Signal light issues

[Anonymous]

Alright guys, spring is quickly arriving here and I'd love to be out on my 81 GS400 as soon as possible. I'm in the middle of a half ass refurb. I painted everything, I'm changing brakes/fluid chain/sprockets and other little things. I changed the signal lights and now I've got a small problem - they don't blink, they just stay on. I only have three in right now(one needed to have wires extended) so that explains why one side doesn't blink, but shouldn't the other side work like normal? I'll put the fourth in tomorrow, but if I remember correctly from last year, if you burn a bulb the opposite side will still work, and the remaining light on the bad side will just go on and stay lit. Since I don't anticipate a quick fix just by adding the final light, any suggestions?

Much appreciated,

[earlfor]

Re: Signal light issues

The flasher operates within a narrow range of draw/amperage. If your new signals use different bulbs than your old ones did, the electrical load will be different. Higher load will cause the signals to flash at a quicker rate, too little load and the signals will not flash. Can you install your original bulbs into the replacement signals?

Earl

Alright guys, spring is quickly arriving here and I'd love to be out on my 81 GS400 as soon as possible. I'm in the middle of a half ass refurb. I painted everything, I'm changing brakes/fluid chain/sprockets and other little things. I changed the signal lights and now I've got a small problem - they don't blink, they just stay on. I only have three in right now(one needed to have wires extended) so that explains why one side doesn't blink, but shouldn't the other side work like normal? I'll put the fourth in tomorrow, but if I remember correctly from last year, if you burn a bulb the opposite side will still work, and the remaining light on the bad side will just go on and stay lit. Since I don't anticipate a quick fix just by adding the final light, any suggestions?

Much appreciated,

[Anonymous]

Signal Lights

You say you changed the signal lights. Are they after market lights or OEM? If they are after market lights the problem may be as simple as having the wrong bulb installed. My '81 GS850 takes a #1073 bulb, I'm guessing that your GS also does. If they have the same base, try installing your origional bulbs. If this won't work you may have to replace your flasher with an "electronic flasher" available at most auto parts stores.

[Anonymous]

I don't think I'll be able to put the original bulbs in, but if I can bulbs with matching amperage to fit should that fix it?

I checked:
Old 12V 27W
New 12V 23W

And there is no way the old bulbs will fit, I can look for different bulbs that will though. Any other ideas?

[earlfor]

Bulbs with a matching or slightly higher amperage will fix the problem. Also, as already posted, an electronic flasher from an auto parts store will also solve the problem.



Earl

I don't think I'll be able to put the original bulbs in, but if I can bulbs with matching amperage to fit should that fix it?

I checked:
Old 12V 27W
New 12V 23W

And there is no way the old bulbs will fit, I can look for different bulbs that will though. Any other ideas?