1979 550L rear turn signal issue

[thoov]

Hi, New to the forum and looking for some help. My 79 550L rear left turn signal doesn't come on. The front left signal comes on but doesn't blink. Both of the right side turn signals work and the headlight and tail light both work. Would I have to replace the entire relay or should I just check the wiring from the relay to the rear turn signal?

[JEEPRUSTY]

Did you swap bulbs yet?
My bike does not flash and the light on the same side as the blown bulb stays lit.

[barnbiketom]

It will only flash when BOTH BULBS are LIT and draw enough current . the flasher acts just like a circuit breaker, except that it resets itself, then starts the process over again.. and you get flash..flash..flash..

you need to find out why that one bulb is not lit.

easy things to check.. is the bulb good?? like jeeprusty said, swap bulbs and see if the problem goes to the other side.

ALSO many times the sockets get corrosion. make sure it is clean inside. wiggle the bulb while having the turn signal turned on and see if you get it to come on.

If that doesn't work then it has to be a loose/corroded wiring connector somewhere leading to that rear lite.
I'm not sure about your bike but some also have the ground for the lite in a regular bullet connector, and others have an actual ground ring on a bolt or the stalk itself.

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. thoov,

Do all the simple stuff first; clean/check the sockets, the connections, the grounds, check for frayed/damaged/melted wiring, etc. The stock flasher relay wants to "see" a specific load on the system before it can blink properly. If you have put in non-stock bulbs with different voltage/current requirements then the flasher may not be able to work properly. If nothing else, it is possible to replace the stock flasher relay with an off-the-shelf generic part for a lot less money. You'll find more information on my little website. But first, your "mega-welcome".

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[thoov]

Wow, thanks for the suggestions. I did swap bulbs and it still didn't come on and the filament in the bulb looks intact when I compared it to the working right side bulb. From what I can see it looks like the wire is not corroded where it attaches to the bulb receptacle. Still have to check the connection at the relay. Is there a way to use a volt meter to check the wire at the bulb receptacle. There is some bare wire showing where it s soldered to the bottom spring part of the receptacle. Thanks for the welcome there is a lot of really good info in your links.

[eil]

Is there corrosion on the socket? I took apart all of my turns signals this past weekend (getting ready to reinstall them) and found two of them had pretty bad corrosion that needed to be cleaned out. Also interesting to note that on my turns signals, the chrome plating on the plastic actually formed the ground between the light bulb socket and the metal part of what I'm calling the stalk.

There are two wires going to each turn signal, one goes into the stalk (+12V) and one goes to a ring terminal around the nut that holds the stalk on (Ground). First thing I would check is whether that ring has broken off. If not, use a voltmeter and make sure that it's still connected to ground. One lead of your multimeter goes on it and the other lead goes anywhere there's some good metal on the frame. (Or the negative battery terminal, if you prefer.)

If that looks good, then chase the wiring back to the flasher. You should get +12V on the center terminal of the lamp socket as compared to ground.

[barnbiketom]

for something quick, you could try touching a wire from the turn signal it self to a good ground on the frame or battery minus. (do this with that side turn signal ON....

if the light then works, you have a bad ground.

[thoov]

Hey thanks for all the help. The signal is working and it was a simple fix. The bulb receptacle wasn't attached to the holder and I think it wasn't completing the circuit. Once the receptacle touched the holder it lit up and started blinking, put a new screw to hold it in place and it now is holding snugly and working properly. The plastic mold for the old screw hole was broken so the bulb and receptacle were just hanging loosely and not connected to the holder/ground if that's what that holder is.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Nice work! Yes, sometimes all it takes is some painstaking observations. Good sleuthing!




Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff