My Left turn signal was not working.
The front is a stock signal light and the rear is a Jesse Saddlebag turn signal. The Jessee Bag supplied light is basically a truck top front cab marker light (incandescent) that has become a lot less bright with age. A very bright 24 LED cluster was added to compensate for the poor illumination condition. They have worked flawlessly for years and maybe years on top of that.
The other day the left turn signal,(the left only), began to flash rapidly as if a bulb had burned out. I checked and sure enough the rear incandescent was not working and it was not a burned out bulb but a loose wire that should have been soldered instead of a mechanical connection. After the loose connection was repaired, and all the indicator bulbs were working, the flasher remained in a fault mode on the left side. The rapid flashing started after a few normal on and off sequences and then continued with the rapid flashing.
Well I just figured I would get a new flasher and it must be the problem (I hope). It should be only $7 so that probably equates to maybe $21 in BMW parts money scale. I can see it coming. WHAT ! $168 will get you a very new never been flashed flasher. Yep $168. There must be a couple of parts pricers at the mothership whose job it is to ring a bell for all to hear and pat each other on the back repeatedly when ever someone buys one of these parts.
Well I have had the good fortune of paying way too much for a parts bike a few years back and within minutes after a foray into the shed out back I was able to return with a perfectly good used flasher to troubleshoot with.
The trouble was the flasher, and the used one solved the problem. At least it worked properly all day today. Tomorrow may be a different story.
How much would it have cost for a shop or dealer to repair a malfunctioning flasher module ?
Really, I wrote in to convey my experience to other backyarders. I do have a small shop but I consider myself a backyarder. You can't really hide it anyway.
Now the real question seems to be:
Can these expensive flashers be repaired ?
Is there a cheaper source that does not cost an arm and two legs ?
If not, does some one want this bad one to investigate repairing so as to benefit all from the knowledge of doing so ? I'll be glad to send it to them.
Charlie
The front is a stock signal light and the rear is a Jesse Saddlebag turn signal. The Jessee Bag supplied light is basically a truck top front cab marker light (incandescent) that has become a lot less bright with age. A very bright 24 LED cluster was added to compensate for the poor illumination condition. They have worked flawlessly for years and maybe years on top of that.
The other day the left turn signal,(the left only), began to flash rapidly as if a bulb had burned out. I checked and sure enough the rear incandescent was not working and it was not a burned out bulb but a loose wire that should have been soldered instead of a mechanical connection. After the loose connection was repaired, and all the indicator bulbs were working, the flasher remained in a fault mode on the left side. The rapid flashing started after a few normal on and off sequences and then continued with the rapid flashing.
Well I just figured I would get a new flasher and it must be the problem (I hope). It should be only $7 so that probably equates to maybe $21 in BMW parts money scale. I can see it coming. WHAT ! $168 will get you a very new never been flashed flasher. Yep $168. There must be a couple of parts pricers at the mothership whose job it is to ring a bell for all to hear and pat each other on the back repeatedly when ever someone buys one of these parts.
Well I have had the good fortune of paying way too much for a parts bike a few years back and within minutes after a foray into the shed out back I was able to return with a perfectly good used flasher to troubleshoot with.
The trouble was the flasher, and the used one solved the problem. At least it worked properly all day today. Tomorrow may be a different story.
How much would it have cost for a shop or dealer to repair a malfunctioning flasher module ?
Really, I wrote in to convey my experience to other backyarders. I do have a small shop but I consider myself a backyarder. You can't really hide it anyway.
Now the real question seems to be:
Can these expensive flashers be repaired ?
Is there a cheaper source that does not cost an arm and two legs ?
If not, does some one want this bad one to investigate repairing so as to benefit all from the knowledge of doing so ? I'll be glad to send it to them.
Charlie
