Self Cancel turn sigs not working 81 GS850G

[Guest]

I've about got my 81 GS850F road worthy. Now just nit picking. On a test ride I noticed that the self cancelling feature was not working. The turn sigs work fine. The FSM is not much help in diagnostics so I wonder if someone can point me in a starting direction. I'm not even sure where the self cancel unit is located?

[posplayr]

You can search your manual. Most of the electrical related stuff is under ELECTRICAL.

[Nessism]

Most likely you need a new box. They were used on a bunch of different GS bikes so you shouldn't have much trouble finding one. The box is located on the main frame backbone on my 1000, but I'm not sure about the 850. Did you look in the factory service manual?

[phydeauxmutt]

On the 850, the turn signal control unit is under the right side cover. Rectangular box about 1" x 2" x 2.5".

[jdvorchak]

Thanks guys. I'll check it out tomorrow. I am in the process of putting on new Shinko tires and will spend some time cleaning and trying to shine up the wheels. When I get tired of that I'll pull the right side cover and take a look. Yes I have the FSM and I'll re-read it but as I remember I didn't get much out of trouble shooting from it last time I looked. The push down to cancel doesn't work either so I either have a bad box or wire connectors need attention. It's a minor thing but I thought while I'm thinking of it to post a question here.

[chuck hahn]

Ride it and manually cancel. Even though my bikes all have working units I still instinctively manually shut them off..its just what I do habitually without really thinking about it.

[Phred]

The little box unit is pretty pricey. I think about $80 or more new. Mine was not working either and I installed a Tridon one til I could find one at a MC junkyard. You have to manually cancel with the Tridon one. Not all the tridon ones work either, can't remember which one it was, but will post again when I look at it. Also the switch is a bit of a conundrum to take apart and clean the contacts on. To take it apart I would recommend wrapping a ziplock bag around it, poking a hole with a screwdriver through the baggie for dis- assembly. There are some tiny springs in there with a ball bearing or two that you do not want to lose. You will never find them again! There is a thread on here somewhere with pics on how it all works. Pay close attention as to how it all comes apart as it has to go back together the same way. Clean the contacts and re assemble with dielectric grease and they will be good for another 30 years.

[sinkankan]

These boxes act like a relay cancelling another relay, chances are the contacts or the pins are so grubby the circuit is getting a false signal. Or it's just given up the ghost and gone to that big spark graveyard in the sky, honestly I do without mine and ended up replacing it with an auto type and haven't had any problems since.

[Buffalo Bill]

I read in the manual that my 1100G had self cancelling, and some other olde bikes too.
They never worked well for me, so I cancel the signal my-self.

[jdvorchak]

Only a couple of bikes, that I own, have self canceling and on the others I cancel manually. But my OCD kicks in every once in a while. If the bike has self cancel then I want it to work.....As I said it's not a big deal.

[Nessism]

I LOVE the self cancel feature. It works great and saves me all the time.

The early bike self cancel boxes were junk and failed all the time. Suzuki updated the system for 1980 and greatly improved it.

Taking apart the hand control and cleaning and greasing all the contacts should be considered mandatory. It's a fiddly switch but very serviceable. One key thing: the button needs to be rotated sideways or maybe even 180 degrees before you can take the switch apart. There are a number of very small parts that must be considered so you may want to have your camera handy to take some shots as you very slowly and carefully take the hand control unit apart.

Oh, and the turn signals will work perfectly in manual mode without the box or if the box fails. That was one of the improvements over the early bikes. When the early box failed you don't have any turn signals any more.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GS1100-GS1000-GS-1100-1000-RELAY-BOX-ELECTRICAL-UNIT-1981-/271202181877?hash=item3f24e8e2f5:g:p40AAMXQ9MVRh9Mr&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1980-Suzuki-GS-1000-Relay-Box-Flasher-Relay-Stock-950-/281582926930?hash=item418fa67c52:g:ri8AAOSwv0tVcIXQ&vxp=mtr

[raygun]

I have the control unit from a 1980 gs850 that I'm parting out. Pm me if interested.

[jdvorchak]

thanks for the offer. I started to trouble shoot and found that the pulses from the speedometer are in fact working fine. I was just about to pull the right side cover and start checking stuff when my son pulled up with a 2005 PT Cruiser that needed a lower control arm, sway bar bushings and a motor mount. After all of that needless to say I have finished working in the garage for the day. I will probably pick it up in the morning. Have to hunt up some front wheel bearings for the GS850. Got the tire off and was cleaning the wheel when I noticed the bearing are rough. We have a local bearing distributor in town so I'll check with them.

[phydeauxmutt]

The push down to cancel doesn't work either so I either have a bad box or wire connectors need attention.

"Push down" does not cancel the signals, it enables your low beam headlight.

The turn signal switch has FIVE positions, let's number them from left to right and describe what each position does:
1: Starts the left turn signal and is spring-loaded to return to position #2
2: Keeps the left signal on until the turn signal control unit (TSCU) turns it off
3: Manually cancels the signal from either side
4: Keeps the right signal on until the turn signal control unit (TSCU) turns it off
5: Starts the right turn signal and is spring-loaded to return to position #4

When things are all working as they should, you will find that after using a right signal, if you have to use it again, you only press the button from position 4 to position 5, where it starts the signal and springs back to #4. However, if you need to activate a left signal, you have to push the button left through THREE positions, all the way to #1, where it activates the left signal and springs back to position #2.

UP and DOWN on that same button are your HIGH and LOW beam selectors.

[jdvorchak]

Thank you mutt for that explanation. Then yes my self cancel works fine. I wondered why the switch didn't return all the way back to the middle when you press and release. The self cancel on my Honda's do come all the way back and you push the switch in to self cancel. I know.... RTFM < guilty...