Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Club

1997 Standard...just returned from 2500km. ride, lots of bumps and lots of rain.... turn signals failed on the way home..... left signal on... front left works- rear right on with pulsating brake light, both rear lights dim.  right signal on...right front flashed very fast-rear left signal on with pulsating brake light, both rear lights dim.  brake light only works from hand lever and only pulsates and dim--no brake light from brake pedal.....visually checked bulbs and they appeared ok... side note.. keeps burning fuse on high beam, ok on low beam. I don't know if the two are related .... any suggestions on where to start??   :)

The brake pedal switch might need adjusting or the coil spring fell off. It's unrelated to the brake lever switch or the signal issues. When you activate the Left side signal, does the left-rear signal work? When you activate the Right side signal, does the right-rear signal work? For the high-light fuse issue, maybe you got water in the headlight bucket.

This reads like a pinched/shorted wire to me.  Have you done anything with the rear lighting connector inside the rear fender, or had the turn signal switch housing apart, or played with the wiring inside the headlight shell?  I had turn signal troubles once that were fixed by spraying electrical contact cleaner into the gaps of the turn signal switch housing while working the switches.

  Use a jumped wire and clip it to the bulb socket base. If light works , you have a ground issue. Remove and clean all the connections and use dia-electric compound.

                                      da prez

Probably low on blinker fluid.

the opposite rear signal is activated......

You’ve got a poor ground at the rear of the bike.  First thing is to remove the rear fender half and inspect the connector there

Well the saga continues, the rear connection seems fine,  but somehow I managed to damage the bundle going from turn signal switch to headlight, so in my wisdom I got a used one from Pinwheel recycles and attempted to replace it. I also replaced the flasher...the PO has numerous wires of different colors spliced in with screw on connectors and some with tape inside the headlight bucket   my question is... what is controlled by all wiring inside that bucket.... my spotlights and not connected there ,, they still work,  :) original problem still exists and now I've lost control of head light and others ( I think )  :(. any advise would be greatly appreciated.  perhaps I should seek professional help.. for myself and the bike...   ;D

Time to start over.  Use the service manual wiring guide for wire colors and functions and remove all the jury-rigged connectors.  You may need to solder and shrink wrap the damaged wires and replace connectors if they have been boogered.

Are your driving lights add-ons?  If so, you may need to wire a relay back to your battery or aftermarket fuse panel and trip the relay with the wire for the low beams (some states require this in order to be legal).  If you don’t have state inspection then you can get away with having the driving lights on with both high beam and low beam.  

you were right on the switch..  thanks,  however as my post states , I'm in deeper trouble now......   anyone ???   :-\

LOL this is the first thing that came to mind for me as well!

 ;D

From  your original post I would have said you have a moisture induced short somewhere causing your issue.  Disconnecting all of the connectors and cleaning them with contact cleaner would have been my first go to.
Since you have found "monkeyed" wiring then that is where to go.  Clean all that up back to stock and start again.
Spliced wires drive me nuts when all of the connectors are available to build a harness for the job

thanks for the suggestion...  I'm looking for a printable schematic ( spelling ).  for the headlight to the turn signal switch.. to see where everything connects,,,,,,

these are kind of hard to read, but hopefully they will help.
http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/STschem.jpg (http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/STschem.jpg)

got it thanks..  :)

For readable/understandable schematics, this is the place to go:  RP's Expanded Valkyrie Wiring Diagrams (http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/schematics/index.html)

Here are the specific sheets for turn signals and headlight on a Standard/Tourer:
http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/schematics/rpage03.html (http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/schematics/rpage03.html)
http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/schematics/rpage04.html (http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/schematics/rpage04.html)

excellent,  thank you    :)

Clearly the PO worked on the wiring w/o following best practices.  Now you have a mess. The others are right, about removing his buggered work and starting over, using the schematics as a guide.  Remove tap connectors (like Scotchlocks) and crimp connectors that aren't OEM.  Electrical tape indicates the PO's work, remove that, look inside, and replace with soldered connections. Any connections you make should be soldered and shrink wrapped - those connections never fail. Get a bottle of Liquid Tape for your work bench - sometimes it's expedient to paint on some insulation where shrink wrap can't work.  If wires pass through a metal hole - be sure there's a grommet there to prevent an insulation cut and a short. Or the wire is protected with a stout nylon loom cover (sometimes spiral so you can add to existing wires).  You might want to think about organizing the wiring using a fuse block like a PC-8.  I have installed that on both of my riders.  If you have a need for multiple relays, it's a good idea to locate them in one place - I built a relay panel for most of my relays on Jade (which has 20 relays now - I have lots of electrical mods, with the wiring designed in the beginning to be organized).  This relay panel lifts out for maintenance.

(http://www.horseapple.com/scratch/Jade%20relay%20Panel16.jpg)

Mr. Mark,  I salute you... excellent work,  waaaay  above my pay grade.  :) if I can find someone in my area with similar skills I will certainly pass on this suggestion,   thanks bud,,, :-[