Ok, ok...you all know I have been chasing down an electrical issue on Gertrude. I am looking for advice and/or guidance cause I'm about to go nuts. First, I'm going to explain the symptoms, then I'm going to tell you everything I have done, then I'm going to you what I think I need to do next, and finally I hope someone will come swooping in to save not only the day, but also my sanity and Gertrude. By the way, Gertrude is a 2006 Street Glide fuel injected 88CID.

So here we go...A long time ago, on a highway, far far away, the problem started. My right blinker would come on. It would not blink, just stay lit up. I was told by various people that I was a ground issue, and somehow somewhere there was a short and something was trying to ground back through the TSM (turn signal module) and therefore causing the lit blinker. Going down the highway, this short seems to be activated and de-activated by the bumps in the road. I hit small bumps, the light flickers. I hit a big bump, the light stays lit. I hit another big bump, the light goes away.

That is what it does, now here is all I have done. I got out my schematics and learned kind of sort of where all these wires go, but more so where all the grounds are located. I took my volt meter and ohm'ed out the grounds, all working. I did learn that if I disconnect the rear wiring harness under the seat (the harness that leads to the rear circuit board behind tail light) the problem goes away. Since then, I have changed all the rear components, the circuit board, the blinker lights, the tail light and tail light wires, and even the license plate light wires. The symptoms continued. I learned that if I disconnect the connector under the seat and plug it back in the issue would go away, therefore I by passed the connector using the quick splice vampire splices. Lately, I have been having to unplug and replug the rear connector to the circuit board, so I replaced the rear connector thinking it was old and worn out. Symptoms still persist. Today, I was lucky enough that the issue was happening in my drive way. I took the tail light off, unplugged each of the plugs (left blinker, right blinker, tail light, and license plate light), and the issue remained. I unplugged the main plug from the harness, and problem went away. When I plugged it back in, the problem was gone again.

So here I am, almost without hope and a new plan. I believe that the issue is no longer between the connection under the seat and the rear end. I'm leaning more towards the TSM or a connection between the TSM and that rear light harness, if there is a connection.

I would love input on this. As the TSM seems to be a pain in the a** to get to, I really don't me being able to do anything to test it and ride, test and ride. Is there a connection, or does that harness go straight to the TSM? If a TSM was faulty, would it create this problem? Since the problem goes away with me tampering with the rear harness, does this mean I am in the right spot, as in something from the TSM to the rear? Being that if I unplug and reconnect, and the issue goes away temporary, could it be possible that I am somehow resetting the TSM to work properly until my next bump in the road?

 

I'm not a Harley tech but an aviation mech / tech. Here's what I would do if it was my bike: disassemble all grounds (the ones on the frame near the battery box, and any others you may know about) and clean the studs and terminals thoroughly with a small brass bristled brush, then reassemble. I would also remove all the fuses and clean the fuse blades, and sockets, with the brass bristled brush. I would also hit the fuse blades with some Deoxit before re-inserting. I would also disconnect as many connectors as possible and hit the pins and sockets with the Deoxit. When you disconnect the electrical connectors look closely at every wire and pin you can lay eyes on to see if anything looks chafed or bent or corroded.

Just because the grounds read continuity doesn't mean everything is Jim dandy with the circuit when the bike is running. Once voltage / current is applied to the grounds the resistance will rise if the connection isn't good and clean.

The bike is 13 years old, you live in a humid environment, and there could be some high resistance (corrosion), or a chafing / shorted wire somewhere that you would ameliorate with the aforementioned procedure. Will it fix it? maybe, maybe not....but it's an inexpensive task to perform, and I would definitely do this before spending any money on it.

 

Start with the simple things first. Have you checked the bulbs ?

 

I had one brake light that would work sometime and not at other times. This was on my street glide. I swapped the bulbs left to right and the problem switch side.
Install new bulbs and everything fine. Use some dielectric grease on your connections and bulb bases.

 

My "wild guess" (lol) is something inside the the TSM is going out and when there is more than 1 bulb on the circuit (load) it won't blink.
I'd suspect if you take the bulb out of the front signal the rear would blink normally.

I know I'm probably wrong, but it was fun to guess anyway.
Good luck

 

Yes. All bulbs are good. Swapped them around, got new bulbs, swapped new bulbs around, and checked for corrosion on all sockets.

Im thinking TSM, however a lot of ppl have been telling me its probably my blinker switch grounding out.

 

I completely agree. Its pretty much free, just time consuming, however, the ole girl is well worth it. She has 88k miles on her. Im trying to make 106k miles, so that i would have put 100k on a bike. And I need to check the blinker switches. I have gotten a lot feedback saying to try those. So guess what I get to do, and while I am at it, i will look at the connectors in the fairing. Surprisingly enough, not a lot of corrosion to found so far, actually, barely any. The seals on the connectors work and last better than I would ever thought. With all the wiring, there are actually only 5 grounds. The main one for the battery, two under the seat (dirty and clean grounds), and two in the fairing (one to ground the handlebars to fairing because of the riser bushings, and one in the fairing that goes back).



When it hits a bump and causes the symptoms, it has always looked to change with the rear tire bounces and not the front. i dont know it that makes any sense or difference in the matter.



So for now, its TSM, switches, grounds, and to inspect more connections.



Thanks you guys, I will do these, and post back with out come.

 

I quit reading when I got to gertrude.

Just going to point out it takes two positive and ground.

 

Can't help with a tsm, but I do have a tssm, ecm and remote.

 

Simple solution: just make sure you always hit an even number of bumps when you go riding.

OK; now that I got my typical wise-*** remark out of the way...I agree with the people about the blinker switch...prolly an intermittant short inside the handlebar switch, which is why it's always the same side blinker.