indicators all went out

[ELR4ever]

Hi guys,

New here, but, appreciate the info. The indicators on my naked '99 acted funny a few times, not coming on immediately, but, couldn't tell if it was my imagination. Then all the sudden they would come on after a fiddle or after forgetting about it. Now after starting the bike this cold morning, they don't work at all. Should I just start chasing wires? I would assume it could be something in the switchgear on the handlebars. All tips gladly accepted. Mostly curious if this is common. Cheers -Dave in Dublin

[yorkie_chris]

Seeing as its all of them, first I'd check the fuses, then check the wire going into the switchgear from the relay has power (it should be intermittent), then check the switch is working right.

[ELR4ever]

Cheers, I'll be tearing into it tonight. -D

[ELR4ever]

Cheers, I'll be tearing into it tonight. -D

[petevtwin650]

Assuming the fuses are the same as my faired 2001 curvy then when the fuse went the instruments went too. So maybe start with the relay.

[Razor]

Indicators are like that, they work, then they don't, then they do again! Infuriating!

[petevtwin650]

Indicators are like that, they work, then they don't, then they do again! Infuriating!

Isn't what they are supposed to do.

Otherwise they wouldn't be flashing.:smt077:smt077

[ELR4ever]

Now I'm really stumped. On drive home, they worked right off of turning the bike on. Got around the corner and they were dead again. All of them. It must be a short somewhere? I can't imagine it's temp related. Something is probably vibrating. I'll try and suss it now. Prepare for expletives upon my return. Again, any experiene with this appreciated. ](*,) I should have been an electrician, the rest of the bike is easy in comparison.:smt045

[yorkie_chris]

Its a bad wire somewhere, this is pretty common with the SV, was with mine anyway before I got mad and rewired it all.
At a guess I'd say its the wire from the relay to the switch. The wire from the fusebox to the relay is only a little stub with no connectors on it, unlikely to go wrong IMO.
Anything after those 2 wires would kill one side or the other. And it will be a break, a short would be blowing the signal fuse.

[ELR4ever]

I did a cursory look around last night and took the switch apart. No obvious probs. What I realized is that all 4 indicators work when I turn the alarm on or off, so it's not the bulbs or power to the indicators. So a mate at work thinks it's a relay. Anyone know where the relay is for the indicators? I can't imagine having to tear the loom apart to try and find a broken or chaffed wire. No immediate signs of chaffing yet, though I didn't take the airbox or tail unit off yet. Ran out of time. I can't get back at it until Monday now too!:smt013

[petevtwin650]

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i184/petevtwin650/orgphoto/indyrelay.jpg

[ELR4ever]

Been busy messing with carbs, so only back on this.

As of last night, the indicators would work right after I turned the bike on, keep working for about 10 seconds then out. Is this somehow related to how long the bike has been on or charge? I'm thinking of just getting a new relay and sticking it in. I don't see any signs of chaffing. Let me know if you have a clue. Might try and tes my wires with the multi meter, but, even that seems like a monumental task. :confused:

[ELR4ever]

Finally sorted my indicator problem. I got a crash course in electrics from several mates and used a multimeter to check the relay (no prob), the continuity of the light blue wire from relay to switches (no prob) and finally looked at the wires going into the relay connector. Two had black tape on about a two inch section, so I pulled it off to see what's up and found one of them had a diode soldered in. As you may know, the relay wires kinda mash down on the plastic below them that covers the battery, so this rigid diode spliced in had a bad continuity, and was intermittant, esp if I hit a big bump or something. So, I cut the diode out as it was not in the production wiring diagram and started thinking. I had an alarm put in so I rang the guy to find he put the diode in because many or most of the Suzuki's need the current allowed only to travel one-way into the relay on the orange and green wire. Otherwise, if one of the indicators is left on when you set the alarm(even with the key out of the ignition), it will turn the ignition on, drain the battery and he said it tends to blow up alarms after some time. I bought a new diode and am just waiting on a soldering iron to put it back in. The other wire was cut and respliced I assume because the alarm guy didn't know which one that required the diode, and found out the second time. This must almost exceed the max thread length. Thanks for the help amigos. -Dave:cheers::):cool:

[yorkie_chris]

Alarms are quite a common cause of wiring trouble

[ELR4ever]

Yorkie,

Like you said, I believe, it was a bad wire somewhere. Glad I'm signalling again. Cheers.