[tollarja]

Hey guys and gals, my license plate light and rear turn signals don't light up. The rear turn signal will turn on when I hit the switch for a left or right signal though. It must be a common connector from the ignition or something.

I was doing my 8,000 mile service with a valve clearance check. In order to perform the valve clearance check I removed the tank and went in from the top. I disconnected four electrical plugs that are directly above the head cover. I believe they are ignition (white?), two left switches (black?) and one right switch (brown) connections. I had everything nearly buttoned up, popped on the left and right front signals and fired her up to see if my lights were working. Nope. I played around with the rear connections for the lights under the tail, then I undid the panels and checked the connections under the tank. The big black connector was loose so I pushed it back together and the lights still don't light up. This is a fun problem because the bike starts up fine. I checked the fuses and they are good too. I am pretty much at the end of my troubleshooting ability and the shop manual doesn't seem to be too helpful right now.

What could it be?

I think I will take the tank back off and disconnect and reconnect those connections again, but if that doesn't work I don't know what to do.

 

[Macca]

checked you fuses, and the connectors are plugged in the right way?

maybe meter the globes and outputs to make sure the globes are not just blown

 

[tollarja]

I did some voltage readings and I determined my license plate light was burned out. Thinking that there was something wrong with the turn signals too, the logical assumption is that the three lights were running in series and a failure of one would turn them all off. I put a new one in and it lights up now...but not before I remembered to plug the wires back in...DOH! I should be blonde! The turn signal lights remain off.

Judging from videos on youtube the rear turn signal lights do not stay on like the front turn signal lights. So there was nothing wrong with these at all. By looking for something common with all three lights I was barking up the wrong tree. It was a simple light bulb.

A summary of what remains on when the ignition is on:
Headlight
"position" lights
brake light
license light
front turn signals

The only lights that turn on with user input are the rear turn signals and the high beam.

 

[spdklls]

very odd...i put in a small 5 SMD LED in the license plate...it was a bit loose and kept coming out..every few days i would notice it wasn't working and take off the cover and push it back in..
ended up fixing the loose bulb with a tiny piece of tape stuck on the end...my rear turn signals were never affected whether the bulb was in or out..working or not