TOPIC:

Hi, I about have my 79 SR650, back to roadworthiness, but I got blinker problems. In the tests below I am working on one side at a time.

1. When I have the key on, and the turn signal switch in the middle neutral position, my front turn signal is on, but not flashing.

2. When I flip my turn signal to one side, the front signal turns off, and the rear signal lights up but doesn't blink.

I made sure I had my yellow and black wire connected (i guess that's the ground)

Do I need new flasher units or did I cross some wires during assembly?

Just to note, I only have 3 good bulbs, so I can't do my blinker trouble shooting on both sides, (but I don't think it matters) I experience the exact same symptoms on both sides of the bike.

Any help would be appreciated, hand signals suck.

Thanks,
bison

You have to have all 4 lights hooked up with good bulbs in order to blink. If that still doesn't do the trick most of them take a standard car flasher.

The two and three pin flasher cans are available at any good auto parts store. Bring your old one along as a sample.

bison wrote:

Hi, I about have my 79 SR650, back to roadworthiness, but I got blinker problems. In the tests below I am working on one side at a time.

1. When I have the key on, and the turn signal switch in the middle neutral position, my front turn signal is on, but not flashing.

Has to be wired wrong or the switch is flaky. In the middle position, there should not be power going to any turn signal bulb (front or rear).

bison wrote:

2. When I flip my turn signal to one side, the front signal turns off, and the rear signal lights up but doesn't blink.

If power is going to only one bulb, it doesn't draw enough current to make the flasher blink. The front and rear TS bulbs should be hard wired together on each side (right OR left). Both front and rear bulbs should light in unison and flash together. If you have a front/rear bulb lighting at different times, they are wired wrong.

I would have to recheck my manual but I don't think there is a ground wire. My 78 doesn't have one. The blinkers are grounded through the housing to the frame, and have to be bolted on to work. I think you have it wired wrong if you hooked up a ground.

bison; I believe the SR models use the handlebar mounted front signals. The bulbs in these are dual filiment. When the ignition is on, they act as running lights. When the turn indicator switch is actuated the other filiment along with the single filiment in the rear are powered. I also believe the lamps are 1157 in the front and 1156 in the rear. My son's SR had a problem and it turned out to be a ground issue on the fronts. I would unplug all leads on each signal and test with an external power source. You can easily run test leads from the bikes battery to do this. My quarter is riding on a bad connection instead of bad components. 30 years of corrosion. . . Let us know and ride safe, Steve

1978KZ wrote:

I would have to recheck my manual but I don't think there is a ground wire. My 78 doesn't have one. The blinkers are grounded through the housing to the frame, and have to be bolted on to work. I think you have it wired wrong if you hooked up a ground.

The turn signals on my '79 KZ750 have a ground wire that attaches at the base where the nut goes. It's because they mount on a big rubber grommet type mount.

Inside the turn signal stem is a mini bullet connector.You may have to dis-mount the turn signal and check the wiring for corrosion there.

I didn't read the entire thread carefully but if I were troubleshooting this, first thing I would do is figure out if there was a two pole aka two filament bulb holder. Take out the front bulb and look down at the bottom of the bulb holder and look at the base of the bulb. Are there two round spots or one? If there are two, you have front running lights. If you have one, you have mis-wired. It is fairly normal for some bikes to have front running lights. There will be a black/yellow ground which will either connect to the frame or connect to the wiring harness ground circuit which eventually connects to ground. Turn signal wires are light gray and light green. Sometimes gray is used for one side and green the other but many times, gray is used for all of them. If you have running lights, my memory tells me that these wires will be thinner and be gray and green as well. First thing to do is to find four new bulbs. If your bulbs are Stanley, take one to the autoparts store and see what they have. Make sure that the little pegs on the side are postioned on the sides the same and the number of filaments match. Also buy a heavy duty flasher relay and replace your current OLD relay. The heavy duty relay will handle variations in wattage and allow newer bulbs to blink properly. The old relay will only work well with old Stanley standard bulbs and you can't find them. Once you plug the bulbs in and the new relay, test the signals and report back with the results. Also, inside your turn signals may be internal grounds through the mounting bolt. If you see any corrosion around internal bolts, clean it up good and coat with dielectric grease. On Kaw turn signals like an LTD where they hang off the handle bars, they tend to corrode around the ground as they ground through the mount bolt.

Hey guys, thanks for all the input. I got new front bulbs (1157) and yes they have two filaments. I also made sure my bulbs in the back (1156), which are 1 filament, are in good shape and no corrosion. My front lights have a blue and a grey wire on each side, along with a black/yellow ground wire to each side.

I also picked up some new flashers at the auto parts store.

Here's my situation now:

1. When I turn on the key, the front turn signals are on solid. Which apparently is normal, considering the two lead wire, two filament set up.

2. Then when I turn on the turn signal, they flash very slowly, like every 2.5 seconds, which seemed extremely slow to me, almost doesn't qualify as a blink. And they don't blink in unison, when the fronts are on, the backs are off.

3. If I unhook the front bulbs, and turn on the signal my back signals flash at the normal quick pace of about .75 seconds.

So, what do you guys think about the painfully slow flashing, and the non-synchronous blinking between the front and rear?

Just to note, I don't have the front signals in their holders, I just have the wires taped to the leads on the bulbs, and the ground wire taped to my handlebars.

Thanks again guys. I plan on taking a trip through the smoky mointains in the end of september, so I want to be as safe as possible.

Do you think it's possible I have a wrong sized relay? Do they make different sizes.