After market turn signal help

Ok so I have an 82' xj550, I bought some after market turn signals off ebay because i broke the orange part off one i had. I just switched the front two and when I turn them on they just hold solid along with the rear ones which are still stock. So I switched one back to test the original one again and it worked fine... So It's not the relay.. Theyre standard 2 wire signals, any advice would be amazing I'm stumped.. Another weird little thing is if I have a signal on when Im in like 3rd gear at like 6000 rpm it will start blinking...? very odd.

 

The stock flasher need the full current load of the stock bulbs to flash. I am going to guess that your new signals are lower wattage. You will need to replace the flasher with an electronic one which will not run your self cancel feature, replace with a electronic flasher and a relay to keep the self cancel, or add resistors in line to increase the load on the stock flasher.

 

i second that...... i just replaced the flasher and went off my head unit to manually shut them off myself. easy fix. flashers under the tank by the front of the bike.

 

can anyone point me towards a post or tutorial of sorts for that? My new lights are defiently lower wattage but I dont have the slightest clue of where to begin.

 

The New Light should have a means to affix the Signal Light to the Frame or Headlight Bucket.

There are Two Wires needing to be connected to the Bikes Wiring Harness.
One Color-coded.
One Black.

When you remove the Old Signal, ... you'll follow and Unplug the Electrical Connections from the Wiring Harness.
The Colored Wire is the Hot Wire to the Light Bulb Socket.
Black is Ground.

 

I have them attached and hooked up and all they just stay steady and dont blink at all

 

I just need a point in the right direction on which flasher to buy and such

 

I am using a tridon ep35 or look through this thread http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=4489.html you will likely have to play the wire swap game to get it working with the new flasher

 

I also added a relay (haven't tested it yet) so I should still have self cancel folowing the instructions here http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... art=0.html

 

thanks for the help, i just picked up a relay at napa and am going to try it tomorrow.

 

Why not just install higher-wattage bulbs, like the originals?

The original bulbs are 1156's, commonly available at any auto parts.

If you swap the flasher unit, you'll lose the auto-cancel feature without doing some electonics engineering.

 

Wow.. I decided to flip the bulb with the higher voltage one to see if fits was right, and of course he was... Now I get to return this new flasher after I siphoned a full tank and changed the relay already... YAY!

 

I bought aftermarket turn signals with low-wattage bulbs in them too. I learned this one the hard way as well; luckily the first thing I replaced were the bulbs.

If your petcock is functioning properly, there is no need to drain the gas to remove the tank. Just be careful handling/placing the "un-emptied" tank somewhere safe.

 

really? I can just keep the petcock down and it'll be fine? That one will save me big time in the future!

 

For the stock petcock, in the on or res position it only allows the fuel to flow when it has vacuum on the diaphragm inside, thats what the second hose going to it does. When its on prime it will allow the fuel to run all the time.

 

OK, this is getting out of hand.

If you're going to work on the bike, you at least need to know how everything works. Or is supposed to.

Yamaha owners' manuals from the 1980s are some of the best ever produced, and actually cover things like oil changes, cable adjustments, wheel removal, etc.

If nothing else, start with an owners' manual. Commonly available on eBay and don't pay more than about $20. The American-market bikes' manuals had yellow covers with black Yamaha dashed-line stripe graphics. Don't accidentally buy a French-Canadian one.

You NEED a service manual. The Clymer is good; the factory book is better (but it assumes you're a motorcycle mechanic already.) The Clymer is a tad better for DIY'ers but it does have some outright wrong (and some simply useless) info in it. The pictures in both of them suck, which is why I started doing how-tos.

Like THIS which you're going to need to learn to do: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=14827.html

This one's useful; not even IN the books, and you'll be doing it soon enough: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=19538.html

Another one that's only casually mentioned in the service manual you need to get anyway: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=35134.html

I prefer a combination of the factory and aftermarket books. If you go after a factory book, you'll need the 1981 550R (Seca) book. That's the "base" book for the 550s, there is a Maxim supplement but it's only specs, no procedures or pictures. If you find the 550R book only and want the Max supplement, I can email you those pages.

Get a book. Ya gonna need it.

 

your tank might still leak a little so you can clamp the line with a vice grip but be sure not to spilt it