Fired up the R90/6 today and drove her around the yard some just to warm her up. Pulled into the garage and tried the turn signals and none of them worked. Worked fine last week what should I check first ? Bulb or fuse or ?
Switch at bar followed by the flasher. Lose a bulb and the resistance goes down raising the flash rate. if bad flasher don't replace with a BMW unit.
There are differences in the wiring diagrams for R90/6 depending on year. However it looks like the turn signals are the same. !974 is quit unique sometimes. The turn signal relay gets power from one of the fuses. Check for power, check the fuse. There is also a brown wire from the relay that goes to ground. Two things that come to mind since you lost everything.
The set up, wiring, of the turn signals on a /6 machine are unique. If any single bulb blows out the tell-tale light in the instrument cluster will flash once then not flash, mean while the working bulb for that side will flash. So you can have this situation where either the front or rear bulb of either side is flashing but you don't know it because the tell-tale doesn't work. Is that clear so far? This is a safety feature of sorts. You are supposed to notice the tell-tale flashed once and stopped flashing even tho the switch was still set to flash. So you get the info that there is a problem. You fix the problem. Most turn signals on vehicles don't work this way. It would be possible to have a blown bulb and not know it. There are substitutions that will get the turn signals working but I think they may require some rewiring. There's articles about this somewhere but I forget where. maybe Snowbum? (everything else is there):huh The turn signal relay for a /6 is an expensive item if you need one. But I don't think you've looked at the fuses yet and checked for ground. The procedure is standard electric tracing with a test light. You need a wiring diagram maybe. The wiring diagrams are in the Clymer's or Hayne's Manuals Fuses are located in the headlight bucket. They should be removed and the ends cleaned then replaced if they are good. These are European type fuses. If you don't have any spares they are available these days in the Auto Parts Super stores.
'cause you're going to get bent over for it. Use an ordinary one from an auto parts store. See the Dark Secrets thread. I just figured out my so-called headlight relay is actually a load shedding relay. Nothing I need as I've long since fitted a switch so it's getting the heave ho. There are numerous points of complexity and gimmickry on these things that you can lose and never miss.
So the fuses are in the headlight bucket ? I wonder if bumping along in the backyard could have dislodged a fuse ? Are the fuses similiar to VW/Porsche style ? If they are I have those on hand.
Yes the fuses are the same as the pointy VW ones. I really don't think of the relay first. Find the problem and if it is the relay then find out more about the different solutions. An OEM type, not even the BMW part, but one that works like the OEM relay is almost a C Note at Max's. Worrying about this later. There are two fuses in the headlight bucket. The turn signal relay is also in there. The relay is the longer type, with four contacts. It has a clip that attaches it on a bracket on the left side of the bucket as you look at it. (on the right side as you sit on the bike) If it is the relay Plaka will make you one from scrap in his spare time. But it's most of the time something else.
The ones mentioned in that thread are not plug-and-play for my /6's. Of my three /6's, two have faulty relays only. Sometimes I remember to swap it out depending on which bike I'm riding.
Maybe you should get more sophuisticated about plug 'n' pray? No offence, but it's ALL plug and play. You just might make up some jumper wires, or decide to deadhead some wires and not use them, with a non-stock unit. BMWs price tell me that aren't intersted in me buying them. Direct replacements aren't out there because no one else did some of the oddball stuff BMW did. They really did screw up the engineering here and there. If you were using common ones from the auto parts store all your flashers would be working and you wouldn't be spending a lot..and the fix is forever. You might also consider solid state low-draw flashers (about $25 or so) and LEDs in the turn signals. Very long lifespan. The /7 doesn't even have a flasher indicator on the dash. What for? You go around a corner you turn the flashers on and then off. Check operation by looking at the butt end of a shiny car ahead of you at a light. If they are fast you have a bulb out. The /5 flashers were sensitive about what bulbs you used. It was nice making that go away too.
BMW didn't screw up any engineering, everyone else did. Same for every other German, French, Italian manufacturer, ad infinitum.
I know, I was just pointing it out. It's possible they built proprietary parts to maintain their OEM parts market. Lots of companies do that.
Last night the wife suggested we go for a ride today, I've had the bike since last year but she hasn't ridden yet. So I figured I better get these turn signals fixed So I removed the front fairing and peered into that mass of wiring in the headlight bucket. First thing I noticed was there were two fuses and they appeared to be good. I rotated them a few times and that was all I did. I turned on the ignition switch and flipped on a blinker and the rear worked. Tried the other side and it worked ! Put the fairing back on, hooked up the electrical connector to the front lights and they both worked :huh I have no idea what I did but we went for a ride and the blinkers worked fine. So short term I guess they are fixed. One thing I did find strange was when I removed the front fairing the headlight bucket on the bike was open there was no cover, should there be a cover in place ? Or is the fairing considered the cover ? Obviously the headlight is mounted in the fairing. Anyway we had a great ride, first time she's ridden with me in 30 years !
Glad it worked out so well for you and your wife. A great story. Common occurrence. The theory is that tiny bits of corrosion or something gets on the tips of the fuses. Wiggling the fuses is all that's often needed. There are several places on your bike that can have problems of this sort. Another is the terminals on the start relay. Instead of waiting for problems to happen tho and then having to find the wire that needs attention it is recommended that terminal post and wire cleaning be part of any maintenance. After cleaning terminals they should have some dielectic grease applied. This prevents further corrosion. Many riders even do a complete survey and terminal cleaning project. There is a cover for the headlight shell. Often called a Frisbee. I don't know if there is an OEM one. Mine is aftermarket of some sort. They may be rubber or vinyl material. There was even a coffee can plastic lid that sometimes fit, years ago. They show up in various places but it's not a high priority item I think so don't worry about having to have one too much.
A tad of corrosion and/or the springy tension of the fuse clip has slackened. Ben it in a tad, and put a faint wipe of dielectric (silicone) grease on the fuse mounting surface. My fairing frisbee gave up the ghost years ago and what I've been using is a disk made from a flat plastic faceshield that snaps into the opening of the headlight bucket. --Bill
