Turn Signal/horn/oil pressure electrical issue

[tas850g]

It's a 1979 GS850. Recently i found the 4 wires going to the key ignition switch having exposed wires. So i bought nylon wire connectors from vintage connectors and rewired the switch. The bare wires were too close to the nylon connector so i went and replaced the connector and 2.8mm spade m/f connectors. I made sure the 4 spade connectors wire aligned back up to the same colored wires. Oddly, i had to align the orange to the red b/c the other 3 had matching colored mates.

I plugged in the connector, turned on the key and everything worked Great! - lights on high/low beam, both left and right directionals, horn, and oil pressure light. I did not try to start the bike b/c i have the #1 & #2 exhaust off.

I then unplugged the connector to put some dielectic grease on. I turned on the switch again and no directionals (don't even come on not to mention flash), no horn, no oil pressure light but the high/low beam still works, damn it!

I'm really not sure how to test the turn signal relay or the turn signal main - forget what you call this box - if this is even possible.

No blown fuses either.

Not sure if the oil pressure light and horn work on the same fuses or wiring system as the directionals do???

Other than trying another turn signal relay box or more likely the main signal relay, what could/should i try next??

Thanks for any help you have to offer.

[Wallowgreen]

The red is the supply from the battery via the fuse box and should have +12v on it all the time. The orange is the switched +12v out from the ignition switch to the rest of the system, again through the fuse box and supplies the other three fuses. From those fuses are orange with a green stripe, orange with a red stripe and orange with a white stripe that go off to supply different parts of the system. I suspect the ignition switch is working otherwise the headlamp wouldn't work. If memory serves, that's supplied from the orange with a red stripe.

Not exactly sure what's going on with this but it may just be a typical connection problem. All the bullet type connectors with these old electrical systems can be troublesome. The best advice I had when I got my 79 850 was to go through the entire system and clean all the connectors before I wound up with some crazy problem that defied all logic.

Anyway it sounds like you could use a wiring diagram. Take a look on BassCliff's web site. It's packed with very useful info, url is:

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

Make sure you get the 79 version, it's different to later models.

It does sound to me like you may have a supply missing though. Get a diagram and check the 12v to a few key areas like the input orange wire in the fuse box. If it has 12v on it with the ignition turned on then the ignition switch is working ok. Then look for 12v on the orange output wires i.e. past the fuses. If not correct, check the connections in the fuse box carefully, they too can cause intermittent problems. Alternatively, you could try the orange with green stripe at the turn signal controller...

For what it's worth the turn signal thingy, if you're talking about the black box under the right side panel (as you sit on the machine), is an electronic control unit that provides the auto cancel feature in conjunction with a sensor in the speedometer. These units can cause wierd problems with your turn signals but unlikely to cause further system problems. At least I've never heard of one doing that. Mine was temperamental when I got my 850 a couple of years ago. I suffered sticker shock when I saw the replacement price. If this unit is faulty many here advocate rewiring the system and changing the momentary turn signal switch with a latching type so they become fully manual. I didn't do that. I spent last winter designing and building my own controller to give me the same configurable functionality at a fraction of the cost.

Good luck.

[bonanzadave]

It worked....and then it didnt ? How did you crimp the new spade terminals ? I would check your crimps or see if one has pushed back in the connector housing.

[tas850g]

i will first check the crimps.

I stripped the wires back just enough for the bare wire to extend just to the spade. The insulated part of the wire is just up to the point of one of the metal crimps??? that folds around the insulated wire. I mirrored the original way the spade was stripped and crimped.

i have a suzuki shop manual and i have looked at the wiring diagram a few times. The issue that i have is my '79 bike has a 5 fuse - fuse box not what the the manual says which should be a 4 fuse - fuse box. I don't know what the deal is but the bike is a mix between a '79 and '80. I have gone round and round with this and my bike is a '79 - kick start, VM carbs, straight exhaust (no "H" pre-muffler) but i have an electronic ignition (no points), which i know can be changed over from points.

how do you check to see if it has 12v??? i do have a voltmeter.

thanks for the advice!

[tas850g]

i have 2 black boxes underneath the right side cover. As you are facing the right side cover, the box on the left i think is the turn signal flasher as i think i could hear a ticking going on here when i used to have the directionals on. The black box on the right is the main signal controller, I think. This is tied into the wiring harness that has a split that goes to the head lamp area.

[Wallowgreen]

Connect the black wire from the voltmeter to the battery -ve or any ground you're sure will be good. Then use the red wire from the voltmeter to probe the wiring you wish to test for 12v.

PLEASE be sure the voltmeter is switched to DC voltage before you start if it's a multimeter (i.e. measures current and resistance as well) otherwise at best your readings will be meaningless.

[Wallowgreen]

The turn signal controller has 10 wires coming out of it on the original unit. These 10 wires split into two connectors, one with 6 wires and the second with the other 4. Both should connect to the loom under the rear of the tank and head off to the front of the machine. The controller should be strapped to the battery box with a thick black rubber band.

The turn signal relay has only 2 or 3 wires to it. Mine is under the left side cover with the fuse box which I though was the original location but I might be mistaken.

[tas850g]

i'll try the testing for 12v tomorrow morning, thanks for the explanation. I just need some guidance. I think you're pretty much on with the turn signal controller. It has a bunch of wires coming from it. One set heading to the front of the bike and maybe four wires branching off and heading else where, i forget where at the moment.

i'll looked over a few bullet connectors, applied dielectric grease, near the fuse box wires and the start relay. It still cranks over at least.

thanks so much for the help, I'll post my findings/results tomorrow.

[tas850g]

i'll try posting pictures tomorrow too.

[tas850g]

My turn signal controller has 7 wires. 6 going into a nylon connector and one (black w/white stripe) goes into a bullet connector and then goes back into the loom with the other 6 wires that head off to the front of the bike.

The turn signal relay has 3 wires to it.

I have +12v at the red wire that goes to the ignition and +12v at the orange wire coming out of the ignition.

I've checked continuity at the nylon connector with the 4 wires that go to/from the key ignition. No exactly sure if this is supposed to happen but 2 of the 6 female spades at the connector (from the turn sign. control unit) show continuity with the red and the orange wires only coming from the ignition. the other 4 wires do not show continuity.

I can't post pics b/c the wife's laptop does not have a CD drive where my pics are saved on. I am off this week and could/should go into work to load them on so you can see them.

I've looked at the wiring diagram and there may be something up with one black w/white stripe wire that may be the culprit. Off to the garage to look for exposed wires/bad connectors.

[tas850g]

rewire the male/female spades onto the key ignition wires to see if maybe i didn't wire them correctly. Still doesn't work. Either i wired them correctly the first time or i am consistantly bad with wiring connectors.

Could this problem be with the key ignition??? I sprayed a bunch of silicone into the key hole and into the steering block mechanism b/c the locking mechanism was not working well. The locking mechanism works well now.

I don't think I had turned on the key switch with battery connected after the lubrication to see if there would be any electrical issues. I cut the key ignition wires off to reconnect the 4 bare wires and was waiting on the nylon connectors and spades. While I was waiting I lubricated the hell out of the switch.