Weird Turn signal switch issue

Hello everyone. After attempting to fix my turn signal switch on my xj650 Seca I have now made it worse.

The turn signal was working intermittently. Turns out one of the wires to the slider switch had come off and was just kind of lightly resting on the contact point. I should've just used a little super glue and called it a day but I wanted to do it right and solder it up. So I took the whole thing apart, soldered up the wire and when I put it back together not only doesn't the turn signal NOT work but it's doing something funky with the signal relay. Also, I'm curious about the slider switch. When checking for continuity it turns out it doesn't matter where I put the two leads from the voltmeter it just shows continuity all over the place. I've included a couple videos. If anybody has any insight onto what's going one please let me know.

https://youtube.com/shorts/pYU0WyusI3k?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/jtP0sAheu_A?feature=share

 

That is likely because of the in circuit testing and the common +12V and the low resistance of bulbs attached to the wiring. You would need to disconnect the left control from the main harness or maybe unplug the flasher relay to do a continuity check of the slider switch.

Maybe post a picture of the work on the left control to see if anyone notices something wrong. It is odd that it was intermittent and now I think "something funky" you are referring to it chattering?

 

Here is a picture of the finished project. I failed to mention one part of the equation, but I also don't think it matters but here it goes:

I took apart the plastic sliding switch part (the part that moves along the three wires) It consist of a little ball bearing, spring, and contact plate. When I pried open the contact plate the spring and ball bearing went flying. I lost the spring but saved the ball bearing. I feel like a complete idiot when that happened. I replaced the spring with the spring you find in a ball point pen which fit perfectly. I also checked for continuity and it worked. If in fact it's supposed to be something different then maybe that's my problem. I hope I was able to explain this right.

P.S. It was the middle wire that came off that I had soldered back one.

 

On my 750 the spring and ball bearing supply the ground path for the signal to reset the self cancelling unit, I would suspect your 650 is likely doing the same thing. If that reset isn't working properly the turn signals will stay in hold mode and will never flash. That said, I think most ball point pins will have a conductive spring, so that shouldn't be an issue. You can easily test that the Y/R wire goes to chassis when the turn signal switch is pushed to the left of right. The self cancelling unit can also be disconnected and the flashers will work but the turn signal switch will have to be depressed to turn them off

 

Thanks Rooster. To clarify, the spring and ball bearing I'm referring to is NOT the one that the actuator connects to. There is in fact another spring and ball bearing below where the sliding switch is. You cannot see it in either pics.

 

OK, so just be sure the reset function to the auto cancel unit is working as it should

 

How would you be able to determine that?

 

^^^^^^

Or if you prefer you can just disconnect the self cancelling unit and the turn signals will operate without the self cancelling feature

 

So, the situation get's even weirder. The turn signal works fine when I disconnected the ground wire. I kid you not.

 

That statement is not near specific enough - what ground wire, what color, what location

 

My apologies. I will use your picture that you posted earlier in the thread as a reference. The wire that is labled "left control ground wire" is the wire I'm referring to. When I disconnected that wire the turn signal worked fine.

 

Did you ever get your turn signal switch working? Can't believe I found a thread about this because the SAME thing happened to me tonight. I took the switch apart just for the hell out it and to see if it was still clean/lubed because I just has it all apart last year. After putting it back together and realizing the signals weren't working unless I moved the wires, I back tracked and realized I tightened that metal clamp too tight.. the one that holds the wires in place.. and it broke two of the wires off.

This happened about an hour ago and I also had a quick thought about super glue and if it would hold or not. Decided it is what it is and that I should just solder it. Which means buying a soldering gun and all that and hopefully soldering the wire without needing to strip it back any more because then the other would need to be also. Really thinking about just doing super glue now.. the question is what kind if so.. maybe a gel compared to a liquid one?

 

Always solder.

 

Unfortunately, I never could figure out what happened and ended up finding a used one. It was the weirdest issue and I'm no electrical genius. Luckily a friend gave me a spare turn signal switch for free and it worked great.