Home / Top Stories / Helpful Tips & Info / Motorcycle Turn Signals: Quick Fix
Motorcycle turn signal fix

Motorcycle Turn Signals: Quick Fix

I had a problem with my motorcycle’s turn signals not working. First they only worked sometimes. Later on in the week my turn signals only worked after the motorcycle was left alone for a few days. I noticed sometimes the turn signals worked if I revved the engine a all the way up to the rev limiter. I feared something electronic and assumed for the worst. It turned out to be a quick and easy fix.

Motorcycle turn signal fixI was worried about a split wire. My battery wasn’t an immediate concern as myLeft turn signals were working perfectly, only my right side turn signals were effected. I tried to remember if I had extra fuses. It’s the beginning of the season, my memory and motorcycle troubleshooting skills were pretty rusty.

I called up Steve my friendly neighborhood motorcycle mechanic. He said it sounded like a bad negative ground. Again, my memory and motorcycle troubleshooting skills were rusty. I let out an “…uh?” just loud enough to be audible, but silent enough that Steve, no doubt feeling sorry for the clueless putz on the phone gave some instructions:

“Before you go ripping everything apart, unscrew the turn signal lens and take it off. Reach in, push the bulb inwards and twist to remove the turn signal bulb from the housing. Try it without one turn signal and see what happens.”

When I removed the front signal and hit the switch the rear turn signal came on, though it didn’t flash. That little light hadn’t turned on in over a week and I was fed up with hand signalling. This was exciting.

I put first bulb back in while the motorcycle was running, hit the turn signal switch, and the signals lit up as if they were brand new!

UPDATE: I suspect there was some moisture or a bad negative ground, as the problem came back after my next ride. I’m going to go back in there today with some WD-40 or some grease, we’ll see what I can find, but hopefully that’ll be the end of my problem.

Fingers crossed,

Adrian S.

UPDATE 2: If you’re reading this and thinking about replacing your turn signals, I wrote this article on how to test your turn motorcycle signals (both old ones and new ones). This is great for testing purposes but will require cutting some wires. I’m including the video below, but you can find the written article with step by step instructions here.


How To Test Motorcycle Turn Signals - Video
Watch this video!

About Adrian from YouMotorcycle

I started riding motorcycles in 2007, founded YouMotorcycle in 2009, and was working in the motorcycle industry by 2011. I've worked for some of the biggest companies in motorcycling, before going full-time self-employed in the motorcycle business in 2019. I love sharing his knowledge and passion of motorcycling with other riders to help you as best I can.

14 comments

  1. John F Forster

    Doctor, doctor, gimme some news! My motorcycle’s got the turn signal blues!
    Symptoms:
    Right side signals work fine.
    Left side front comes on, doesn’t flash.
    Left side rear dead.
    Replaced bulb on left. Dead.
    Replaced same bulb in right. Flashes.
    Checked power to right housing with tester. Power.
    Checked power to left housing with tester. No power.

    I take it flasher is fine if right side still flashes.
    I take it fuse fine if all three other lights come on.
    So – short at fusebox?
    Relay? How does relay work?

  2. Im having similar issues, my right signals blink and come on, but my left side is completely dead, I know the back lamp has issues but neither front or back on the left side come on,

  3. My turn signal (all 4) come on, but blink really, really slow. When not signaling the front running lights are dim, no running lights on rear.

  4. Just bought a 2004 Yamaha Warrior. Right rear signal I noticed was not working. Popped the lens, regular bulb not LED. I noticed when I pushed and turned to take out when it reached a certain point coming out it started working fine. Looked at the bulb and it looks fine. Swapped it with the left rear bulb it does the when on the right rear. Start pushing it in and it will work at a certain point once pushed in, turned and locked it no longer is working. Someone help me out here please, thanks!

    • Hey Mark. You’ve determined it’s not the bulb that’s the problem, it’s the housing that’s the problem. The prongs are only making contact with the bulb when you’re holding it “just so”. Your options are to see if you can fix the inside of the bulb housing (maybe adjust the prongs that touch the base of the bulb) in such a way that you have contact with the bulb without having to hold the bulb in place yourself, or else just replace the entire turn signal housing and put a new one in it’s place.

  5. Have a sucker punch sally 2008 66,,the bike uses HD parts .I bought the bike with the two front turn signals working and the backs not due to the vibration being a hard tail .I bought new sockets ,put in the bulbs and now , when i turn on my ignition switch they all stay lit up and do not blink.

  6. Hi , on my SPS ,I noticed that it does not have a TSM it just has 2 breakers and 1 relay .Could it be my relay? thanks.

  7. I have a 05 boulevard c50… Out of the blue my 2 left side blinkers or left side running lights are not working. I changed both bulbs with no effect. Any recommendations?

  8. Hi Adrian,

    I have a chinese minibike aka boom lil duc bd125-8
    LED turn signals front/rear stopped blinking all of the sudden, i checked wiring unit and it looks fine, as well as the flasher relay. At this point i don’t know what else to look for. Any help will be appreciated.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*