Turn signals not working all the time

[itsdrock]

Hello everyone, I'm a new FJ rider, and it's my first bike actually. It's a 1990 FJ1200 with a little over 20k miles. And I love it!!
The turn signals would work sometimes, only after wiggling the switch. Then, when I cancel the signal, it wouldn't work again. Thus, I'm only using hand signals when I turn. It can be kinda scary during traffic time because, I risk someone slamming into me from behind because they don't know I'm trying to turn.
The previous owner had left the bike outside for a few years and I took it to the shop and they restored all the mechanical parts. Only things left undone are: the speedometer's not working, and the turn signals work intermittently. If anyone can give me pointers that would be great, thanks

[rktmanfj]

You could try opening the switch housing and cleaning things up... it looks like this:

[itsdrock]

will give it a go in the morning. spraying wd40 to clean it should be fine right? and thanks btw.

[Arnie]

After the WD40 you might want to also spray some contact cleaner in there.
Another cause may be one or more dirty ground connections.
Just need to go through and clean any electrical connection you can get to.
Unplug and replug all connectors to clean with or without contact cleaner.
Its just testing you to see if you have proper FJ rappor :-)

[itsdrock]

so upon opening the switch housing, I found 2 wires loose from the contacts. these wires are right behind the switch, when you take the switch off, they are brown, light brown, and black. the middle wire is completely loose and the black is coming off. I'm sure I'll need a soldering iron to put it back in place. will post after doing so.

[andyoutandabout]

If none of this works, it might be that mysterious black box in the system. You can easily bypass this with another flasher unit available from Walmart. I did this 8 years ago and the repair is still good. Let us know your position after soldering the switch.
Andy

[red]

so upon opening the switch housing, I found 2 wires loose from the contacts. these wires are right behind the switch, when you take the switch off, they are brown, light brown, and black. the middle wire is completely loose and the black is coming off. I'm sure I'll need a soldering iron to put it back in place. will post after doing so.

itsdrock,

If you can remove the contacts from the housing before soldering, you can avoid the risk of melting the contact supports.  Use a green (copper) scrubber pad to clean up the bare wire and the contacts, where you will solder the wire.  60/40 (tin/lead) solder works best for electrical work, but it may be hard to find.  Try the electronics parts (ham radio) stores, for that.  FLUX is the magic stuff that makes soldering jobs go well.  No flux = poor soldering, usually.  Do not use any acid flux on electric stuff.  The best flux that I know is LA-CO white paste flux.  It comes in a black jar with a red top.
http://www.laco.com/soldering-fluxes/regular-flux-paste/

Once you solder things, you need to remove the excess flux from the contacts and wire (so things will stay fixed) and LA-CO flux washes away with water.  Other fluxes need alcohol or solvents to clean things up, after the work.  With LA-CO flux, all you need is water and an old toothbrush to get things clean again.  Put the work on a paper towel, and scrub it clean with a wet toothbrush.  I think that you will like the results.

Once everything is fixed and bolted in place, use a nylon Ty-Wrap to secure the wiring to the handlebars, to prevent any future damage (caused by flexing the wires).

Cheers,
Red

[itsdrock]

thanks all for the great responses. it has been so helpful. i'll gather all the supplies in the morning, and try to get it done before the day is done and will update.

[itsdrock]

so i went in there and soldered the loose wires in place. took me a good while to get it to stick, after much trial and error(first time soldering). fortunately, everything seems to be in order now. i took it for a ride, and the signals were working just as they should.  thanks all for great help, couldn't have done it without y'all.

[fintip]

Hold your breath a bit, and keep an eye on things. An FJ's handlebars is a very demanding place for a soldering job to be. It might work now, but that doesn't guarantee it won't vibrate loose in time--that will be the real test.

Good job though!

[Tom]

Reminds me of the time an aprentice asked if I could check the indicators on a bike....Him- "do they work?" Me " yes, no, yes, no, yes, no" so off he went to find the problem!!!!!!!!

[Bones]

Reminds me of the time an aprentice asked if I could check the indicators on a bike....Him- "do they work?" Me " yes, no, yes, no, yes, no" so off he went to find the problem!!!!!!!!

And straight after that he had to go get a bucket of compressed air, and a left handed screwdriver. 

[FJscott]

Yep, having fun at the greenhorns expense.
For us in the maritime industry its "go get a bucket of steam" or
" get me a tube of relative bearing grease" 

Scott

[big r]

Don't forget to send him out for a left hand sky hook. Big R

[airheadPete]

Or a bucket of propwash!