Electrical is not my friend

Ok so when I got the bike the blinkers didn't work at all. Put a new battery in it still thing. Opened the left hand control nothing jumps out it just looks 33years old. Thinking I'm going to have to run something new. Not all that worried about the self canceling, if I need to use a three way toggle ill just do that. Any pointers. I can run some wiring if I need to I'm just not that knowledgable with electrical terms. By the way I did buy a el13 flasher from pepboys but that has 3 prongs but my old one has 4. Not certain on that one either.

 

Oh and the manual should be here tomorrow ill look through and see what I find.

 

did you check your fuses? see if any juice is going through the fuse?

 

I pulled my front reflectors off to clean em and the left side(sitting on bike) had a ground wire that was for my turn signals. I know because I forgot to put it back on and didn't have turn signals. As soon as I re-attached it, bingo, signals.

 

get a multimeter and set it to continuity mode. use the probes on the multimeter to test each end of a given wire. If you have continuity you know you have an electrical connection.

to test a ground wire put one multimeter probe on the negative battery terminal, then put the the other probe on a given ground wire. If you have continuity your ground is good, if not repair your ground connection.

Next thing, if continuity is good on all the wires, is to check for voltage drop (resistance) along the wire. This is done with the bike running. Set the multimeter to the DC 12-20v range and measure the voltage of a given wire as close to the fuse box as possble with one probe, and the other on the negative battery terminal. Then on the same wire move farther down the wire, towards the next connector block, and check voltage there. if the voltage values are equal, there is no drop and the wire is good. Next use the probe farther down the same wire, on the other side of whatever connecter is in-line. If there is no voltage drop, the connector is good. Rinse and repeat on all suspect wires & connectors.

If there is voltage drop on a wire, the wire should be replaced. if there is voltage drop across a connector, the connector should be cleaned or bypassed in cases of extreme corrosion.

Hope this helps. also make sure to check the XJ Electrical FAQ, here:
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=391146.html

 

Here's more information on voltage drop testing from Yamaha Vision FAQ: http://www.jetav8r.com/Vision/IgnitionFAQ.html#aa3p4

 

Maxim... if you need a hand.... can you bring the bike out my way? I'm just off the Gettysburg exit of the Turnpike (Interstate 76)

 

slackard, you don't need the bike to be running to do voltage drop testing, unless you are testing something like the charging system, or a relay that is held closed only when the bike is running. You will need the ignition on.

Also, if you get voltage drop across the wire, the wire itself might not be bad, only it's crimp on the connector. The crimp and un-insulated end of the wire can corrode, but usually any wire under the insulation is fine. Simply cutting the old connector pin off, stripping some fresh wire, and re-crimping a new connector pin can fix this problem.

Voltage drop testing is the BEST way to find faults with the wiring.

Maximphilly2texas, you said the the switch looked fine. Did you clean it? If you've opened it up, you really should just take the time to clean all of the contacts in there, even if that isn't the cause of your issue. Corrosion there will lead to further problems down the road.

 

JMilliken- trust me if I had a truck to bring it out I would. It is about a 2 hr drive and I don trust my bike down the street right now.

 

Been there, done that.... Where are you at in Philly? I could easily be persuaded to head out for an afternoon.... (especially if you can get football tickets!)