Turn signal glitch

Usually it's the right signal that acts up.
Maybe you are grounding on one of the left side wires.
Some fluttering of the lights can be eliminated by using a heavy duty flasher unit.

Lonnie

I used a trailer wiring harness and have the ground grounded to the frame and used a 12V wiring tester to isolate which wire on the motorcycle wiring harness operated each light and signal. I didn't connect anything to the left turn wire. Thats what is strange to me, why is this happening to the left turn signal?

i assume this is on a fuel injected Harley,as that is the only ones i have had do this. it ocurrs because the computer somehow detects the imballance of the extra signal. this doesn't occur on the carb bikes. your dealer may be able to reset the system to stop this.

if you do not have anything hooked to the left side of the isolator,attaching a bulb in that circuit and hiding it somewhere should also cure the problem.

I too had the turn signal glitch on my fuel injected HD. It is in fact the extra load needs to be balanced. I took the opposite approach and used LED lamps in the side car light to lighten the draw on the right side. Its a flaw in the HD electronics they really like to see a balanced load.

Hi Lonnie, I have the same deal with mt newly rigged Nightster?563T. Given my lack of electrical prowess, what would be my easiest recourse?

Thanks,

Thanks guys. This is on a fuel injected Electra Glide. I will try the easy route first and if this doesn't work then I will go to the dealership. Thanks again.

Beth,
Some of the late Harley FI systems seem to have this as a reprogrammable computor problem. I haven't noticed it with any of the late Ultras but maybe they are different due to added electrics on these models.

I have one Yamaha (carburated) in the shop that is using the extra bulb fix described above. The extra bulbs are wrapped in black electricians tape to keep the light down. I tried bypassing them but then the turn signals don't work correctly.
I don't know if this would work for your rig but it can be tried with probes without a permanent hookup.

Some signals will work OK if you remove or block off the right side bike lamps.

Are you finally getting some moving sun now?

BTW: I couldn't read the Serial# from the pic.

Lonnie

Thanks for the suggestions- sending you an email 🙂

I took the easiest route and tried putting 2 bulbs on the left turn signal circuit and that fixed the problem. With saddlebags all I did was drop the lights in the left bag. Thanks again folks.

There are usually two possible causes for the symptoms you describe. Once you told us it was a Harley, I remembered what it was on my bike. I have a 2004 EFI Ultra. I had the same symptoms.

The first thing to do is remove the right turn signal bulb on your motorcycle and make a test to see if that doesn't cure the problem. IIRC, the earlier manuals told you to do that to prevent confusion. On the later bikes that have a TSM or TSSM, (Turn Signal Module or Turn Signal Security Module) the computer will sense improper resistance on the turn signal circuit and will cause the fast flash after 4 correct flashes. It is this module that acts as a flashing unit for the turn signals.

The other issue that I had was a "signal short" in the left handlebar pod. I had removed it to add an accessory air horn button and apparently I pinched two wires together. They were not shorted to ground but rather shorted together so that the signals imbalanced the system when I used the left turn signal.

I fooled around with it for a week and finally broke down and took it to the dealer (first time in 16 years!). They used their Digital Technician Laptop and Harley Breakout box and found the signal short. After that, the turn signal was flashing too quickly but all of the time. I then asked the technician to remove the right turn signal bulb and all was well.

This not an uncommon problem on later-model Harleys that were built after the start of the TSM/TSSM design. It often arises when the owner changes the lighting configuration, adding or modifying the lights.

Try removing the right turn signal bulb and, if that doesn't do it, I suggest a trip to the dealer. You will need to go there to have your TSM or TSSM "toggled" to sidecar usage in any case, assuming your bike has the Harley add-on Roll Over Protection switch, P/N 889115-03. The dealer can toggle it so that the bank angle sensor is disconnected and relaced by the Roll over switch. That way instead of shutting off when it falls over left or right more than 45 degrees like a solo bike, it will shut the motor off if the sidecar flips completely over (100 to 180 degrees). I hope that never happens. This is covered in the Harley sidecar book that I have, P/N 99485-06.

Unfortunately, on 2003 and later HD's, this is a dealer change that agains requires the Digital Technician and they usually charge a half-hour to do it. ($47.50 in my neck of the woods).

Hope this helps.