Indicator problem, light is permanently on!!! (Newbie "mechanic")

Hi all,

I have a zx6r, and am having some real trouble with my (left)
indicator.

The problem is that whenever my bike becomes wet, and for weeks(?)
afterwards, the left indicator is on permanently, not flashing, just on
as if it was a normal light!!!

I had this problem at the end of winter, and thought it would be a good
opportunity to park my bike up and save it from salt (I'm in the UK).
anyway, I have recently got the bike back on the road (just unlpugged
the bulbs on the left side) and thought today I'd have a real go at
solving the problem.


I have bought both front and rear indicators, and fit them. Working
perfectly. Or so i thought... until I washed the bike. The left
indiator again just switched on. even though the bike is switched off.
I have had to unplug the battery to stop the indicator casings melting
again!

I understand this may be a ground problem, but am pretty much
uneducated with regards to electrics. Can anyone help me with regards
what I might do to resolve this problem as I would love to enjoy this
beautiful weather with my bike. I have one of those electric testing
meters, but dont really know how to best use it lol.

Do you need to know anything else to help me get to the root of my
frustrations?

Many thanks in advance

Stevie.

 

Happy birthday, Stevie. I see you were just born today...

You could have a wet grounding problem, but not in the turn signals, as
there's no power to them until the flasher sends power that way. You're
getting water into your turn signal switch, or into a connector in the
wiring harness, probably on the left side of the motorbike. Dry it out,
clean it out any salt corrosion, and don't drown your motorbike with
water when you wash it, cover up every place that water could possibly
get into with plastic bags and duct tape. If you have to park outside
in the rain, cover the motorbike with a plastic cover...

 

Hi. Cheers for the quick response Krusty. yeah it was my debut around
these newsgroups (and any for that matter).

a quick update..

I fitted the new indicators this morning, and washed my bike about 2
hours ago, on this beautiful sunny day. this indicators went on, and
previously they would stay on for, like I said, weeks. But today, 2
hours later, I reconnected the battery and the indicators are back in
working order.

I did pretty much douse my bike in water, but obviously where ever the
grounding problem is occuring dried out this time (weeks) faster than
previously???
The only thing that I have altered is the actual indicators & casings.
Would the problem be here or could this be just a coincidence?

And how would I know where it was grounding? There are a lot of
connectors that would need covering, so many it would take days to do
them all? I am thinking maybe I should check different parts of the
circuit to try and isolate the problem, but not overly certain how to
do this? any advice greatly appreciated.

ps.
Did you just check for previous posts Krusty or could you spot post
count, I have been unable to see yours?

 

apologies for double post, I dont think I can edit previous post to add
this on..

I do park outside, but covered with waterproof cover.

Another problem which could be related as it is electrically
orientated, but I didnt think of as I believed fault to be within
indicator electric system...
My fan doesnt kick in at the moment, It normally starts working when 4
bars of heat are showing on display. (apologies for non-techie terms
) But now it doesnt kick in. The last mechanic to look at my bike
said that if my fan ever didnt work it was probably because of
corrosion to some wires. I havent been able to visually spot any
corroded wires going into the fan, But not wholly certain what I should
be looking for / at!

 

Go easy on the watering, it's a motorbike not a fern, yannow. It will
never grow to be a ZX-10, no matter how much water you pour on it...

So where can water get to? Down the ignition key slot? I always tape
over the ignition switch and the reserve switch. whenever I rarely wash
my Yamaha.

Can the dreaded dihydrogen oxide get into any uncovered connector
around the handlebars? Up under the side covers? Look at all the
plastic connectors in the turn signal circuit, carefully demate them
and clean them out...

Or you splashed less water around than usual. Go easy on the watering.
It's a motorbike, not a personal watercraft, yannow...

Coincidence. Power goes to the turn signals, it doesn't start there, so
a ground at the turn signals isn't going to make them stay on
continuosly...

One other point about turn signals is how flashers work. If one bulb is
burned out (or the light socket doesn't make good contact), the flasher
contacts won't get hot enough to flash the remaining bulb. It just
lights continously as long as the turn signal switch is turned that
way...

Some motorbikes have an automatic turn signal cancelling device built
into a solid state module. If you suspect that's the culprit,
disconnect it and see if the turn signal goes off...

And, there are turn signal switches that are overly-complicated. The
old style turn signal switch would just stay in whichever position you
moved it to. If you wanted to turn right, you pushed the switch to the
right, it stayed there and the signal flashed continuously...

But the modern trend is to have a switch that you momentarily push to
the right, and some sliding contacts move to the right and stay there
and the button returns to center. Then, when you push the button
straight forward, the sliding contact gets pushed back to center by a
spring...

If you've been flooding that switch with water, or salty road slush has
been getting up into the switch, maybe just a good cleaning and
lubricating with just a tiny amount of lithium grease will fix the turn
signal problem...

Or a matter of minutes if you troubleshoot logically, following that
little wiring diagram in your owner's manual. A coworker and I
troubleshot a popping circuit breaker on the power panel of a jet
airliner in about 10 minutes, by the process of disconnecting
everything and reconnecting wires one at a time until the circuit
breaker popped again...

I am thinking maybe I should check different parts of the

That's it. You look at the color codes on the wires and compare them to
the lines and symbols on the wiring diagram and apply your best logic
to the problem instead of blindly tearing things apart. I went to a
troubleshooting class when I was in Uncle Sammy's Air Farce and they
taught me to go right to the most likely problem. I used to astound
people with my troubleshooting skills...

I google all messages to see who might be a troll before I respond.
Trolls will post one message, start a big debate, waste people's time
and never return to answer responses...

 

It will

damn. might aswell remove the flourescant lamp and fertiliser
sprinklers from my back yard.

Sorry, whats demate? I have had a look at as much of the wiring as I
can see, (havent taken the front fairing off though) and cant see any
exposed metal wire!

The rear bulb did originally burn out. The front left indicator was on
permanently, as was the indicators indicator " " on the display where
the revs / speedo is. Not flashing, just on!

Yeah thats the case on my bike. It did once stick I think due to water
getting ino it, but a little WD40 works its magic on that problem,
could have been some lasting hidden damage to the contacts within the
case? I dont know, should I risk taking this apart to have a gander?

I think Im going to have to wait until the problem resurfaces again
before I can have a go at this. Maybe i will give her another wash this
weekend?

But you still replied to my one post, I nearly posted in another forum
as this appeared to be a little quiet. Seems like a good job I didnt.
Thanks again for your help, you've given me a fair bit to go on!!

 

Since electrical connectors have male pins and female sockets, it
follows that hooking them together is "mating" and disconnecting them
is "demating"...

(We had to go a special schools when I worked on aircraft and
spacecraft. We had to learn the correct mating and demating procedures.
One inspector on the Apollo spacecraft was going through all of the
umbilical's connectors looking for bent male pins, writing them up, and
reinstalling the metal covers. Every connector he looked at wound up
with more bent pins than he started with, because he was reinstalling
the covers incorrectly. I complained to my boss about him, but
management wouldn't take action against the idiot.)

On motorbikes, you have cheap plastic modular connectors that could be
bought in Radio Shack or some equivalent UK electronics junk store. The
plastic connector are easy to break if you don't understand how to
properly mate and demate them. They usually have a bendable plastic
male bayonet sticking down from one plug and there is usually a square
receptacle to insert the bayonet into, and that holds the connectors
together. To demate the connector, you have to squeeze the bayonet
toward the body of the plug, and gentle pull the two plugs apart...

In the USofA, headlights have to be on whenever the engine is
running...

In order to be able to switch the headlight on and off on my
motorbikes, I cut the ground wire coming from the headlight. Then I
install spade terminals on the wires and hook them to a rocker switch
that I epoxy to the handlebar switch housing. When the rocker switch is
in the open position power from the headlight that can't find its
normal ground will light the high beam indicator light instead...

You just might have a turn signal grounding problem, the ground wire
might not be making good contact all the way to the frame...

If you work on one of those Japanese switches, keep in mind that they
are incredibly expen$ive, and, if you break or lose some tiny bit,
you'll have to buy a new switch or look for aftermarket switches...

I was trying to kick start my dualsport motorbike about two weeks ago
and my knew accidently hit the rotary kill switchm breaking the knob. A
new
combination kill switch/starter switch will cost me $50 bucks US...

If you want to get your motorbike really clean, why not take it into
the hot tub or the sauna so you can get really intimate with it?

 

You just might have a turn signal grounding problem, the ground wire

Aye, from what folk have said this sounds like the most likely cause,
I'll find out where the indicator system 'grounds' and check this first
of all.

That was my worry, I do imagine this section to be a little too
intricate and delicate for my amatuer bumblings, Think I'll leave well
alone!

lol, mmm, well she is a sexy little beast, but the G/F's jealousy may
mean not much of 'El Neenj' would be recognisable the next day!!!

 

Steve,
I'd suspect the signal switch on the bars and check there first; it's a
place to start.
Check -every- plug and connection and make certain it's clean and
corrosion free. THEN reassemble those connections using di-electric
grease!
It'll prevent water/contaminants from getting there in the first place.
Do every plug-it's a matter of thorough preventative maintnenance....

Randy
compulsive bike washer
'05 Honda Aero 750
'00 Yamaha TW 200