Turn signal issues, and a new bike!

Oh the joys of wires...

So recently, my left side turn signal stopped flashing on my '82 Seca 550. The front bulb stays lit solid, and the rear does not flash at all. My bike has done this intermittently over the past year that I've had it and the left side signal has always gone back to flashing on the next try, but not this time. Luckily I have a parts bike, so I have a bunch of spare components to test before I spend any money to not fix the problem. So here is what I tried:

1. I opened the left rear blinker, and got a good shot glass worth of fluid to drain out (hope it's just water and not blinker fluid, I hear that stuff is hard to come by ). So I pulled the old bulb, and while I let the housing air dry, tested that bulb in the right side indicator, and it worked. So it's not a bad bulb.

2. I put a different bulb in the left rear indicator housing once it was dry, just for my own sanity. Unfortunately, the problem stayed: the front stayed solid, back did not light. I disconnected the left side wires and wiped the dirt off of them with a rag and plugged them back in, still no fix.

3. I pulled the relay off my parts bike and swapped it in. Same problem: left front indicator comes on, still not flashing, rear indicator is dark. Guess that's not the issue, unless I have two bad relays.

4. I disconnected the self canceler, (I don't really care about losing it, it only works about 1/6 of the time for me) but that still did not solve the issue.

5. I hooked up my spare hand control switch. I did not bolt it to the bars, I simply wired it up and tried it in my hand. I had to wiggle it around to get the right side to light, but I couldn't get the left to light at all. It would click on once, but no lights.

So I'm assuming that maybe my switch has gone bad? From looking at my spare switch, it looks a little delicate and finicky. Unfortunately, I don't have one that I know works for certain. Before I pony up $80 at Dime City for a repop, anything else I can check, or maybe try to fix on my switch? I read somewhere on here (can't find the thread) that you're not supposed to switch directions without cancelling first. I've definitely done that before, could I have bent or broken something in there? Besides the wires in the back and the connectors to the relay and self canceler, are there any other connections I should check?

By the way, one of my buddies just scooped this '87 Radian 600 up for me! I haven't even seen it yet, it ran fine last year, carbs were taken off to be rebuilt, and now it runs like crap. Shouldn't be too bad of a fix for me, I actually enjoy mechanical work, unlike this electrical BS. He's holding on to it until I can take the 3 hour drive out to him to come pick it up!

 

the radian is a really good looking bike. i have a complete radian engine with carbs in my shed just in case i find one cheap that needs a motor.

 

look at the three wires inside of the left controler wire likely needs to be resoldered
clean con troler with electric spray lube with silicon spray (not dryspray)

clean any connectors and bulb holders with elcctric spray cleaner and use dielectric grease on all bulbs and connectors

 

^^^^^ that, and if you are still having issues after cleaning

The flasher relay doesn't care whether it is left or right, if the right side flashes the relay is OK. Same goes for the self cancelling assembly.

You must have both bulbs illuminated and the correct wattage bulbs for the flasher relay to work. So, you will need to find out why the rear indicator is not lighting. The output of the left control switch feeds both the front and rear indicators, so there is likely an open at the rear wiring or the socket is defective and the bulb is not making contact. You could try switching the left rear indicator with the right rear to evaluate the indicator itself.

Your original switch appears to be working if the front left indicator is illuminating. The left control switch serves two purposes. First it closes a set of contacts to feed power to the selected left or right indicator group. Second, it resets the self cancelling assembly so that the flasher relay contacts close and the indicators begin to flash until manually turned off or the self cancelling assembly commands a disable signal to the flasher relay.

 

It may just be that the bulb from the parts bike is faulty. I like to test the simple things first.

Strip two ends of a wire, and hook that rear lamp up to a battery (hold the wire to the case, and the center contact to one battery post, then touch the other end of the wire to the other battery post). See if she chooches.

 

? Looked it up, Italian for asses, obsolete slang for meatheads, kmoe for...


Nevermind. Found it:

• To operate or move properly

 

Yes. Does it do the stupid thing that it's meant to do?