Turn signal switch/button failure

[RVtraveler48]

Yup - I had to do this on my 2007 ST1300 - and it is an easy job.

I'd suggest spreading a sheet or something on the floor - just in case you drop a little part - and don't use silicon spray. Electrical contact cleaner is the right stuff to clean the contacts once you have the switch apart.

You will be surprised at how much nicer the bike is to ride with a smoothly functioning electrical switch there.

Pete

Thanks for your response. I've had issues with the hi/low beam switch in the past and it died again today. No headlights. So I ordered the assembly and should have it in a few days. I am concerned about getting access to the two wiring harness connectors down in there where my two fat hands won't fit. Any thoughts about getting better access to them? Peter

 

[RVtraveler48]

Honda sells the correct switch pod as part number 35020-MCS-L03 but you probably could just clean and lubricate the moving parts and contacts of the switch to restore it to service. I did this several times over the life of my ST1300. There are two screws on the underside to remove the top half and IIRC one more screw into the bar end fixing a bracket that retains the bottom half. No tiny springs or small parts are free to fall out upon initial disassembly. Use contact cleaner and relube with a small amount of dielectric or silicone grease. This should be a very easy fix.

Thanks for your reply. I did manage to get the turn signals working again, but then today the hi/low beam switch died (I've resurrected it in the past) and because the bike is 15 years old and has to live outdoors when I travel in the RV, I decided to just replace the whole assembly. My concern is that the two wiring harness connectors reside down where my two fat hands just won't fit - any thoughts on how to get better access to unplug the old and re-plug the new? Peter

 

[RVtraveler48]

As my bike is 15 years old and when I'm in the RV has to live outdoors, and I've had to putter with the switches in this assembly before, I went ahead and ordered a new part. Fun thing - I try to use Paypal when I can and when I went to pay if proffered my rewards balance from my credit card to offset the charge - almost free! But my main concern is getting at the two wiring harness connectors that reside down where I could never get my two fat hands. Any thoughts about getting easier access to these two plugs?

I took the alternate route and opened the handlebar assembly. I got the headlight working again, but only the left signal - right comes on but won't keep flashing unless I hold the button to the right. I dug deeper ... the mechanism that does the actual switching slid right out but after cleaning it I just cannot get it to slide back into place. I've been at it an hour. If you have any suggestions this is unusual but I'm at 917-699-6527. My one Honda knowledgeable friend isn't available. Peter

 

[RVtraveler48]

I would very much like to install my new turn signal assembly in tact - would anyone have an idea how to access the two connectors behind the left faring without removing the whole faring? I'm working outside in 90+ degree heat and candidly am looking for a shortcut. The connectors should be behind the grille over the left cylinder head ... the grill appears separate from the faring and has one screw ... could I get that lucky?

 

[MidLife]

As my bike is 15 years old and when I'm in the RV has to live outdoors, and I've had to putter with the switches in this assembly before, I went ahead and ordered a new part. Fun thing - I try to use Paypal when I can and when I went to pay if proffered my rewards balance from my credit card to offset the charge - almost free! But my main concern is getting at the two wiring harness connectors that reside down where I could never get my two fat hands. Any thoughts about getting easier access to these two plugs?

Reading your post and seeing the great @draser pics got me to get after my own lazy switch. Thanks.

I am looking at the wiring right now, and don't see how you could access the connectors without removing panels. At the very least the left inner cowl, which might give you a look at the layout.

These connectors are often not cooperating very well when you try to disconnect them, even harder to do around panels. So you may have to drop some plastic.

The panels are not very hard to take off, more of a chore to put back on, but the good news is that the bike is perfectly ridable without the plastic on, so no big deal if you do not have the time to put the panels back on right away.

Be careful with silicon sprays. Some are conductive.

 

[gunsmoker]

A few months ago ST Mechanic Aniwack --who has worked on my bike in the past-- told me over the phone that a sticky turn signal switch that is intermittent is probably gummed up with residue from old contact lubrication or cleaning products.

He said that in his experience they've always responded to just spraying it down with electrical contact cleaner.


So... I did this, and without disassembling the switch or even loosening the plastic housing of the switch body.

I just stuck the little red straw around the left right turn signal switch and sprayed and worked it back back-and-forth several times. SUCCESS!! My problem went away it's been about two months now.

(PS: prior to spraying I did tape off the tank and other parts of the bike that I didn't want to touch with this possibly corrosive spray liquid.)

 

[STRider]

Here's a picture of the bundle of connectors above the left cylinder head. The red connector is for the left switch pod.

These pics are from my ST2 Turn System installation in Dec 2022. The picture of the switch pod interior is at roughly 17k miles. The bike isn't a fair weather queen, but I will admit most of my riding isn't in the wet.

 

[MidLife]

He said that in his experience they've always responded to just spraying it down with electrical contact cleaner.

And then comes a time, as many many have pointed out here before, when that doesn't work anymore and you have to take it apart.

Squirting contact cleaner or silicone spray into a switch is hit or miss. Eventually you will have to do what @dduelin suggested (meaning now).

I just had to do mine and contact cleaner had no effect on the hardened residues that were caked up in there.

 

[dduelin]

If you keep a bike a while just spraying with contact cleaner fixes the problem and opens up the possibility of the next problem.

Washing out the old gummy switch lubricant with a solvent cleaner leaves the contacts unprotected from corrosion and can ruin the switch when the contacts corrode again. It's not a hard task to open the switch (no tiny parts fly out to be lost), clean the moving parts, and relube it. The Honda switches are very well made and can be cleaned a few times to extend their life.