I have a 1998 sportster 1200 I recently bought. It had no front turn signals (the wires were cut at the handlebars). SOmetimes when the bike is on, the rear blinkers will flash non-stop like hazard lights, sometimes they will constantly stay on, and sometimes they won't come on at all. I recently bought some front turn signals and when I plugged them up to test them, they stay on. I can't get the turn signals to work. Everything else on the bike works other than the tachometer.

 

The rears work ok?

 

they would either constantly flash, constantly stay on, or won't come on at all. it's unpredictable. When I plugged the front signals in, they stay on.

 

I'm not sure what's going on with the rear turn signals. Do you have a Run/Brake/Turn module connected to the rear lights? Sometimes they go bad and cause problems. Usually you can just unplug the module and connect the stock harness together.


For the front, the stock setup was 2 front Running lights (always on when the Ignition switch is in the IGN position) and right & left front turn signals. Each front light assembly should have 3 wires. The Blue is Running Lights. The Black is Ground. Brown or Violet are the right & left turn signals. Each light used a 2 element 1157 bulb, with the brighter element used for the turn signal.


Check and see what you have & how they are wired. Post your findings.

 

Or he's got a chassis ground with only 2 wires. Like my 94. I don't know when they changed to an actual wired ground. But if your signal lights are acting funky, it's probably the Turn signal module.

 

This is from the 1998 Sporty wiring diagram. It's showing 3 wires (including Ground) to each front light. I'm not sure what he's trying to wire up so it may not have 3 wires and might ground thru the housing like you mentioned ... good point.

 

Didn't say you were wrong, I wasn't sure.
I recently bought some front lights that were Run or Turn only 2 wire.
I couldn't/didn't use them.

 

Like I said, you brought up a very good point about the ground. I was just able to find a wiring diagram that shows 3 wires but that doesn't mean that he's got the stock parts to put on. If he bought a set he could very easily buy the rear turn signals that would not have the Blue "Run" wire. I think we need the OP to provide more info.
I posted the wiring diagram so the OP could see what was stock & what color wires were used.

 

I guess he got it worked out?

 

thanks for the info fellas. I haven't had much time to work on her lately. I noticed some smoke coming from the battery box yesterday, so I pulled the battery out and found one problem. The ground terminal and battery cable end were destroyed. Someone had drilled a hole through the side of the terminal and a new hole in the cable and called themselves rigging it up. The cable was shorting out on the side of the battery case. So I'm off to buy a new battery today and see if I can replace the cable. And I'll go from there.