My son and I are restoring a 74 CB550K. We got it running and came across 2 electrical issues
- On the left hand grip there is 2 wires (Red / Red and Green that come out clean out of the grip, they be pushed back in, but fall out with a little pressure. The neutral light doesn't come on the tree either I don't know if it is related
Does it need to be said the no wires should come loose and disconnect themselves? The 74 model bike came originally with wires routed inside the bars, exiting in the center. No exposed wires at the grip controls. Connection for bar controls were made inside the headlight bucket. Not surprising if you have creative mods done to your bike. But, we'll need better descriptions of these changes for us to help you. Particularly if you have components that aren't meeting Honda color code standards. You can check this with a wire diagram and noting defined connection colors that do or don't match with what your bike has.
- The other issue is... when the bike is running with the headlight off, both signal lights work as they should (blink with audible alert). When the headlamp is on, the Front turn signals both light up, the rear ones don't. When I activate one of the signals the rear light for that side comes on, fronts stay solid, no blinking or audible alert). I appreciate any ideas the forum might have to give me a starting point.
The US model bike had front run lights that came on with the headlight. Due to many laws, rear run lights had to be red, with signaling allowed to be amber. Rear amber run lights were a violation. So, the fronts on this model had dual element bulbs, one element for run, the other for signal flashing. The rear bulbs were single element bulbs which only flashed as turn signals. You'll note the light doesn't flash bright to dim, but rather on to off. This is because the run light element is disabled when flashing is selected. Clever switch, that.
If they don't flash, someone may have switched bulbs to easily available ones that fit the socket, but draw more power. As the original flasher unit was voltage sensitive, increasing the load, effects the flash rate, as will low battery voltage. If the 1034 front bulbs have been exchanged for 1157 (higher wattage) and the rear 1078 have been exchanged with 1156 (higher wattage) the stock flasher unit likely won't play well with them. Get the proper bulbs or replace the flasher unit with a non voltage sensitive type. Could be that they will flash with the bike revved up a bit so as to keep the battery topped up in charge.
I use this "feature" on my bikes to inform me of the battery charge status. If the blinking slows or stops, I know the battery is discharging, and I have to keep the revs up. An interpretive voltmeter, if you like.
Cheers,
