Turn Signal Woes, '78 KZ1000 B2

So, I just bought a KZ1000 B2, and am fixing it up.

There are some electrical problems that I am working. It had a bad ignition switch, and the PO had rigged a bypass switch which jumped the brown and white wires in the headlight bucket. I have ordered a new ignition switch on Ebay and am waiting for it to arrive. In the mean time, I have removed the old switch, cut the six wires on the switch side, then made the connections that would duplicate the "key-on" state of the ignition switch (brown-white, red--blue, G/O--white)and plugged the connector back in to allow me to test the other electrical functions in a key-on state.

Hazard blinkers work fine.

Turn signals don't work.

I have checked all the bulbs and replaced one bad one. With the ignition on, front running/turn sig lights are illuminated. Rear turn lights are dark (as they should be). I activate the T/S switch, and no blinking. I can see the front running light dim slightly, so I think the switch is working properly.

The rear T/S lights do nothing.

If I remove one of the rear bulbs, the opposite side will begin to glow VERY dimly. When I put the other bulb back in, they both go dark again.

Any ideas on what might be happening here?

FYI, I have put an ohmmeter on the flasher and the diode, and the both checked out okay.

Oh, and one more thing. There is a green wire in the headlight bucket with one end grounded to the bucket, and the other end with a bullet connector that is not connected to anything. I can't figure out what it is supposed to be connected to (if anything). Any ideas?

Thanks, guys.

Okay, upon further "dinking around", I think the turn signal problem is caused by a grounding issue in the headlight bucket. Since I have the bucket off it's bracket while I am waiting for the new ignition switch to arrive, the T/S circuit isn't getting proper gound there. I took that phantom green wire and grounded to the frame, and voila!, the T/S started blinking, albeit very slowly.

Regarding the rear turn-signal lighting dimly when the other bulb is removed:
Since the left and right signals are not connected to each other directly by anything other than ground connections, I would assume it's a grounding problem. My theory is that the tail light is not totally grounded and is leaking some current into the turnsignal ground connections where the current travels through the turn signal wiring to the front signals (and dash lights) where the current finds it's way to another ground point.

To test this, take out a rear signal bulb. Then apply the brakes. Does the turn signal get brighter? If yes, then the tail/brake assembly needs to be grounded better.

Regarding the signals not working:
It sounds like a possible wiring issue, but more likely the flasher is bad also. If the diode was shorted, the problem would show up when the hazard was used while the bike was "off". If the diode was "open" the turn signal switch would have no affect.

EDIT: I see you have the signals working now. And yes, most signal issues are ground related, in my experience.

I still think the wiring is wrong. Green is not usually ground on KZs. It may be the wiring to the front markers is wrong. Here's the diagram:
78 kz1000 B diagram

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2006/11/25 18:30

I have the same prob right now with my turn and hazard lights but in reverse to your prob. My hazards don't work and are very dim and have this half flash attitude but the turn signals work fine. So when I put on my hazards I turn on on side of the turn signals and they seem to give the hazards the brightness they need on both sides. I figure its a gounding problem also but I passed that to look for bigger probs.