Topic: bought a bike and turn signals wont work.

[weschaffnit]

i just bought a 77 cb400f. when i tried the turn signals they dont blink. all the parts seem to be stock but something isnt right. when i hit the left turn signal the left light would go out and no blinking. same with right. when i took off the side panal and found the signal blinker, there were two wires connected to it and a third wire next to it. is there 2 or 3 wires that go into the signal blinker? i cant connect it because it seems like the male connecter is broken off the signal blinker but im not sure. if anyone knows what im talking about help me thanks. oh another question. are the two front lights saposed to go out when the highbeam is on?

[seaweb11]

Get an idiot light and start testing your grounds.  One wire on light  is pos one should be grounded to neg.
Hook the idiot light up to the pos on the bat and start checking. If the light don't go on when you touch the metal on the light you have a bad ground.  New bike.  Best to check the entire wire harness for this stuff and get it all sorted.

[mb3000gt]

the stock signal blinker has 2 wires. the extra wire is there if you want to use an electronic one. the blinker could have gone bad (try tapping it see if it blinks). also make sure two bolts that hold the headlight bucket are tight since they ground the signals to the harness. the lights shouldnt go out when the highbeam is on. download the wiring diagram and get everything sorted. goodluck.

[dagersh]

My 400 will not blink at idle.  Once I rev it, it does.  IMHO - Do yourself a favor, replace your mechanical flasher unit with an electronic one.  They work great, are basically bullet proof and work at idle.  Plus, if you decide to upgrade to LED turnsignal assemblies (do a search if this floats your fancy), you are all ready for it.  I replaced the mechanical one in my GL1000 - and it works great.  I will be doing this on all my bikes.

Gersh

[Zane]

Here's page 15 from the owner's manual for a 1977 Honda CB400F.  You decide what it means.

On my 1976 400F, the front running lights (the 1157's in the front signal light housings) are on only with the low beam.  Selecting high beam turns those running lights off (but of course does not effect the signalling capability of those lamps).  And mb is right - the stock winker uses only two (of the three) connections.

When  I bought my bike, coincidentally I had the same signal light issues as you have now.  I replaced the winker with a NOS OEM winker.  I also learned to keep the battery charged.  I found that my battery could still run the bike, but below a certain charge level, I found that the signal light function became erratic at best.  More often they just stayed on when I slid the signal switch.

Since I was a rank beginner at the time, it took me a week or two to learn how to keep the rpms up sufficiently enough to keep the battery happy.  I also made (and still make) it a habit to start the bike with the kick starter whenever possible.  That kept the winker happy too, for my first season of riding.

Last winter I replaced the wiring harness, installed an electronic voltage regulator, replaced the left hand handlebar switch with a new one, stuck a voltmeter on the gauge cluster, and wired in an (illegal) headlight switch.  Even after all that, occasionally my signals still freeze on, but that's only when the battery is down somewhat.  After a few blocks they always get back to working decently again.

When I wired in the new handlebar switch I could never get those run lights to work again.  I have a few ideas why that is, and I plan to repair them over the next few weeks.

My other electrical task for the next month or so is to swap out my bulbs to LED bulbs (including changing over to an electronic winker).  I've calculated that I could save enough juice doing that, so that I will be able to operate some sort of hand-warming system on my little bike.

I would like warmer hands .....       But if I can't do that somehow, I'll use the extra power to upgrade the headlight to something with a little more punch.

[jabbadeznuts]

Sounds stupid, but check the bulbs.

My front right signal went out and it was the bulb.

[mb3000gt]

zane, do you have the whole manual in electronic form?

[Zane]

zane, do you have the whole manual in electronic form?

No, sorry, I don't.

I bought the one I have off of Ebay as a "Buy it Now", last summer.

They do come up regularly, and seem to go for around $15 to $30 (US) for decent, used ones.  (I did see a few mint, still in the bag ones go for $70. to $80. however.)

At the less expensive end of the price range, they often didn't have the wiring diagram that Honda pasted into the back cover on those manuals. 

Before I bought the one I currently have, I used this one:

http://www.honda4fun.com/libretti/libretti.html

You might be able to find a better one somewhere that you can download.  (It wouldn't be hard to find a better one than the Honda4Fun one.)

If you do start looking for an original one, and you find a 1976 CB400F Owner's Manual instead of the 1977 version, I'd be pleased to do a straight swap with you (my '77 for your '76) as long as the manual is complete (with the wiring diagram) and in decent condition.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention; you can get a Honda authorized reprint/reproduction of at least a 1976 Honda CB400F Owner's Manual (for about $20.00 US) through http://www.helminc.com/
 
There are certainly more outfits that sell that repro, but this is the one I know.


Cheers,

Zane

[gregk]

Zane

My 400 front signal lights come on (constant light) when the head light dimmer is switched to high beam?  Your copy of the Honda manual says that they should be on constantly when the dimmer is on low. 
My turn signals work well, just interested why Honda would engineer them to come on with the dimmer. 
This was a concern to me as I am getting ready for a roadworthy inspection for the bike and don't want to have to explain to the inspector why this is happening.

Greg