turn signal ?
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Stage III
Joined: Jun 2007
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turn signal ?
I have an 03 fatboy. Recently noticed rt. turn signal indicator flashing fast.The right rear signal doesn't work but, the rt. front does.. Disconnected rear harness under the seat and the indicator still flashes fast. My initial thought is a short in the wiring prior to the connector under the seat. I recently replaced the left rear signal complete, do to damage. Bulbs appear ok. Any thoughts before I pull the tank to follow the wiring out?
May our Moderator Rest in Peace
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 11,386
Likes: 35
From: Rochester, NY
RE: turn signal ?
Welcome to the boards.
The front will often flash faster (or rear) if the other bulb in the circuit is burned out, broken, or not connected. Ford used to set the circuit to stop flashing if one bulb burned out as a kind of poor mans warning device.
So before you go nuts pulling things apart, and your hair out looking. Check the bulb socket and make sure your getting juice to the connection. Use a volt meter if you have one and check between thecenter connectionand the side, not the bike frame. That will tell you if your getting juice to the both connections at the bulb. If you do recheck the bulb with the ohm meter part of the volt meter to see if its open. It may be broken internally and just not easy to see. If you don't have a meter try switching the bulbs front to rear and see if the problem stays or moves. If it stays with the socket start there, if it moves you got a bad bulb.
If you don't read voltage across the sockettry measuring it between the center contact and the frame. If you get it there you know its a grounding problem with the socket, wires,or assembly.
IF that doesn't seem to work your just going to have to backtrack the wire to see where your loosing it. Odds are its going to be a bad, corroded, or dirtyconnection somewhere. Especially since you were just in there fooling with things. Wires don't generally break with some cause and they don't short out without blowing fuses.
Good Luck and let us know what you find. It may help the next poor guy fix his a little easier/quicker.
The front will often flash faster (or rear) if the other bulb in the circuit is burned out, broken, or not connected. Ford used to set the circuit to stop flashing if one bulb burned out as a kind of poor mans warning device.
So before you go nuts pulling things apart, and your hair out looking. Check the bulb socket and make sure your getting juice to the connection. Use a volt meter if you have one and check between thecenter connectionand the side, not the bike frame. That will tell you if your getting juice to the both connections at the bulb. If you do recheck the bulb with the ohm meter part of the volt meter to see if its open. It may be broken internally and just not easy to see. If you don't have a meter try switching the bulbs front to rear and see if the problem stays or moves. If it stays with the socket start there, if it moves you got a bad bulb.
If you don't read voltage across the sockettry measuring it between the center contact and the frame. If you get it there you know its a grounding problem with the socket, wires,or assembly.
IF that doesn't seem to work your just going to have to backtrack the wire to see where your loosing it. Odds are its going to be a bad, corroded, or dirtyconnection somewhere. Especially since you were just in there fooling with things. Wires don't generally break with some cause and they don't short out without blowing fuses.
Good Luck and let us know what you find. It may help the next poor guy fix his a little easier/quicker.
RE: turn signal ?
Pull the lens and bulb out and check the socket in the back of the bulb where the contacts are. Make sure the cheap plastic that HD used to make the socket out of isn't cracked.
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Thread Starter
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Stage III
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
RE: turn signal ?
Do I feel stupid! All my training lead me to believe a hyper active flasher means a direct short. It was a bad bulb. Not visible to the naked eye but, an open circuit. Thanks for the help.
May our Moderator Rest in Peace
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 11,386
Likes: 35
From: Rochester, NY
RE: turn signal ?
See its always best to start with thesimple things first.
Its actually a rare thing when you canfind a truely diabolical problem in an electrical system unless someones been playing around with it or the bike is older than dirt. You can come across the odd problem now and then like crappy sockets or connectors. But by and large a modern electrical system is a fairlywell engineered setup with very few trueproblems with the wires.
Glad your back in operation, ride safe and watch out for the nuts in cars.
Its actually a rare thing when you canfind a truely diabolical problem in an electrical system unless someones been playing around with it or the bike is older than dirt. You can come across the odd problem now and then like crappy sockets or connectors. But by and large a modern electrical system is a fairlywell engineered setup with very few trueproblems with the wires.
Glad your back in operation, ride safe and watch out for the nuts in cars.
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RE: turn signal ?
Has anyone seen this problem manifest into a bad LED indicator assembly where you have replace the lamp and still have a blinking indicator? I have replaced the bulb and the indicator LED for the right turn signal seems to blink with the engine revs. I replace the LED assembly with one that had a bad nuetral indicator and the right turn indicator doesnt blink by itself, only when its supposed to.
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