hmm trouble tracing groud fault?

[Guest]

Hey everyone, just looking for any advice on chasing some electrical issues. The bike runs and drives great, just can't seem to trace the following problems:

1. My left hand signals will not activate,the bulbs are good, the right hand signals work fine. The relay works(clicks) for the right hand side, but will only initially click once for the right. I have read on a previous thread that this means it is not getting the appropriate current.

2. Brake light turns on and stays on when bike is running

So my take on this is that I have a bad wire that may by linked to all of these issues.

Question: How might I go about isolating the trouble without taking apart my entire harness? Thank you.

[Agemax]

first thing is to check all the connectors are good and clean on the l/h blinkers, and possibly clean out the switch contacts as well.
the brake light sounds like a brake light switch is stuck on. take them off, clean them and refit, making sure they are adjusted properly

[Eric]

My first check would be to see if there is voltage at the turn signal switch on the wire going to the signals. My guess would be the switch isn't staying closed.

It would help to know what model gs you have, as if it has self cancelling signals, it adds another factor to look at.

[Eric]

Just to make sure I'm understanding properly, when you activate the left signal, you hear a single click from the turn signal flasher, but get no lights (front, back, or on the gauges)?

For both issues, have they worked properly in the past, and spontaneously stopped working, or was something done that could have caused it?

[davis2489]

Hi eric, yes your correct, the relay does in fact click once only. The bike was just acquired and the signals on the left side have yet to work =/. I'm going through the harness as we speak

[Steve]

If the relay clicks for the left, there should be power going to the lights. Remove a bulb and verify with a test light or a meter. If you are getting power to the center terminal of the light socket, put the bulb back in, touch your test light to the outside of the socket to see if it lights. If it does, you have a (lack of) ground issue, for sure.

Because the signals are rubber-mounted, they require a separate ground wire, so it is easy to check.

.

[davis2489]

thanks for the advice steve, ill check that out

[davis2489]

went through the harness and fixed em, bad connections. thanks for the help!

[BC4Lyphe]

Just wondering which connections were bad? Location and wire colors? All my blinkers just quit on me...

-UPDATE-

I had redone the grounds with dielectric grease between the frame and eye terminal then covered the whole shebang in liquid electrical tape. Turns out it was my switch. The screw stripped out so the lever arm wasnt making contact with the switch.

[barnbiketom]

probably the black/white???