Problems with stock turn signals

[SeriousGeorge]

I had noticed a couple times that it looked like the turn signal indicator was on solid instead of flashing. Now it's getting worse. Sometimes when I hit it the switch the lights stay on constantly until I turn them off. Othertimes it will start flashing then speed up and slow down for a while and then finally go on solid. All four lights are working. It looks like they are all stock. What's causing this? Bad flasher, marginal bulb, corrosion?

[LimaXray]

Sounds like a flasher to me.  A bad bulb or corrotion would probably just make it blink faster.  A short would probably make it not light at all.  Everytime I've seen erratic or solid-on signals on a car, it was the flasher.  I'm guessing its the same idea here.

[SeriousGeorge]

Thanks! Sounds like I just need to replace that then. At least this way I'll be ready for LED signals if I decide to upgrade later.

[Cal Amari]

I had noticed a couple times that it looked like the turn signal indicator was on solid instead of flashing. Now it's getting worse. Sometimes when I hit it the switch the lights stay on constantly until I turn them off. Othertimes it will start flashing then speed up and slow down for a while and then finally go on solid. All four lights are working. It looks like they are all stock. What's causing this? Bad flasher, marginal bulb, corrosion?

When is the last time you filled your battery with distilled water and recharged it? If the battery is weak, you'll see these types of symptoms, especially when the engine is only idling... Fill and charge the battery, just to be sure.

[SeriousGeorge]

When is the last time you filled your battery with distilled water and recharged it? If the battery is weak, you'll see these types of symptoms, especially when the engine is only idling... Fill and charge the battery, just to be sure.

Good call on the battery. I hadn't checked it since I got the bike. It was extremely low and the vent hose was disconnected. Got that filled up and charged. Didn't make a lot of difference with the bike off, but I'll see if it helps any the next time I ride it. Thanks again for pointing me in that direction.

[SeriousGeorge]

Just to follow up, the battery didn't seem to help any. But I'm glad I caught it before it was completely dry. I ended up going to Wal-Mart and picking up the $1.99 flasher relay. Just a couple minutes to install it and it looks good. Totally plug and play install. Thanks again for the help guys.

[galahs]

Just for reference, where is the flasher relay located?

[SeriousGeorge]

Just for reference, where is the flasher relay located?

I realized after I was done that I probably should have taken pictures and written it up. It's easy. I'm an idiot when it comes to working on cars and bikes and it probably took me 10 minutes total. Just take the seat and the right body panel off. It's on the outside of the rear subframe a few inches behind the battery. It was a silver metal tube in between something that looked like a heat sink and something else that I can't remember what it looked like. All I had to do was pull the flasher out of the rubber tube that was holding it, disconnect the plug, plug it into the new flasher and reinstall. I used a zip-tie to hold the new one since it was quite a bit smaller than the old one. You could probably rig up something fancier, but I figured it's not really a highly stressed part and the zip-tie will do for now.

[galahs]

Thanks mate 

[DMac]

I had to replace my relay as well and it's worth mentioning that the GS E and GS F's are different so if you do get it from the dealer (which I wouldn't recommend) make sure they do it right. My dealer here is a twit.

[My Name Is Dave]

It may be hard to see, but here is the flasher relay location:

[manofthefield]

I'm replacing that relay for my turn signal upgrade, and having a hard time pinpointing the stock turn signal relay.  I think I found it, but i'm double checking... Is "TL110" marked on the side of the stock relay? (this is for my 98 E) 

If I'm looking at the correct part, there is no way the wires are going to plug into the new 552 relay.  Do I have to get some female spade terminals to connect to the new relay?

[SeriousGeorge]

I'm pretty sure the newer models have a different looking relay than the old models did. Not sure what year that changed, though. I'd guess it happened with the 2001 model, but it could have been one of those little stealth changes. I'm not sure what mine had written on it. It looked just like the one I replaced it with but about twice as tall and just a little bit larger diameter. I think the newer ones may have a rectangular shaped flasher instead of a cylindrical one? Not completely sure. The connector was totally plug and play with the three prong connector on the flasher for me.

[manofthefield]

Heres the 552 on the left and what came off of my GS on the right.  You can barely see two little parallel prongs on the stock part that are connected via a plug with a light blue and an orange wire. 



From some very rough research, it looks like the turn signal relay was changed to this one in 1998 and possibly still used today, so my bike would be the first with this relay.

Do I have this right?  For those with 98+ bikes, does your turn signal relay look like this?  If you replaced it, how did you connect the 552 to the bike or did you use a different relay?

[Toledo Jim]

Heres the 552 on the left and what came off of my GS on the right.  You can barely see two little parallel prongs on the stock part that are connected via a plug with a light blue and an orange wire. 



From some very rough research, it looks like the turn signal relay was changed to this one in 1998 and possibly still used today, so my bike would be the first with this relay.

Do I have this right?  For those with 98+ bikes, does your turn signal relay look like this?  If you replaced it, how did you connect the 552 to the bike or did you use a different relay?

I have a stock 93 and the TL110 you show is what was on my bike. (I replaced with a Kisan SignalMinder which has the same connector.)

[manofthefield]

Well I bit the bullet and cut the wires to connect the 552 relay where the stock one was.  It works ok with my Buell turn signals, but I am disappointed by two things:

1. When I turn the signal on, the flasher goes through the "lights off" part of the cycle first, creating a couple second delay before the signals light up.

2. It seems like the lights cycle on and off slowly.  Maybe this is just in my head, but it seems slow to me.  For about half a day I had just the rear signals switched to the Buell signals with the stock flasher and everything seemed to cycle at a good rate.  Unfortunately I didn't check (and don't remember) how fast the signals would blink with all four stock signals on, so I don't know how slow the stock set up cycles


IDK if there's anything I can do about these things other than complain or go back to stock, so I guess I'm just putting this out there if anyone has any ideas or just for general information.

A third thing that happens, that doesn't bother me, is that the 552 relay makes a clicking noise like you hear in a car.  Maybe it'll even remind me I need to turn my signal off...


Oh, and I'm very happy with how the new turn signals look

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

for the speed issue, I seem to recall that switching to LEDs lowers the total circuit resistance, and makes them blink faster. So it sounds like your relay increased the total resistance, thus making your signals blink slower. But I'm only in intro to ECE, so I'm probably just retarded.

[manofthefield]

I think it is something like that... with the stock relay and the buell signals, they blink too fast, so I guess that means lower resistance than stock.  Maybe the recommended generic 552 relay overcompensates for the low resistance a little

But what do I know, I'm an ME who only took one circuits course

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Hmmm.... there's gotta be some relay you can use that has lower resistance than the 552, which would allow your signals to blink faster.

[Wrecent_Wryder]

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