behind the headlight (a GREAT place for all those wires and connections) disconnected at some point. The connectors in the splice snap into one another, so I reconnected that, put the headlight back together, wired up the signal, and got more success. Now I've finally got operational signals on the bike, and thankfully it wasn't some terrible gremlin in the electrics.

My last task is still that front brake switch. I'm going to try that cleaning that was suggested from BassCliff's site and see if that does it. Then I may just be able to put this thread to pasture.

Once again, thank you all for the help and suggestions.:D
 
Ok, here's a little something to add to the thread. I was checking my rear brake lever to make sure the switch was working, and for ha-has squeezed the front brake lever a few times. I found that when I really squeeze the lever (in a way that would likely lock up my front wheel had I been in motion) my brake light would come on. It seems that at about the maximum amount of pressure I can squeeze the lever is when contact is made to turn on the light.

So is that just a matter of adjustment similar to what I did with the rear brake lever?
 
Overdrive said:
Ok, here's a little something to add to the thread. I was checking my rear brake lever to make sure the switch was working, and for ha-has squeezed the front brake lever a few times. I found that when I really squeeze the lever (in a way that would likely lock up my front wheel had I been in motion) my brake light would come on. It seems that at about the maximum amount of pressure I can squeeze the lever is when contact is made to turn on the light.

So is that just a matter of adjustment similar to what I did with the rear brake lever?
Click to expand...

Someone above wrote it, and I'll repeat it.
GET A HYDRAULIC FRONT BRAKE SWITCH !!!

Really.

The OEM one is horrible.

No matter how I adjusted mine I could not get it to work "right"

I started out similar to yours, a monster grip would activate it ...
Cleaned and adjusted it (several times).

At best it would more or less work with a fairly firm grip, but sometimes activate for no reason at all, and sometimes require the monster grip again.

Spent $20 for a hydraulic switch and all is happiness.

If the tolerances in an OEM one are good, they might work ok.
If they don't, don't bother to screw around with it, get a hydraulic.
 
Using the stock brake switch is nice, ... if it works. But, like others have suggested, a hydraulic switch is about $20.
What they did not mention is that a stock switch is about $8.
You do, however, get a lot of peace of mind for that extra $12.

Have you gotten your front signals wired and working?
I noticed in your first post about the signals that you wired the left signal green to black and blue to black/white.
I think that is backward. I would presume that the green wire on the signals would be the ground and the blue wire the hot wire.
On the bike, the solid black wire is the hot wire for the left turn signal.
The black/white wire is the ground. On the right side, the hot wire for the signal is light green.

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lighting woes

lighting woes

simple re-wiring will correct many ills on our otherwise great GS's.
2 x 7wire trailer cord will give you everthing you need for a complete rewire.
Suzuki has seen fit to send several hot leads forward for no particular reason.
One hotlead to a good relay will look after everthing.
see pics.......
 
Hey, guys. I did write in an update that I got my signals working. :D
I bought some OEMs from an '80 550 Kato76 was parting out and rewired them. Got those working. As for the aftermarkets I bought, I tried them wired both ways with the same results. I believe it was as suggested earlier, and one is for running lights while the other is just for signals, and it still requires the grounding ring at the bottom of the post like the signals normally do. For right now I'm fine with the OEMs on the front and the working aftermarkets on the back. At least I've got signals that work.

I guess I'm gonna have to look into this hydraulic brake switch. Where can I find them and is there anything on here or Cliff's site to do the job?:confused:
 
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