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After switching out my handlebars on my kz 440 LTD 81, I noticed my turn signals stopped working. All the other electricial items work fine, but when trying to engage the turn signals, nothing, they don't light up at all. They were working fine before I removed the controls from the old bars and reattached them so I don't think they burned out.

Are there any parts inside of the signal/lights control housing I may have dropped when removing and re attaching this? Maybe I could have pulled the turnsignal during this... I have the electrical diagram but not a volt reader so haven't checked that yet.

When I built my LTD about ten years ago, I remember I had a similar problem. If I'm remembering right, the problem turned out to be that the rear turn signals were not properly grounded to the frame. I solved this by just running a ground wire out of the signal housing and attaching it to the frame somewhere. Crude, but it solved the problem. In ten years, I never got around to finding a more "elegant" solution.

like skyman says, it sounds like the turn signal has lost its ground connection. i couldn't find any pics for the 1981 ltd440, but i'd guess its the same as the 1981 550ltd. the ground wire is #18, one end screws to the turn signal (mounted on the handlebar) and the other end hooks into the wiring loom inside the headlight bucket. when i changed my original ltd turn signals, i just connected the ground wire to the new turn signal stem instead (like the rear turn signal in this pic).

edit, after i moved the front turn signals, one of them flashed real slow, and i thought i screwed up the wiring. but then i installed a heavy duty relay (about $8) instead of the usual cheap $3 one, and they work great.

Post edited by: duncan, at: 2006/05/20 09:43