Electrical Gremlins?

Hey everyone. First off, it's my first time posting so if this is in the wrong place let me know. I've been lurking the site a while trying to find info but I think a post is the only way I'll get my problem across.
So I bought an 82 XJ650 Maxim a couple weeks ago and the thing runs great but the turn signals don't work and the brake light only comes on with the front brake, (not sure if that's how it's supposed to work or not.) The guy I bought it from said that the part in the handle doesn't make good contact and gave me one from another bike. He also installed a light on the sissy bar and ran a wire under the seat so it would come on with the front brake as well. I wanted to remove the sissy bar so took off the seat and found that a few wires weren't connected to anything and he'd crimped the new wire in with the others. I started testing things by running a wire to the battery and touching some of the loose bits and found that I could get one of the turn signals to come on but it didn't blink. I plan to get under the tank and see if anything else is messed up but I'm curious if everything under the seat should be fully connected and how that actually looks. Doea anyone have a pic? A wiring diagram is basically egyptian hyroglyphs to me. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

Where in Tennessee are you? I'm near Memphis and that stuff is not Egyptian to me.

 

a good wiring diagram is a good place to start.

there is a brake switch on near the pedal . the switch has a spring that hooks to the pedal . the switch is adjustable if the spring does not pull it down far enough.
assuming correct bulbs 27 watt are being used and battery is fully charged or bike is running.
buy some electronic cleaner spray and silicon grease clean the bulb sockets with spray, put a little grease in there to help the contact plate move freely. look at the base of the bulb and see if the contacts on the bulb are sliced up. grease the bulb base.
find the connectors for the lights and switches, clean and grease.

1156 and 1157 bulbs are the replacments. I had a few bulbs that would work and sometimes not but tested good replaced them and every thing works.

any connector you undo should be cleaned and greased

led bulbs are a different story

 

Be careful with that grease as it's an insulator. My preference is to avoid using it for that reason.

 

Dielectric silicone grease is not 100% insulating. The subtle difference is the fact that dielectric grease can be polarized when energized and allow electrons to flow while insulators block electrons. I use Chemplex 710 on all of my terminal and connector builds to keep water out.

 

So guys, I apologise that I'm just now getting back to the thread but I've been working on the bike and have uncovered something. So, I don't know the technical terms but inside the assembly there are three wires that are soldered in. The soldering fell apart and we tried to resolder it but it just came apart. So now I'm wondering how to replace this or if I need to try and track down a new assembly.

 

The coil on the side of the engine? if so that is the stator coil for the alternator.

 

Dielectric grease is SOP for any low-voltage socket that sees harsh environments. The fit between the metal components scrapes the grease off. We used tons of the stuff when I worked machne maintainance. Without it we had molex pins corrode within months of being replaced. Once applied the pins lasted for many years.

 

No. I'm talking about my turn signal assembly on the left handle of the bike. My turn signals don't work at all and I'm trying to address that issue. So when I took the assembly apart I found that there are 3 wires that attach via soldering and 2 of the wires had come loose. When we tried to solder it back the plastic piece they attach to came apart and now that mechanism is ruined. I was asking if I need to replace the entire assembly or if there might be something I can splice in. If I do have to replace it, how do I go about that?

 

A photo of the damage would be helpful.
You'll need two more posts before you can link pics though.

 

Control parts are not being reproduced so you may have to buy a new replacement or a used one. Check with SnoSherriff, he just posted another bunch of good priced parts on ebay (ironhotrod).

 

I have a control that has the the part you want I have already scavenged some parts from it I can send you the board with the wiring harness attached to it.
I will go check it out.

I started a conversation with you

 

So again, thanks for everyone's input. Especially XJ550H who hooked me up with the parts I needed. Unfortunately I am still fighting this thing. It doesn't make sense. There's power going to the handle assembly and there's power going to the signal lights. They just won't come on. I have no explanation. We can touch the wires in the headlight with a hot wire and it makes them come on and we cut into the hot wire for the turn signal assembly and there's power there too. It just doesn't come on. I don't understand what's wrong.

 

head light comes on when motor spins fast enough to trigger headlight relay.
components in headlight circuit are the alternator , diode block , head light relay, high low switch, fuse.

1 confirm you have correct headlight relay
Headlight Relay:
Location:
- on all XJ650 Maxim/Midnight Maxim/RJ Seca models: behind left side cover, below the TCI and Regulator-Rectifier unit.

Identification:
- small metal "cube" relay, inked 3H5-00 on the top face.
- has a yellow (yellow) paint mark on the bottom terminal connector block.
- normally open; has an internal diode.
- plugs into a connector shell which has the following set of wires going to it:

Harness connector wire colors:
- on all XJ550 all models, XJ650 all models (except Turbo):
* Blue wire with black tracer stripe
* solid White wire
* Red wire with yellow tracer stripe
* solid Black wire

1. check headlight fuse for voltage both sides red/yellow wire (R/Y) runs from fuse to headlight relay. check for voltage at the relay connector R/Y wire.
2. with bike off check for continuity to ground on the black wire at connector. remove relay for this test.
2. with bike running see if you have voltage at the white wire at headlight relay connector. this voltage triggers relay.
2a. with bike running check for voltage at blue/black (L/B) wire. this is the output for the relay. this wire runs to dimmer switch
2c. check for dimmer switch outputs for voltage yellow wire is high beam. Green wire is low beam. also check this voltage at headlight connector.
2d. check ground wire at headlight connector Black wire for continuity to ground.
note on headlight low beam on then when switching to high beam low goes out then high comes on when switch is flipped

Issues you are looking for are wrong relay, bad relay, faulty diode block.

 

blinkers
first thing to do is disconnect the canceler unit
Location:
- on all XJ550, XJ650 (except Turbo), XJ750 non-X, and XJ1100 models: on a "skinny" tab bracket welded in-between the upper frame rails, to the rear of the ignition coils.
it is a long rectangle unit about 3 inches long


what kind of blinkers do you have? leds do not work with stock wiring
stock blinkers need 27 watt bulbs to work properly.
the blinker relay must also be oem relay
Location:
- on all XJ650 )except Turbo) and all 1981-83 XJ750 models: on a tab bracket welded to the right side frame tube, towards the front of and under the gas tank (under the ignition coils).
Identification:
- large rectangular plastic relay, inked "Nippondenso FU257CD and DOT 6944" or similar on the large face.
- plugs into a 3-space, T-shaped black connector shell which has the following set of wires going to it:

Harness connector wire colors:
* Yellow wire with green tracer stripe (for the "C" terminal on the relay)
* Brown wire with white tracer stripe (for the "L" terminal on the relay),
* Black solid wire (for the "B" terminal on the relay).

flasher relay

 

Grounds. Every circuit must be able to make a complete path to ground. Nothing will work without a ground.

 

Grounds are good. I've looked everywhere for the relay and wasn't able to find it yesterday. Fuses are all good. Grounds look good. My fear right now, someone has been in there messing with wires and I don't know if everything is still there. They may have bypassed everything. I think I've inherited a mess here.

 

head light relay is here and left is as you sit on bike.

behind left side cover, below the TCI and Regulator-Rectifier unit. circled in red

 

I know what where that is. I'll check it out. Is there a way to test it?

 

with bike running
white wire 12 volts
Black wire is ground
red/yellow wire 12 volts when key is on this is wire from headlight fuse
blue wire/black stripe gets 12 volts after bike is started it is the output that goes to controller switch for high low beam.


you can remove it and hook + 12 volts to the pin for white wire goes andnegitive battery terminal ( ground) for the black wire ( also test black wire for continuity to ground )

the other 2 pins should close and allow you to do a continuity test to show contacts are good

 

Thanks for all of this. I'm dealing with some physical problems and won't be able to mess with it for a few days but I'll be testing it all out for sure

 

Well. I figured I'd give an update. So we checked the relay and its good. Checked the bulbs to make sure they're correct and sure enough they're good too. Everything we check we find it's fine... except that someone has been cutting on these wires. Inside the headlight they had originally rigged it so the signal lights constantly burned. We also found a wad of wires near the horn assembly all cut off with wire nuts on the end of them. At this point I'm thinking it's time a professional took over.

 

do you have a wiring diagram?

what color are the wires that are cut? I should be able to walk you through the connections
for your xj650

in the headlight bucket there are other bullet connectors that the blinkers plug into the ones being used now are for the faring lights

 

Sorry it's taken so long but I've been busy lately. So we checked the relay and mine is a 4 prong relay, not 3. We tried testing it but couldn't really figure out how. I'm stumped again. Probably just going to take it to a pro when I can afford it. It's beyond us and my dad's been a mechanic for over 40 years. He's never had this much trouble with wiring.

 

Hello,

My xj750 has a Brown with white stripe wire that is disconnected. The pict. shows
the wire mentioned. Does anyone know where the
contact is to connect this for the blinkers. Relays good and cancelling unit good. Thanks for the advise...

Someday XJ rider again...