My name is Chris and I am new to this site... Had my 1993 Harley Sportster 1200 1 1/2 years and have a continuous problem with rear turn signals... They work most of the time... but at any given time they will stop working completely (even dry weather)... then 10 minutes later they might start working again... sometimes only the FRONT or the REAR will light up but not blink...(this turned out to be blown bulb) I can replace the bulb and they will start blinking again...the main problem is when all turn signals stop... Bulb is not the problem... then come back on 10 minutes later and work fine... it has continued for over a year and I ordered new rear turn signals but the problem must lie elsewhere... is there a flasher unit like on a car that could be going bad? is this a "thing" for sportsters? The part I don't understand is why would it stop and then start working again? I would appreciate any and all responses about this problem... I will try whatever I need to that I can do... I want to learn to fix these everyday problems on my bike if I can and learn about it as I progress... Thank You all in advance for any and all responses... Chris

Any time I've had a problem like that... IT was always a bad connection. My suggestion is get the correct Harley owners manual, then look to see if you can dismantle the directional switch, and clean the contacts. The manual will have the trouble shooting suggestions and you'd do yourself a great service by looking into it. Sometimes it's the bulbs, but you already know that. Look to see if any of the wires are getting pinched between parts. Sometimes a bike will have some mods done to it and after time the splices if not soldered will corrode and oxidize causing a bad connection. Its a tedious job but once done, A) you will know your bike better, B) sometimes catch other problems before they get bad.
Hope it helps.
Welcome to the forum!!

Thank You for the response and I have another question... If it was a bad contact or switch or pinched wire that makes only the rear turn signals stop working then why do they continue working 10 minutes later... and the next day the same thing and the next and so on... why does it start working again by itself without cleaning any contacts or pinched wires??? I am not going over bumps or jumps or anything that would make the contacts or wires move around to repair itself every day and then not work again the next day but then will work 10 minutes later??? Remember this has been going on for a year or so... REALLY perplexed... I have checked all the contacts that I can check... and I could understand after a year of this happening if it quit working completely much easier than this problem that occurs everyday but then repairs itself 10 minutes later... This is gonna end up being a SPECIFIC problem and I hope somebody has had this specific problem before and knows exactly what it is... again thank you all for any input... Chris

Hey Chris,

Welcome to the forum,
and I hope you get your problem resolved.

I'd say take it in and
have HD give it a good look over.

John

Chris,

Welcome to the forum. Let me give you an example on how you can have problems. I have a bike the low beam is not working on the headlight. The light or bulb is OK and both the high and low beam should work. I started to play with the light and started to move and turn the front fork back and forth only to see that the light would come on and then go out again.Make this long story short. Bad low beam wire, I replaced the wire and it was good again. Here is a test get access to the light wiring at the turn signal and start to test to see where the wiring is bad. Run some external wires to see if you can bypass the problem if you can just run a new wire and disconnect the old one and your off again.

Good advice Lenny!

I remember that Lenny. How many times did you change that light bulb?

Chris,
vibrations from the engine and road can make a bad connection work intermittently.

Okay I have a question about WHERE would the connections be for all the turn signals? would they all be in one place? the front and rear turn signals all should intersect somewhere... is it under the seat.. behind the headlight? is there a turn signal switch like a flasher unit on a car? if there is any of these intersections then could anybody narrow down my search a little... Thank you in advance.... Chris

Hey Basic thanks!

They all originate in the fuse box. Best thing to do is to get a schematic of the wiring to see the colors and where they go. It might look a little intimidating just study the diagram for a few minutes and it will all come together for you.

I did not download this but I found it for you. Check it out it may be of help.

https://www.carlsalter.com/download.asp? ... a065a29799

Hello again, Still have the problem with my 1993 sportster 1200 turn signals...I have a friend who owns a local Harley shop and after looking at my bike and hearing about turn signal problems he is convinced the turn signal relay is going bad and needs to be replaced... He said the part is about $80.00 and is pretty hard to get to and replace and a lot of stuff has to come off to get to it to replace it and then has to all be replaced... I can not afford to pay for a couple hours of labor so if anybody can tell me exactly where this relay is located and how to get to it or access it and what I have to remove to get to it to replace it I would really appreciate the help or input on this... if there is a shortcut to get to it and by any chance does anybody possibly know the actual part number so I might could check ebay or other sites to find the part... any help or info would be greatly appreciated.... 1993 sportster 1200 XLH... thanks again... Chris