82 Shift Indicator

[Guest]

so i was driving home at the farm last week in 6th gear and suddenly my 4th gear indicator light came on... it didnt down shift or do anything funny just the light came on. now i know many out there refer to these as dumby lights but i still want it to work properly. i know very little about electrical and the wiring harness but if someone could help or point me in the right direction as to fix this that would be awesome

[tom203]

so i was driving home at the farm last week in 6th gear and suddenly my 4th gear indicator light came on... it didnt down shift or do anything funny just the light came on. now i know many out there refer to these as dumby lights but i still want it to work properly. i know very little about electrical and the wiring harness but if someone could help or point me in the right direction as to fix this that would be awesome

Down by the gear shift lever is a switch held in by two screws; as the gear shift drum changes position , electrical contact is made in different spots on this switch that grounds out the matching bulb in the display. It might be a temporary aberration, so it might go away as you shift gears. If you take the switch out, take notice of small contact/ spring that has an urge to escape.

[TyFerris]

tom what would u do like i said its been doing this for 2 weeks or so if you think its work its way out i wont mess with it

[mike_of_bbg]

The switch (which is under the front sprocket cover on your chain model) provides ground to the different lights depending upon the gear - the lights all have +12V when the bike is on. Seven wires come out (one for each gear + one for neutral). It could be a contact issue at the switch, though there should be an o-ring to protect against contamination. As noted, be careful of the plunger and spring which like to pop out (ask me how I know - they're still available as new parts though). It could also be a wire getting chafed/bare and touching (and thus grounding against) the frame somewhere along the way. You can also make sure there is no contamination on the back side of the board where the lights are in the instrument panel. #4 only lights up incorrectly when you're in 6th? Or is that just when you first noticed it, and it does it in other gears too?

[TyFerris]

4th lights up in every gear even in neutral and 4th itself. sometimes it stops lighting up all the time but its happening more and more

[Nessism]

Either the harness in the cluster is shorted or the switch itself on the engine case.

[Redman]

Ty,

Like Ed Mr Nessman said, problem is either in the instrument cluster itself or in the switch down on the transmission, or maybe the wiring harness between the two. One way to troubleshoot this some would be to disconnect the connector in the wiringharness between the instrument cluster and the transmission switch. If the #4 light stays on then you know probrelm is not in the switch.

Also, look at a schematic. And like Mike says; Notice that power positive goes to all the light bulbs (1 2 3 4 5 6 N), so is power to each bulb all the time. THe switch then "completes the ground" by connecting whichever wire to the ground.
So if the wire from the #4 bulb to the switch were to short to ground,it would not blow a fuse, it would just light the light the same as if the switch lighting the light.

Dave

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[tom203]

4th lights up in every gear even in neutral and 4th itself. sometimes it stops lighting up all the time but its happening more and more

Yes,as others have said, this sounds like the wire grounding out #4 at switch is chafed somewhere and causing additional grounding- engine ,frame,cluster?