ELECTRIC HELP, THE NEUTRAL LIGHT

[BadMonk]

I’ll preface this by stating that I’m an electrics idiot. It’s not for lack of trying but it just turns to nonsense, except for basic stuff.

The OD and Neutral lights on the dash haven’t worked on my ’87 GL1200 Interstate since buying the bike in the spring. I’m tackling the job now.

With a NOS switch mounted in the engine cover and new bulbs in the instrument panel, I plugged the black connector on the switch into its mate then, with the ignition ON, slowly turned the pin on the gear position switch. I expected to see Neutral and OD light up on the dash as the pin rotated, simulating shifting in and out of Neutral into gears. But nothing lit on the dash.

So I disconnected the black electrical connectors, got out my test light and grounded the test light. Next, I turned the ignition to ON and probed the female side of the connector (not the lead from the switch in the engine cover). And…the OD and Neutral lights lit up on the dash when using the test light probe.

What does all that mean? What am I missing? The ‘tests’ were done without installing the engine cover onto the engine block but that shouldn’t made a difference. Please be kind and explain it to me like I’m a fifth grader or something.

[K Bergen]

The cover must be grounded to the block to complete the circuit.

[BadMonk]

Oh Lord, now that would make sense. So I can either install the cover to the block or run a wire from the cover to a grounding point... Yep. Thank you.

[BadMonk]

YEAH!! That worked. Ran a wire from the cover (drain bolt) to a crash bar fastener. Thanks again!