Taillight/turn signal wiring harness? *UPDATE SOLVED*

[PSUbag]

A little background. Someone bumped into my rear turn signals and dented the fender. A local body guy straightened it out and painted it. It looks good but one of us    cracked the plastic on the wire plug harness that connects at the fender joint. I put it together anyway and wrapped it with tape. Yesterday before a ride, I checked my lights and I have no rear, right turn signal. I swapped the bulbs and that's not the problem. I pulled the turn signal assy out and all 6 connections are good. I have continuity from the wires to the socket. I figure I might as well buy the wiring (turn/tail to plug) since I'll have to pull the wires out to find the break anyway. I apparently am NOT good at finding stuff on part fiches, lol. Can anyone give me a part number and maybe a good source? Also, can you get the taillight out without taking the rear fender segment off?

Thanks for any help!

[PSUbag]

UPDATE

I found one on Partzilla. What in the world happened to Hal's Direct Line website? I couldn't find anything on there.

Still wondering if you can pull the taillight with the fender on though.

Thanks again!

[Willow]

...
Still wondering if you can pull the taillight with the fender on though.
...

Yes, but it can be a bitch.  Pulling it out is easy.  Putting it back on can be a different story.  Lining up those two bolts with the fender on can be a frustrating challenge.

[PSUbag]

...
Still wondering if you can pull the taillight with the fender on though.
...

Yes, but it can be a bitch.  Pulling it out is easy.  Putting it back on can be a different story.  Lining up those two bolts with the fender on can be a frustrating challenge.

Thanks.   

[Bagger John - #3785]

Deutsch and Hitachi OEMmed those connectors.

I have the pin extraction and crimp tools in case the parts sources dry up and the harness becomes NLA.

[PSUbag]

Deutsch and Hitachi OEMmed those connectors.

I have the pin extraction and crimp tools in case the parts sources dry up and the harness becomes NLA.

I appreciate that. Supposed to be delivered as early as Friday. I just got home from work and am going to pull the fender and pull the wires out and try to find the break, fix it and I'll have a spare. I had trouble with the license plate light wire before, the green wire kept pulling out of the connector. I finally crimped it a little and that took care of it. I was hoping that this was the same deal, but no such luck.

Thanks again!

[PSUbag]

I have continuity thru all wires from the plug at the fender joint clear to the turn signals. If it's on the other end, where does that even go? I was thinking maybe just run a jumper wire?

The bulb socket itself seems fine too.

 

[RonW]

It goes to the turn signal selector or nearest pin plug at the upstream end. Or, if your Right front turn signal is okay than from the front/rear signal wires branching point. Front and rears are parallel. Jumpers work. I use a bed-of-nails to pin point the faulty section(s) of wire between plugs.




[edit]
btw, I bought them years ago from an individual seller who sourced better rubber grips versus the cheap grips below that slip around. Individual sellers produce better products.

[PSUbag]

Yeah, my front one is working. Is there another plug upstream?

Sorry to be asking so many questions.

[RonW]

Yeah, my front one [turn signal] is working. Is there another plug upstream?

There's only a single 12pin plug upstream in the headlight bucket for the left handlebar controls. From there, there's no intermediate plug the entire distance to the green plug under the rear fender. However there's 2 crimps on the right signal's wire that supply electricity to an intended device. The graphic below is cut & pasted from the factory schematic. Right turn signal wire in orange.

Crimp A branches off to the front right signal, so Crimp A as well as the 12p plug must be okay by virtue that your front right signal works.

At Crimp B, the tributary wire goes to the turn signal indicator on the dashboard. If the indicator is working then Crimp B must be okay at least for the indicator branch. A working indicator also means the right signal wire is okay up to Crimp B.

From Crimp B, the right turn signal wire travels untapped all the way to the plug under the rear fender (according to the factory schematic). If the rear plug has no electricity, than there's a fault on the last section of wire.

I guess about the only way to test that wire is take a continuity reading with a probe on the 12p plug in the headlight bucket and the other probe on the rear plug at the other end. The wire and it's two crimps are wrapped inside the wire harness.

Imho jumpers are a more reliable method since even if a single strand is hanging on where the wire is nicked or pinched a meter might still beep, register continuity, but there won't be enough electricty flowing through to light the bulb.

[PSUbag]

Yeah, my front one [turn signal] is working. Is there another plug upstream?

There's only a single 12pin plug upstream in the headlight bucket for the left handlebar controls. From there, there's no intermediate plug the entire distance to the green plug under the rear fender. However there's 2 crimps on the right signal's wire that supply electricity to an intended device. The graphic below is cut & pasted from the factory schematic. Right turn signal wire in orange.

Crimp A branches off to the front right signal, so Crimp A as well as the 12p plug must be okay by virtue that your front right signal works.

At Crimp B, the tributary wire goes to the turn signal indicator on the dashboard. If the indicator is working then Crimp B must be okay at least for the indicator branch. A working indicator also means the right signal wire is okay up to Crimp B.

From Crimp B, the right turn signal wire travels untapped all the way to the plug under the rear fender (according to the factory schematic). If the rear plug has no electricity, than there's a fault on the last section of wire.

I guess about the only way to test that wire is take a continuity reading with a probe on the 12p plug in the headlight bucket and the other probe on the rear plug at the other end. The wire and it's two crimps are wrapped inside the wire harness.

Imho jumpers are a more reliable method since even if a single strand is hanging on where the wire is nicked or pinched a meter might still beep, register continuity, but there won't be enough electricty flowing through to light the bulb.

Thank you! That's a huge help!

[gordonv]

Yeah, my front one [turn signal] is working. Is there another plug upstream?

The graphic below is cut & pasted from the factory schematic.

Crimp A branches off to the front right signal, so Crimp A as well as the 12p plug must be okay by virtue that your front right signal works.


Imho jumpers are a more reliable method since even if a single strand is hanging on where the wire is nicked or pinched a meter might still beep, register continuity, but there won't be enough electricity flowing through to light the bulb.

I too have this problem, left side front/back turn signal not working. I suspect I'll find the same picture in the Service Manual for my IS.

As for you comment on the continuity test, I recently say this on youtube from Diagnose Dan, that had that same thing. Wire would show connected, but enough power couldn't make it to the connected devise.

[PSUbag]

 

"Imho jumpers are a more reliable method since even if a single strand is hanging on where the wire is nicked or pinched a meter might still beep, register continuity, but there won't be enough electricty flowing through to light the bulb."

I think you were correct about the light blue wire still having enough strands to show continuity but not enough to power the bulb. I ran a wire from the headlight green plug to the bulb socket and the turn signal worked. I then tried it at the plug under the fender and no go. So I'm glad I did already order that harness.

Your help was invaluable! Thanks again!

[RonW]

Awesome! Routing the wire is gonna be a project in itself, though. I suggest you label the wire with some kind mark. I did this to my Shadow VT600 and have no idea which wire is which. Even the colors are mismatched since I used the wires I had on hand. Probably won't sell the bike so its okay.

[RonW]

I too have this problem, left side front/back turn signal not working.

A likely culprit is the turn signal selector.

    



It only takes a few minutes to inspect selector switch. The switch is located under the thumblever. Removing the thumblever mounting plate removes the thumblever with it. It's not necessary to unscrew the thumblever from the mounting plate unless you're greasing the pivot. On reassembly the wire clamp goes on top of the mounting plate in that order.



For the two screws that hold the clamshell together, the front screw is longer than the rear screw 5X32 vrs. 5X22. On the unlikely occassion that you have both left and right clamshells apart, the screws for the left & right clamshells are different lengths. Most people would place all 4 screws in the same magnetic bowl etc. then think later that the previous owner musta replaced the oem screws. Wrongly. For example, while the front screw is the longer screw on the left clamshell, on the right clamshell, the rear screw is the longer screw. Again, all 4 screws are different lengths vrs. 2 pairs of identical screws.


Below, lower clamshell, thumblever removed. The thumblever shifts the movable contact to the left and to the right, so on. To extract the contacts from the clamshell, pluck out its holder from the notch. The holder is friction fitted in the notch.




In the example below, the left leg at X of the copper bridge (contact) is encrusted in its slot keeping it too low to make full contact. There's a tiny coil spring behind the copper bridge.




Just for conversation the selector switch works like below.

[gordonv]

Thanks Ronw, never seen those pics. The most I've done is my old Shadow VT1100T I used contact cleaner on the switch and it worked again.

[RonW]

Lol, somebody might gleen new info from the post. All Honda's turn signal selectors have similar or the same design. I'll add that the ideal way to work on the clamshell is to unplug it and fix it on a table. Or at least place a towel under the handlebar so if parts drop they don't roll away on the garage floor and disappear forever.

This has never been a problem for me, but I stumbled across a youtube video that had the ball for the thumblever spring fall out. The ball appeared captured with the bikes I worked on or it was due to bliss.

[PSUbag]

FINALLY! After taking the fender off and replacing the wiring harness from the fender plug to the turnsignals, it STILL wasn't working.  I was going to put a jumper wire over the plug. As I was fiddling with the forward plug they suddenly started working, then quit again. So I assumed my break was right at plug and jumped a wire from one side to the other. Still nothing.  So i decided to take the seat off and follow the wires as best I could. Right beside the battery box there are connectors and sure enough, the light blue wire wasn't pushed clear in.

On the bright side, I can now take the fender off and put it back on in like 35 seconds, lol. 

Thanks for the help!

[RonW]

Awesome! I might owe you a beer. I stated earlier that there's no intermediate plug between the p-connector under the rear fender and the 12p connector in the headlight bucket. I was going by the schematic that makes it appear that the bullet connectors are under the rear fender. In actuality the bullet connectors (A) are located midway the bike under the Boot B at a different zip code.

Moral is some days the schematics aren't worth krep. Or, while schematics do provide you with an indepth understanding of how the electricals are configured, the same schematic may be deceptive on the true location of devices if relied on as a map or poor man's GPS. Also, it's good practice to cross reference the oem parts exploded view.

[PSUbag]

Awesome! I might owe you a beer. I stated earlier that there's no intermediate plug between the p-connector under the rear fender and the 12p connector in the headlight bucket. I was going by the schematic that makes it appear that the bullet connectors are under the rear fender. In actuality the bullet connectors (A) are located midway the bike under the Boot B at a different zip code.

Moral is some days the schematics aren't worth krep. Or, while schematics do provide you with an indepth understanding of how the electricals are configured, the same schematic may be deceptive on the true location of devices if relied on as a map or poor man's GPS. Also, it's good practice to cross reference the oem parts exploded view.

No beers necessary, lol. You were a big help! It's typical for me to turn a 5 minute job into a 2 week ordeal. 

[gordonv]

Good for you, you found it. Now for mine, that makes sense now. I do remembering taking the right side cover off to pull a fuse while I was getting fixing my heated grip wires in the fairing as I needed to have the power turned on but wanted the head lights turned off.

Had to move a multiple wires out of the way to get to the fuse.