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Only left Turn signal working

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nebraska GS
  • Start date Start date
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Nebraska GS

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I have a 78 GS 1000. Yesterday I noticed the right turn signal wasn?t lighting at all while the left was working normally. I traced the wires from the switch itself down to the turn signal controller. (The black box next to the battery.) I have good continuity through all of the wiring, and if I jump power to the left turn circuit pass this point the lights come on but don?t flash. I checked all grounds and connections and they appear to be in good condition
I think I read something about bypassing this controller. If anyone can lead me through this process,or, if someone has any other ideas this it would be great.
 
Are both lights out or just one of them? Any bulb changes lately? Check for loose grounds.
 
bulbs and grounds are OK

bulbs and grounds are OK

I should have said when I jump power to the right circuit, not the left, both front and rear work. Left side is working fine. All bulbs check out when exchanged with the left side.
 
could be the flasher unit. Some have replaced with simple flasher unit and that made them work. I know the bulb has to be 1073 or the original flasher unit wont work.
 
I will check the flasher out. 1073 are the bulbs I have in it.
 
I think the generic flasher is only a couple buck. Do a search as I don't remember 2 or 3 prong but it has been discussed at length.
 
I wasn't sure, mine works like new and I've not had to mess with it.
 
Nebraska GS said:
I have a 78 GS 1000. Yesterday I noticed the right turn signal wasn?t lighting at all while the left was working normally. I traced the wires from the switch itself down to the turn signal controller. (The black box next to the battery.) I have good continuity through all of the wiring, and if I jump power to the left turn circuit pass this point the lights come on but don?t flash. I checked all grounds and connections and they appear to be in good condition
I think I read something about bypassing this controller. If anyone can lead me through this process,or, if someone has any other ideas this it would be great.
Click to expand...

Your 78 GS1000 will work just fine with a generic 2 prong automotive flasher.......If your bulbs come on, wiring is ok.......if they don't flash, it's often the flasher which requires a minimum load in order to work. Corroded bulbs or bulbs that don't draw as much current or corrosion etc in the turn signal switch can also cause this to happen (not enough minimum load). Of course if one side doesn't light front OR rear then it's more likely a problem with the turn signal contact for that side or wiring away from the switch.
 
The right side doesnt work front or rear. I have power at the green lead going into the controller on right turns, and at the black lead for left. Both are correct from what I understand from the book, so the switch itself is working.
I left it in garage for a while to let my head clear, and will check it again later.
 
Bad Earth on one side.

Bad Earth on one side.

Nebraska GS said:
The right side doesnt work front or rear. I have power at the green lead going into the controller on right turns, and at the black lead for left. Both are correct from what I understand from the book, so the switch itself is working.
I left it in garage for a while to let my head clear, and will check it again later.
Click to expand...

I found the problem to be corrosion in the rear mounting bolts/nuts for the whole unit. Once I cleaned them and rewrenched them both turnsignals have continued working for the last 2 years.

You have lost an earth connection somewhere is all. Clean and grease with electrical points grease and forget about it.
 
You could always just keep riding anti-clockwise around the block. Then you will only need the left turn signal.

j/k
 
Thanks Zooks I will keep that in mind.

I found a troubleshooting chart in the service manual. It leads me to the control switch on the handle bar.
Anyone have one they are willing to get rid of?

Thanks to all
 
Maybe it is the bar mounted switch, but those are pretty reliable.
Most common problem with the '78/'79 models is the turn signal control unit fails. Vibration is the problem, in my opinion. Very fine wiring inside the box. One side generally quits, then both if you leave it long enough. The flasher is fine because the 2 prong flasher doesn't know left and right, it either works both sides or both sides quit at the same time.
These units go for $350 from the dealer and the cheapest I've seen them on the web is about $260. I haven't looked them up in a year or so.
Yes, there is a way to rewire and bypass the unit but I've never done it.
Try a search. I know Squaredancerlynn has made a good post about this in the past. It requires a bar switch from a 750 and some rewiring. The signals will be manual on/off of course.
If interested, I still have two NOS units from a lot I bought. They're tested and brand new. You can go to my profile and e-mail me if you like for a price.
 
Nebraska GS said:
The right side doesnt work front or rear. I have power at the green lead going into the controller on right turns, and at the black lead for left. Both are correct from what I understand from the book, so the switch itself is working.
I left it in garage for a while to let my head clear, and will check it again later.
Click to expand...

I see what you're working with now........you have other than a basic GS1000 model and it has self cancelling turn signals which adds the 10 wire controller, distance sensor and turn signal relay. The green and black leads at the controller are actually outputs to run the respective lamps so if the green lights right and black left then basically everything is there. I assume the black lead is "flashing" (pulsing) per normal.......does the green lead do this as well? As many signal circuits rely on having a lamp load to flash, and your right side doesn't flash despite the green wire showing output, then I'd want to check green wire continuity to both bulbs. from the controller. If you have continuity (or can light the bulbs from the controller connector) then try replacing the turn signal relay with a standard flasher and see if it works.....probably the load on the right is less than the left (bulbs or slight corrosion) AND this "turn signal relay" (flasher) is weak. Use a standard automotive 2 prong flasher here.

If this was my bike, I'd strip be converting it to a standard YOU-CANCEL signal circuit if I found the controller bad. Basically this would involve inserting a 2 pin automotive flasher into the red lead before it goes into the turn signal switch......bridging blue/black to black at the controller harness connector and green/black to green at the same connector - remove the controller of course and disregard the rest - done.
 
Its Working

Its Working

I bridged the blue/black to black, and the green/black to green like SPARKSS suggested. But I put the stock flasher in one loop and the automotive flasher I bought in the other. This made the turn signals work normally except I had to hold the switch in one position or the other. It would always return to center breaking the circuit. So I took the switch apart and removed the return spring inside. Now its working like it should but I have to manually return the switch to off. Something I can definitely live with more that $300 for the controller.
Thanks for everyone?s help with this!!!
 
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