turn signals

[Anonymous]

First of all, thanks everyone for all the great advice in this forum. Usually when something goes wrong with my bike I can find the solution right here. But among all the threads on electrical problems I haven't seen this one.

My left and right turn signals only work when the engine is revved above idle. They're fine when I'm moving but as soon as I stop at a light they stop blinking and just stay on. The turn indicator light does the same thing. I'm thinking since the problem is identical in both left and right signals, it must be either before or after the circuit splits, so probably not a bulb. But I don't really understand what makes the signals blink in the first place. As far as I know the electrical system is fine otherwise and the battery holds a charge fine. This problem has existed since I bought the bike a couple of years ago without getting any worse, but I now have time to look at it and would like to take care of it. Has anyone else had this problem or does anyone have suggestions for where to start looking?

The bike is a '79 GS 750L.

Thanks,
Graeme

[Anonymous]

The blinkers switch with a set of relays which require certain loads to switch. If your charging system is putting out a low voltage, the power consumed by the lights will be lower and may not be enough to trip the relays/reed switches.

So first I would recommend a charging system test per the Stator Papers. They can be found from the FSR front page.

Second, I might suspect the blinker box. More likely the charging system though.

Michael

[Hotblack]

If it started doing that under your ownership I'd agree with the charging system line of thought. If the machine is new to you, it's possible that the relay is not original. That's not a huge deal, though it would be good for the signals to pulse while you're idling. The proper one shouldn't be too hard to obtain.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Sounds like your voltage is low. Make sure the battery is filled correctly. Take off the battery cables and clean them up and re-tighten. Give the battery a charge if you can. See if that helps.

[Anonymous]

Spend the day with some contact clenaer, dielectric grease and sandpaper. Clean, sand and lube EVERY connector and connection you can get your hands on.
Oh yea, what they said too.

While you're at it, run a ground from the Regulator directly to the battery.

[Anonymous]

One day a few months ago, I happened to put the wrong bulb in one of the sockets and it quit blinking. I didn't run the engine. I'm not sure how I happened to figure out that I had the wrong type of bulb. Anyway, if you run out of other ideas, you might check the bulbs.

I suspect another possible cause is a poor connection somewhere before the flasher unit. It may be getting enough voltage only when the charging system is generating higher output.

Flasher units depend on having the correct load at the correct voltage. I'd check for a higher than normal resistance, such as a corroded connection.

[Anonymous]

I agree with that. The previous owner might have put the wrong bulbs in.
The relay needs 21V/21W bulbs.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I checked the bulbs because it was easy to do and they are all 23W, as they should be in the US according to the Haynes manual. I also charged up the battery and now I'm going to test the electrical system with my new multimeter ($20 at Radio Shack, not bad). I will post the results here.

[Anonymous]

Here's the diagnosis and procedure I followed. First off, I charged the battery and watched the voltage drop to 12V when I ran the bike, never to return. This suggested a problem with the charging system, so I followed the fault-finding flowchart in the stator papers. The electrical connections and stator tests all checked out. Then I removed the regulator/rectifier from its convenient location on the bottom of the battery box and ran the offline tests on it. The black and yellow wire pair failed the "diode" test - voltage was .5V in one direction like it's supposed to be, but in the other direction was .3V instead of off-the-scale high. So if it's actually a diode in there I think that means the diode is shorted.

Well it's nice to know what's wrong with my bike and I feel like we've grown closer over an afternoon spent looking at dirty bits, but I just can't afford to drop $112 on an Elecrex r/r right now. As long as it doesn't get worse I can live with a blinker that doesn't blink for now. As long as it doesn't get worse or damage other components in the charging system. Has anyone ever tried to fix a r/r themselves? The unit seems to be sealed and I was hesitant to open it since I still need to use it. Or, does anyone have tips on cheap replacement units, from Honda maybe?

[AOD]

my turn signal has become a biatch in another form than electrical. The switch is very hard to push in either direction now, and sometimes doesn't 'engage' until i move it around a bunch.

Has anyone had a simliar problem with theirs? I've yet to take the switch apart, but I guess that's on the list. :?

~Adam

[Anonymous]

my turn signal has become a biatch in another form than electrical. The switch is very hard to push in either direction now, and sometimes doesn't 'engage' until i move it around a bunch.

Has anyone had a simliar problem with theirs? I've yet to take the switch apart, but I guess that's on the list. :?

~Adam

Had the same problem with my GS850. The solution was very simple.
Just take the switch cluster off the handlebars, by removing the screws that hold it.
There's a small metal plate inside the upper half of the cluster; the turn signal knob is attached to it. The metal plate is held by a tiny screw. Retighten the screw.
That should do it.