Photos of the inside of the turn signal housing

[Metroknow]

I've been enjoying my '82 XS400 for about a month now, but in the last week or so the turn signals no longer blink consistently - the stay on as a solid light now (they seem to blink sometimes after shifting gears, but often are just a solid light particularly when I come to a stop). After reading through the helpful threads here my first step today was to take apart the signal housing to clean it out - turns out mine was pretty clean - just needed a toothbrush cleanup. Next step will be to check each of the bulbs and clean the light sockets as well. All of the lights light up, so I know a bulb isn't completely out.

At any rate, in case anybody wants to see what the inside of the housing looks like before opening it up (it's quite easy to open up, but nonetheless), here are a few photos from today. Sharing the love.

 

[arfstrom]

Hmm, I wanted to jump to unplug the flasher relay, autocancel device. and replug them back in. should be under the seat, where the tank/seat meet. (don't know exact for 82) You pic showed a ground screw missing, hope you put that back, then there are ground points at each of the turn lights, with one more thing to worry about, the turn signal lamp in the dash board. Occasionally someone will paint over the handlebars, and that will prevent a ground under the hand grips. if none of that gets it working, get a current reading of Volts. Just incase your energy output is down.

 

[Metroknow]

Thanks arfstrom. I hadn't considered the painted handlebars or the dash - in fact, I don't know that I've seen the dash light up. The handlebars are definitely aftermarket items, so I may scratch off the paint where the ground hits inside the housing just to be sure.

The screw missing - do you mean where there's one removed in the second photo? If so yep, I put it back - just had to remove it to get the cover off of the slider/switch on the backside.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Metroknow]

Small update: I'm not sure why, but the signal flashes (the correct lights both front and back as well as the dash) when I'm in a higher gear than first. However, if I come to a stop and put it in first, they don't flash. I have yet to check the relay, since the weather's been too nice to not ride .

Any ideas on why it flashes in any gear but first? Or maybe it's moving vs. not moving?

 

[BamaBill]

I bet it's weak power output. Mine does this from time to time, put a good charge on the battery overnight and it works perfectly for awhile. The charging systems on these bikes are weak.

 

[Metroknow]

I bet it's weak power output. Mine does this from time to time, put a good charge on the battery overnight and it works perfectly for awhile. The charging systems on these bikes are weak.

Ah - That sounds right - thanks BamaBill. I'm thinking that maybe I'll try to swap the signal system out for something that needs less power? LED lights maybe? Will have to dig around the forum to see what others have successfully done. I'm a new rider and don't need the distraction of turn signals not working in traffic.

 

[Highwaystar]

Hello there,

swapping to LEDs might not really help. If you want to run LEDs with your old flasher relay you will have use an additional resitance for each flasher. This resistance will turn the electric energy into heat, so you will save no energy in the end. I would use LEDs only for the outward appearance.

To help your flashers you should check the wiring, maybe the insulation of a wire is damaged and you have spark from the wire to your frame. I have have had that with my ´75 RD 250. The wire to the left rear flasher was broken inside the tube from the taillight to the flasher, when the motor was running with low revs nothing flashed, running at higher revs there was enough electrical power for "normal" flashing. It took me weeks to find that out!

Viele Grüße aus Wuppertal, Uli

 

[Metroknow]

swapping to LEDs might not really help. If you want to run LEDs with your old flasher relay you will have use an additional resitance for each flasher. This resistance will turn the electric energy into heat, so you will save no energy in the end. I would use LEDs only for the outward appearance.

To help your flashers you should check the wiring, maybe the insulation of a wire is damaged and you have spark from the wire to your frame. I have have had that with my ´75 RD 250. The wire to the left rear flasher was broken inside the tube from the taillight to the flasher, when the motor was running with low revs nothing flashed, running at higher revs there was enough electrical power for "normal" flashing. It took me weeks to find that out!

Thanks Highwaystar - great to know on the LEDs. Not great on the "looking for a short" , because it sounds like a good possibility.

 

[BBS360]

Or you could get an LED-compatible flasher and not add additional resistance. Helps the charging system slightly too.