Blinker Issue

[jch]

I just bought a 2002 Girly and my first issue is malfunctioning blinker.  Both right blinkers work great.  Left front works but flashes twice as fast as the other side.  Left rear does not work at all.  I did check and the bulb is good.  I did a search and perhaps it is the flasher relay.  Would a bad flasher relay cause these issues?  Thanks

[PeteH]

Hi, You say both right ones are ok then say the rear right does not??? do you mean the rear left??? if so and the lamp is ok then it could be the center sprung contact that either needs cleaning or just tweaking out a bit..

[jch]

Sorry I meant left does not work.  Left Front flashes very fast and back left nothing.  What is the center sprung contact?  Thanks for your help and sorry for the confusing original post.  Jim

[PeteH]

When you take the lamp out have a peek down the hole and you will see the sprung contact...its what one of the power cables is attached to and makes contact with the solder bit on the bottom of the lamp...try pushing the lamp in when the turn signal is on and see if that works....

[Dutch]

I know it's rather obvious, but in case you didn't know: the front left and the indicater light on the dash! flash faster to give a signal one of the indicator lights is broken. Usually the bulb needs replacing. However a bad contact is also possible. If you haven't got a spare bulb you can always change front & rear or left & right and you know if the bulb is the culprit or not, even when it looks o.k. it doesn't always mean it is.

Quite often a topic "blinker issue" means someone has put LED blinkers on the bike without resistors or load-independant relais

[jch]

Thanks, I did not know about the faster blinking indicating bulb was out. That makes sense.  I know the bulb is ok but it is somehow not getting juice. I will check the sprung contact and see if that is the culprit. Thanks again, I have a lot to learn about my Girly. Jim

[Sin_Tiger]

Check the connector inside the panel, once they have been off and on a few times they get slack.  Judicious "adjustment" of the contact prongs is usually enough.

Now would be a good time to put a half decent but inexpensive moving coil multi meter on Santa's wish list, if you don't already have one.

[Bixxer Bob]

Mine did similar last week, was right side front. Turned out the wire had corroded through at the connector. Makes sense as it gets more salt than the other three.

[jch]

Thanks for all of the suggestions but I am still stuck. I removed the left housing and plugged it into the right side and it worked perfectly. I tried the right housing on the left side and nothing. I don't think I am getting juice to the left side.  Not sure if it is the black wire or the white one but even if I knew then what?  Thanks again for everyone's help.

[Bixxer Bob]

If you don't have a multimeter, get one. They start at a few dollars and are ideal for fault finding.  You will need to learn two settings on it.  First the DCV range. Set it to 20 (if theres no 20 anything above 12 will do. Now check across you battery to make sure you have the meter set right. It should read around 12v.  If it does move on to the white wire you mentioned. Connect the red lead of your meter yo the white wire, the black one to the negative terminal on your battery's. You should get 12v or so on the meter when the indicator flashes, zero when it doesn't.  If that's good you now need to switch the meter to ohms, anywhere will do but try the 200 ohm range.  Now touch the meter leads together, it should read zero.  Now check the black wire to the battery negative.  It should read zero too. If not you have a grounding problem.  By checking back along each wire you should eventually find your fault.  And you can be proud you learned the basics of using a meter.

Of course if you know how to use one I've wasted 10 minutes of my life.  I need a lie down

[Bixxer Bob]

And fill in your location in your profile please, it helps us to know where you are.  We had a guy recently whose English was very poor. Turned out he didn't speak English at all and was using Google Translate.....

[jch]

I had no idea how to use a multimeter but will get one and report back on the results. Thanks for the instructions, 10 minutes of you life did not go to waste. I have also filled in my location. Jim

[Sin_Tiger]

Quite some Brits have poor english too 

Are you trying to wind me up again    

+1 a  $10 meter will repay the meagre investment many times over. You will learn a lot and you will feel more confident riding. I defy you not to smile the first time you find a fault.

[Bixxer Bob]

I had no idea how to use a multimeter but will get one and report back on the results. Thanks for the instructions, 10 minutes of you life did not go to waste. I have also filled in my location. Jim

Good man,  you'll find loads of uses for it once you have one; you'll wonder how you managed without.

[jch]

If you don't have a multimeter, get one. They start at a few dollars and are ideal for fault finding.  You will need to learn two settings on it.  First the DCV range. Set it to 20 (if theres no 20 anything above 12 will do. Now check across you battery to make sure you have the meter set right. It should read around 12v.  If it does move on to the white wire you mentioned. Connect the red lead of your meter yo the white wire, the black one to the negative terminal on your battery's. You should get 12v or so on the meter when the indicator flashes, zero when it doesn't.  If that's good you now need to switch the meter to ohms, anywhere will do but try the 200 ohm range.  Now touch the meter leads together, it should read zero.  Now check the black wire to the battery negative.  It should read zero too. If not you have a grounding problem.  By checking back along each wire you should eventually find your fault.  And you can be proud you learned the basics of using a meter.


Of course if you know how to use one I've wasted 10 minutes of my life.  I need a lie down

Got a multimeter.  Check across battery 12.47. White wire to red lead and black lead to neg terminal -- NOTHING.  Meter leads together I get zero.  Black wire to battery negative I get zero.   

So does that mean my problem is the white wire and if so now what?  Thanks for your help!