Help! Rear turn signal problems on gs 1000.Help!

[ron bayless]

I took my rear fender off on my 1980 gs 1000 to paint it. I had to disconnedt all the signal wires, pull the big loom of wires from the taillight through the hole in the fender so just the fender could be painted.I had labeled all the wires on the signals but all my label stripped off when i pulled the signal wires through their mounting holes.Now I am screwed.Up fron, the big tailllight loom has three wires that plug in to the front part of another connecting point. from the taillight you have a brown wire pluggin into a brown wire up front,white to white, and black with white stripe into balck with white stripe.In the back coming from the front of the bike towards the taillights you have a blue wire and one blue one.the turn signals each have one black with white stripe and one black wire.So you have 3 wires needing to be conncected to 4.I can noit make the signals work no matter how i combine the wires. The tail light works, the front signal lights come on when i push the manual direction button on the handlebars, and sometimes if i touch a certain combination in the back both signal lights flash at the same time like hazard lights.SEE HOW SCREDED UP THIS IS?I dont see the brake light working either.I already had a dealer say he wouldnt touch my bike.This is probably a easy problem, but a big one for me.The signals were working perfectly and the self cancelling thing was too.Please help.Thanks.

[ron bayless]

correction on my former post about the signals

I posted from the front of the bike towards the taillights there was a blue and blue wire, there is ONE BLUE WIRE AND 2 BLACK WIRES.tHESE CONNECT TO THE TURNSIGNALS WHO EACH HAVE ON BLACK WITH WHITE STRIPE AND ONE BLACK WIRE.hOW DO THESE CONNECT?

[Redman]

Rather than trying to describe this-goes-to-that, I could email you a color scan of a color schematic, well, if its a G or an GL (1980 GS1000GT or GS1000GLT).

[Redman]

Well, this will not be too hard to explain:
Looking at scheamitc for 1980 GS1000GL (tail light seem same as schemaitc for GS1000G):
Black wire of right t/signal goes to green (light green).
Black wire of left t/signal goes to black.
White of tail/brake goes white.
Brown of tail/brake goes to brown.
Dark Green of tag light to dark green.
And the black/white from each is the ground, all go to the blk/wht.

Oh, you said you had 2 blue wires from the bike. Hummm. Well, that doesnt match the schemaitic I have, well, unless they are actaully dark green and light green.

Anyway, all the black/whites are for the ground and all go together.

If anybody is intersted in where I got the color schemaic: The 1980 Clymers that covers GS850 and GS1000 G & GL has color schematics. Clymers of later years (with more years/models to cover) are in black and white. Another case of the older being the better! har har har

If you see such a CLymers manaul on ebay, the one with color schamatics has black border around picture on the cover, says its for 79-80 GS850 & 1000. The one with B&W schamtaics has a grey border around same picture and says is for 79-84 GS850 & 1100 (does have schems for 1000s also).

[ron bayless]

i APPRECIATE THE INFORMATION,ONLY THERE IS THE PROBLEM.mINE IS AGS 1000L, AND IT HAS THE ONE BLUE WIRE AND 2 BLACKS LIKE I SAID, AND NO LIGHT GREEN OF ANY KIND.MY REPAIR MANUAL SAYS LIGHT GREEN ALSO, BUT THERE IS NO LIGHT GREEN.EXCEPT FOR THAT PROBLEM, THE TAIL LIGHT AND BRAKE LIGHT DO WORK, AND WHEN YOU PUT ON THE SIGNALS, THE FRONT ONES COME ON BUT DONE BLINK,PRESYUMABLY BECAUSE THE BACK ONES ARENT HOOKED UP.tHE SCHEMATIC WONT DO ME MUCH GOOD IF MY WIRES ARENT EVEN THE RIGHT COLOR.I AM REALLY PERPLEXED.IT IS BEAUTIFUL WEATHER AND I CANT RIDE ALL BECAUSE OF MY DUMB ASS INABILITY.

[Redman]

Okay, so you have a manual and schematic, and wires dont match your schematic, so must be that some modifications were made for some reason. So will just have to do some testing - trial and error.

Yes, front t/signals dont blink because back are not connected, the flasher needs more current flowing to make it flash.

Sounds like you only have a few wires to connect yet, Brake light and tail light working. So the trial and error shouldnt be too hard, and can get this back on the road. Hey, you mentioned beautiful weather. Arughhhhh

Anyway....

You say you have 3 wires from the bike: Two blue and one black (which doesnt match scematic).
And each t/signal has a black wire and a blk/wht wire, which is normal. Blk/wht wire is for the ground.

The blk/wht wires from the t/signals should be connected together and together with a ground wire, same as the blk/wht wire from the tail/brake light. Maybe one of the 3 wires from the bike is a ground wire, about only way to find out is with a continuity meter (ohm meter), with key off, check for contuniity (zero ohms) of each of the 3 wires to ground, if one of them is about zero ohms to ground then it must be a ground wire, connect the 2 blk/wht wires to it. If you dont have a continouity meter (ohm, resistance), then you arent going to be able to find if one of the 3 is a ground wire.

Need to find which 2 are for the two turn signals. Do you have a volt meter? Turn on left or right turnsignal switch. Measure voltage from ground to each wire to find which one has voltage. Dont have a meter? Let's use one of your turnsignal lights as a voltage tester if you have the blk/wht wire grounded (or ground to bare metal of frame somewhere), and then touch black wire to each of the wires from the bike to find which one has power (should start flashing then). Repeat for other direction. So then have identifed which wire is for left and which is for right, then maybe 3rd wire is a ground wire.

If all this fails, maybe what you have already connected (and think is correct) isnt correct, and need to start all over again. If you have the ground wire confused with other wire you will experince strange unexplainable symptoms. May need to start all over - Disconnect every thing - each and every thing - everything. If you have a meter, find the ground wire first. And then do like described above, use meter or take one t/signal and use it as a test light, Ground the blk/wht to frame or ground wire. Then turn on tail light only (key in park position) and use tester to find which wire from bike has power that is the wire that should go to the tail light, then turn on brake light with brake pedal and find that wire, then tag light (key in on) and find that wire then one turn signal, then other t/signal. If you didnt have meter, assume remaining wire is ground, or make your own ground connection. When reconnecting, the blk/wht wires from each light should be all connected to ground wire or grounded somehow. The brown is tail light and white is brake lite at the tail/brake light.

[ron bayless]

Man! You are soooo helpful. I think i can take it from here. My earlier post was incorrect. The bike has one blue and 2 black.the turnsignals have each on black and one black and white stripe.I bet the blue wire is the one that used to be green.I bvet i can doit now thanks to yours and everyone's help. this forum rocks,you guys rock! GS bikes RULE!!!

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Hope you get it right. Yes, colors will fade or change over time. Light green turns gray, etc. Fun!
REDMAN....great post! Great effort trying to help out.