Turn Signals Stopped Working

On the way back from our ride to the Salton Sea my turn signals stopped working; both right and left, front and rear. Fortunately, my headlights, brake and tail light work fine. Interestingly, my emergency flashers work fine as well. Someone in the group suggested my turn signal relay may need replacing. If you've ever tried getting to the turn signal relay on a 6th gen, you'll know what a pain in the ass that is!





The turn signal relay is that bugger in the middle with the white writing. Before I went ahead and ordered a new relay, I thought it would be wise to check the juice to the connector. I followed the service manual's directions and checked voltage from the red/white wire to ground - nothing. I should have gotten a reading. According to the manual, if there's no voltage reading, then the likely cause is either an open circuit or blown fuse.

I pulled the 10a fuse that goes to the turn signal and horn and it's fine. (I had also checked the horn and it works.) I did my best to follow the wires from the relay connector to the fuse box (almost impossible given the grouping and taping) and could not find any exposed wires or loose connections. That leaves me with that relay. I suppose I'll buy another and hope that solves the problem but I'm concerned with the lack of a voltage at the 9p connector. That makes me believe it's not the relay.

Have any of you encountered a similar problem and found a solution? Thanks for any suggestions!

 

I'm assuming it will only have power to the relay with the ignition on and turn signal switched to either side

 

I'm sure you're right. I failed to mention it but my efforts were with the ignition on and turn signals activated. Thanks though for the response!

 

disconect the connecter and short the blk and grey wire with a jumper, turn ign on and try signal light swith. if they work it is the relay, if they don't then it is a harness issue

black/brown and grey on some models from my prints i have

 

MG did ya figure it out? Sorry for the gremlins. .

 

No such luck. I'm at a loss. Going to continue trying to diagnose the problem. I took an electronics class in high school. I shouldn't have ditched class as much as I did!

 

Thanks for the suggestion. My wires are different colors but I followed what you were getting at. The service manual has a diagram showing the connectors to jump in order to activate each of the indicator lights. If all four lights were to come on, the answer would seem simple - it's my relay. But what do you make of this? Only the left side (front and rear) came on. Nothing on the right side! I checked the wires at the connector and they seem as secure as all the others. Now what?

 

Maybe D will give ya a hand...he knows these bikes pretty well...& long dong ding dong as well

 

That he does. Unfortunately, he's a couple hours away. But he may be able to point me in the right direction. And I seem to remember Long having electrical issues he worked out. If you're out there guys, HELP!

I'm off to watch YouTube videos to see if I can find a solution.

 

with it jumpered, measure voltage to fram ground at front right signal light. if 12v then chase down your ground issue. or jumper the green wire at signal light to frame ground and see if they light. both will show the ground side is an issue. if not it is a broken wire or connector on power side

 

Maybe a silly question, did you try and clean your handle bar indicator switch like in this thread ?

http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthre...efore-doing-this-try-this?highlight=indicator

 

This may be very good advice. Truth is, I'm having trouble understanding it. It's not you. It's my limited knowledge. I don't know what you mean by checking voltage at the front right signal light to ground. Where am I putting the positive probe of my voltmeter? Do you mean at the 9p connector that controls the front right signal light? If so, aren't you suggesting that that connection should have one end of the jumper wire inside? Maybe I'm misunderstanding your use of the term "jumpered." Then again, maybe I'm just misunderstanding all of it!

 

Not silly at all and the answer is, I haven't. I will now! Thanks for the suggestion and the link!

Edit: Off to Home Depot to pick up some electronics cleaner.

 

Suggest you use contact cleaning spray rather than wd40 as was initially used in the thread.

 

measure with red probe right at sig light to the actual frame, this will eliminate 12vdc wire issue right to the light. if 12 volts you know it is a ground issue on the circuit. you have just eliminated 50% of the circuit

 

Got it. I'll give it a go. Thanks!

 

Sorry I was MIA, had a lot of shite to do yesterday and today. I'm mid-stream in my dealings for today but when I'm done I can give you a call and see if I can assist you some.

That being said, rjgti's suggestions and cleaning/checking the switch is probably where I would start as well. Check for pinched and/or cut wires in the harness, especially the grouping for the turn signals. Since you have no voltage at the relay, it could very well be a wire that is either broken or disconnected. The likelihood of it being broken in the middle of a grouping is highly improbable but not impossible, I've seen weirder things in some of the projects I'm called in to look at.

Until later, Good Luck!

P.S. This situation is actually a good thing, reinforces the choice of buying a second bike as not being frivolous, as now while the VFR is not rideable, you still have another bike to ride. Still might be hard for the wife to buy off on it, but at least in your mind you know You made the right choice!

P.P.S. Oh yeah, If you have let me know earlier in the week, I probably could have rode down to your place to lend a hand. FYI, My phone is always on!

 

As usual, you're a tremendous help! My further efforts will have to wait until tomorrow though. Just did a little pre-game tailgate shopping. Going to go watch the Chargers decimate the Patriots! Okay, "decimate" might be a strong word. I'll be happy with a squeaked out win. I'll give you call when I dive back in to my bike's electronics! And, I totally agree. It's very nice to look over and see a new bike waiting and available! Best decision I've made all year! Haha.

 

For what it's worth, I cleaned the indicator switch and although I now have a more positive, pronounced click, no effect on the non-working indicators. It was worth a shot and probably needed anyway.

 

MG, I won't be of much help but I share some of your pain. My Powerlet outlet for my heated gear stopped working and the one I installed on the other bike would not work either. I thought my heated gloves were defective. I also thought my newly purchased heated jacket were defective too! How can two Powerlet outlets malfunction right? Seriously, I had to go through the process of elimination just like you are.

On my Buell I checked all the connection and my tester wasn't detecting any voltage at all. So I finally popped the fuse cap, which I had already tucked up and hidden away under the cowl during the initial install. So I had to unravel that. When I popped the cap, low and behold! No fuse! I left the new fuse still in the box! I'm so stupid! Popped fuse in, viola! Sucker no worked!

Onto VFR. No voltage out of the outlet either. I went to the obvious--fuse. Nope! That sucker is in and not popped. I had to take the whole outlet apart only to find that ONE of the wires that plugged into the primary junction of the outlet was loose! All I had to do was push that puppy in and everything works now! Now my heated jacket and gloves work again!

So yeah. I understand what it's like to be Sherlock Holmes. All I can say is be patient and diligent. The solution will eventually present itself. Unfortunately, it may involve buying a new relay even if you're not 100% sure it's the culprit just to eliminate that variable.

BTW, since you have the whole front cowl out, maybe now's a great time to replace those headlight bulbs with more powerful ones! each: