Electrical question

[Moybin]

With the shorter days I suddenly realized my rear running tail light was out. Bulb, right? Wrong. No parking light and no license light. Ah ha! #2 Fuse in Left fuse box! Wrong. Fuse okay, too.

Problem sorts out to only 3 volts DC coming TO the fuse. Wire harness has continuity FROM the fuse to all lights. Just not enough juice to make a filament glow.

Traced the power feed back to the Left Side relay box, where it comes in to a 2 wire plug. This plug is furthest to the back. Haven't been able to trace the wire back out of the Relay box, but it must go somewhere.

Looking for an electrical diagram for this fuse circuit. Where does it get power from? At worst I'm looking at running a new wire to provide a good feed. At best I've got a dirty spade connector someplace that I haven't found yet.

Any ideas? Anyone already conquer this problem?

[acidburn]

nope mine is fine, but let me know if you need soem hlep with a shematic i have the manual.

[Joe]

Moybin

See if your parking light works in the parking light on position with key removed .........if it lights ok.... your problem is............. . it needs new ignition switch contacts (pad pcb) You have to drill out the security one -way ignition switch mounting bolts and replace with new pads and bolts.

[Moybin]

Joe: First off, thanks very much!

Yeah, that's what I was worried someone would say. Yes, I've got full voltage at the parking light (though the filament is blown - I'm going to replace with LED bulb). Wonder why they didn't use one of the empty relay slots in the right box and power up all those circuits from a single switch contact instead of multiple points. Just another weird engineering decision.

I'll try the dirty little cheat of flooding the switch with WD40, but it would only be a stop-gap until I could redo the switch.

[Joe]

Don't try measuring with a digital meter(in filament circuits) you'll get readings all over the place with open circuits use a test light you need to put a slight load on the circuit which a high impedance meter can't do.

I take it your lamps lite in the parking mode??

The reason it's not powered through a relay is when in the parking light switch position ..... it would connect power to other circuits that could cause bike hot-wire security issues or power drain problems.

[Moybin]

Joe:

Great insight. Armed with your information I did a detailed search of the forum and found these topics. It's all there. I'm thinking of pulling the left tupperware tomorrow after work, popping the wire ties off and pulling the switch out of the steering column. I'm a cheapskate: if I can solder it back together and relieve the strain that's causing the wire pulling, I will. If not, it's a new switch (and spare exhaust gaskets as I'm going to grind those flow-restricting header welds this winter).

ps: who thought of a parking light on a bike? WTF is that all about? All it got me was a dead battery the first time I accidentally used it and garaged the bike over night.

Ignition switch problems anybody???

Ignition Part #2

[Joe]

If the light stays lit in the parking light posistion..... it's not the wire since the same wire is used in the run position it's the switch pads .......that's why I'm asking you dose it light ok in the key out parking light on position (wiggle the wire harness) if it stays lit then it's switch contacts if it flickers it's the wire.

Broken Wire is repairable ......contacts need replacing

[Moybin]

Joe:

Planning on pulling it apart this evening after work. My parking bulb filament is shot, too, so all I can do it check for power with a meter. If I've got to go that far in, I might as well yank the switch and put and eyeball on it. Then I'll decide if I fix or order new.

Thanks again for all the help. It saved me a lot of time not having to ren over the same tracks others had already been down.

[AndrewA]

Here's another:
Newbie question - Lighting

[Moybin]

AndrewA, Joe, acidburn and everybody on the Forum:

Thanks much for the input and support! As we said in the Navy, the problem was "Clearly obvious to the most casual observer".

Gray w/blue stripe wire was cleanly broken right at the ignition switch. Red wire had signs that the insulation was already compromised. Disassembled the switch, all kinds of neat little parts and springs in there, cleaned up contact surfaces, cut the wire bundle even with the broken wire, unsoldered old leads, soldered in new leads. Figured out where all the little springs go (got to try harder than that, my German cousins) and put it all back together. That's the last time it's coming apart as I had to superglue it together to ensure it doesn't fall apart while riding.

Long story short; I would have been at this a LOT longer without your insight. Thanks again. What a FORUM!

[JonyRR]

So the observation here is that the wiring harness at the ignition switch wears out. At least it's not a ford ignition switch that spontaniously combusts....

[Wayne]

So Moybin, how many miles are on the bike? I'm wondering how long it might be before the rest of us end up doing the same thing. Would there have been a way to prevent the wire from breaking? Perhaps by rerouting to give it more slack?

Thanks. Good to hear how you got to the bottom of the problem and solved it.

Wayne

[Moybin]

Wayne:

As noted by others on the forum, the assembly mechanics collected the slack of the cable to the wrong end! Turn your steering all the way to full right. If the cable is pulled to a strain (no remaining slack) I would think about popping the cable ties (there are about 5 of them on my bike) and pulling some of the slack out of the left relay box and to the switch.

In putting mine back together I took great care to wrap 1/2 layers of Scotch 33+ electrical tape around the little plastic nub of the switch where the cable comes out, and down about 4 inches along the cable. With extra wraps of tape at the switch you can sort of force the bending strain to distribute along the cable and not right at the switch. We will see how long this really holds up.

My bike currently has 76K miles on the odo, sadly most by the previous owner. That said, the switch looked to be the original as the red putty/paint was still over the locking screw (holds the switch to the lock mech)

My bike is serial number 383, with a September 1998 production date. Oddly, most people don't know that DOT requires the manufacture date of the lens of all turn signals, brake lights and headlights. When I was selling auto parts over the counter that was one of the tricks we used to see if the 'owner' of a vehicle really knew what year it was.

The date cast in the glass of the headlight is Sept 1997 (!)

[tvrla]

I recall this issue coming up before. The solution was to wire-tie the wires coming from the switch to remove the strain from the connection. Seems I zip tied them to one of the ignition switch mounting bolts nearby.