Electrical Issue - Turn signals turn to emergency blinkers.

[tgoff]

I was riding home today when I was pulled over by a motorcycle cop. He informed me that my blinkers weren't properly signaling but simply both flashing like emergency lights. I took out the entire rear assembly and discovered the previous owner did a horrendous job on connecting wires and a few weren't even connected anymore (never had this issue, something must have become disconnected recently) I pulled the disgusting gooey tape off the wires and used butt connectors and shrink wrap. Everything is properly connected to one another yet once I connect the rods into one another and the license plate light together, I'm still having this issue. Not sure if this is a common issue, but I've done every connection possible with the metal rod connector things and still no resolve. Is there some first things I should look into that you folks have found? Any help is appreciated, thank you.

edit 1 - I forgot to mention, when I activate the turn signal left or right, it makes both front and rear signals flash.

[ninja_thresh_hold]

Originally Posted by tgoff

I was riding home today when I was pulled over by a motorcycle cop. He informed me that my blinkers weren't properly signaling but simply both flashing like emergency lights. I took out the entire rear assembly and discovered the previous owner did a horrendous job on connecting wires and a few weren't even connected anymore (never had this issue, something must have become disconnected recently) I pulled the disgusting gooey tape off the wires and used butt connectors and shrink wrap. Everything is properly connected to one another yet once I connect the rods into one another and the license plate light together, I'm still having this issue. Not sure if this is a common issue, but I've done every connection possible with the metal rod connector things and still no resolve. Is there some first things I should look into that you folks have found? Any help is appreciated, thank you.

edit 1 - I forgot to mention, when I activate the turn signal left or right, it makes both front and rear signals flash.

i had the same issue, i bought a bike and the rear end was destroyed and all tail light wires were gone, so i had to cut into the wiring harness and find the wires and fiddle around with it, and idk how i connected it to make it emergency flashers, but i had that issue, you can go into the forums and there is a wiring diagram with the turn signal circuit high lighted, go through and make sure all of the wires are seated properly, and check back in, and ill see what happens. feel free to inbox me if you need help!

[tgoff]

Alright, thanks man. I'll look for that when I get into work this morning. Thanks.

[FrugalNinja250]

If the bulbs are LEDs then that's the root problem. LEDs draw very little current to light up and the way Kawasaki wired the instrument cluster turn signal indicator bulb there's enough current through both sides to light up LEDs (but not regular bulbs). Also, a shorted cluster indicator bulb/socket will cause the same problem.

[tgoff]

No LED's here. I wish it was an issue like that haha.

[FrugalNinja250]

The circuit is simple. A single wire goes from fuse box to flasher relay to switch. From there two wires go to the to sides and then to ground. A wire from each side then goes to the turn signal indicator bulb in the instrument cluster. If it were my bike I would start off by removing the indicator bulb in the cluster, then undo all the hack splices.

[ai4px]

Originally Posted by tgoff

I was riding home today when I was pulled over by a motorcycle cop. He informed me that my blinkers weren't properly signaling but simply both flashing like emergency lights. I took out the entire rear assembly and discovered the previous owner did a horrendous job on connecting wires and a few weren't even connected anymore (never had this issue, something must have become disconnected recently) I pulled the disgusting gooey tape off the wires and used butt connectors and shrink wrap. Everything is properly connected to one another yet once I connect the rods into one another and the license plate light together, I'm still having this issue. Not sure if this is a common issue, but I've done every connection possible with the metal rod connector things and still no resolve. Is there some first things I should look into that you folks have found? Any help is appreciated, thank you.

edit 1 - I forgot to mention, when I activate the turn signal left or right, it makes both front and rear signals flash.

When weird things happen like this, check your ground. See if you follow me on this.... each lamp has a ground and they are connected together, but at the point where that common wire is supposed to hook to the chasis ground, the wire is broken (or corroded). It's possible that with a missing chassis ground on the lights that when one flashes, the current goes thru the ground "common" wire that connects the two together and thru the other lamp's filament. This will make both lights flash at the same time. They will both be dimmer than they should be.

Maybe???