Turn signal issues!!

Hello, I have a 1981 XJ650. I am having problems with my turn signals, my headlight, and brakelight are working. The turn signals i am trying ,are aftermarket with a pos and neg wire. The bulbs look fine they are brand new out of the box lamps. I have the aftermarket lamp wires wired directly, positive to the factory green wire(s) and negative to the factory black wire(s). I noticed that on the old turn signal set up that the ground wire is grounded to a bolt on the turnsignal. I have checked the fuses, i am thinking that maybe there is a ground problem or maybe i am even missing a ground wire. I have connected one blue, yellow, and black for the tail. and the four wires pos and negs for turn signals. am i missing any?
NOTE: The front signals are not working either when they were before and i havnt modified them at all. ANY AND ALL HELP IS APPRETIATED!

 

Define not working please- Not lighting or not blinking?

A ) Assuming not LED - Take out the bulb. Are there 1 or 2 silver buttons on the bottom? If two the 2nd wire is not ground. Its looking for ground via mounting bolt.

B ) If single button, maybe you have bad ground. You also mentioned originally it DID ground to a mounting bolt. What are you grounding it to now? One of the existing ground wires?

C ) If LED and not blinking, many posts about that. Basically need mechanical blinker and MAYBE load resistors.

 

Its not lighting AT ALL, on the bottom of the bulb there is only one button. i have the ground that was grounded to the bolt on the old just wired directly to the new lamps ground wire. It is NOT LED. from the sounds of what you are saying it needs to be grounded via mounting bolt which isnt good in my case because these lights have a plastic mount? with no metal bolts or screws

 

Only one button is good. Though you do need to tap into a GOOD existing ground for the new light's wires.

Did you try connecting the light wires directly to the battery posts to make sure the assembly it self is good? (Two wires makes it easy to test by touching them to the posts). If that sounds to scary then use the same plug connectors the front lights are using to at least make sure the light is good.

Silly thing to check - but I made this mistake as did the PO.
Did someone put a single button bulb into a double button bulb socket?

 

The wires from the turn signals go to a brown ("chocolate" believe it or not) wire for one side and a green for the other, and can connect to a ground wire instead of grounding to the mounting bolt.

The stock taillight wiring is a little misleading, do you have a book/wiring diagram?

One other thing: if that's your original fusebox, it can LOOK just fine and still be broken and you won't know it. Until one day you'll open it and one of the fuse clips will be just laying there having broken off all by itself.

Also, check the wattage on the new bulbs. Once you get them to light, they won't flash if they're not the correct wattage. Stock bulbs are 1156's which IIRC are 27W.

 

cool appretiate it guys thats a couple more things i can try i didnt think about touching them to the posts. I am going to buy all new fuses today and extras just in case. i will update how things work.

 

Before you get too involved tracking down multiple issues, try to isolate the easiest problem first - being the ground issue. Get yourself a trouble testing light and ground it to the battery, then put the probe onto the ground of the bulb. If it flashes, then you've got a grounding problem.

 

well as my luck has it i put the wires to the post they both worked except for the second one i tried the bulb blew out immediatly after it lit up, alright Rickinduncan im going to give that a shot.

 

A bulb blowing out immediately usually means it was the wrong voltage ( are you sure it was 12 volt) - Rick

 

no it wasnt 12v but i do have some now...but still having trouble with it got it wired pos to neg still fuses are all new, my new tail light came in today and now im having trouble with it... it comes stays lit but when you put on the front or rear brake it doesnt illumiate brighter like its supposed to. I am missing a ground or something i just dont know where.

 

You probably swapped running/brake wires - It does get confusing with the white, blue and black wires (or was it yellow?) in the tail light. I always forget which is which if I don't write it down or have the book in front of me.

 

When i disconnected all of the wires i taped the ones that went together, together.... but i guess it still could be possible i got one mixed up i guess. with the tail light there is a yellow, blue, and black. with the turn signals there is brown, black and green, and black. I do not have the yellow wire connected to anything at all right now because i was under the impression that it was for the license plate light, but maybe it isnt... anyone know? maybe thats my whole problem. this would be much easier with a wiring diagram. i def need to purchase a haynes manual

 

3 wires for tail light assemblies
Ground (black)
Brake
Running/Plate

Depending on the model it you will or won't have a separate plate light, but it should be the same wire, because they are always on.

Also keep in mind aftermarket lights don't always use the same colors, often come without instructions and MIGHT use black for HOT + not ground. SHRUG

EDIT: For the most part all Yamaha wiring harnesses use the same standard wire colors for common items (i.e. black = ground).

 

Suggestions:

A) Tell people your year/model number in signature

B) Request a wiring diagram! Most people will get you a copy of that (but not the whole manual). I might have it, but not able to upload it at the moment.