Electrical gremlins. Help!

[LogoMan]

After about an hours worth of riding, my bike died suddenly while slowing for a red light. I pushed it off the road, thumbed the starter and it fired right back up.

I rode for a while longer and this problem repeated itself. Each time I could restart it right away. I noticed the turn signal lights on the instrument panel were not blinking when the turn signals were activated. I figured out that operating the turn signals and pulling on the brake lever would kill the bike, so I didn't use the turn signals on the way to cudgel's house and had no more stalling problems.

I got the bike to cudgel's house and he checked out the charging system. It's fine. All the fuses were fine in the fuse block, too.

Noticed that pulling in the brake lever made the rear tail light go off and the rear flashers come on steady. The stop light bulb in the tail light is not working.

The front turn signals do not blink.

cudgel unscrewed the turn signal switch and we squirted alcohol into it, got some grit out, and lubed it with a WD40-type product. Reassembled it and noticed that now, with the turn signals "off", that pulling in the brake lever would kill the bike. We unhooked one of the brake lever wires so I could get home without stalling out.

The bike is running like a raped date otherwise.

Any idea what could be wrong?

[spicholy]

Loose battery connection?

[cbrxxquad]

Rear flashers???

[LogoMan]

Battery connections are tight. I just took the turn signal switch apart, thoroughly cleaned and lubed it and put it back together. The button is very easy to activate now, but the problem remains.

In the left or right turn signal switch position this is what happens:

The rear flashers are on but do not flash. The right one is much brighter than the left when the left signal is activated and the left one is much brighter than the right when the right signal is activate. Totally ass backward.

Also, depressing the hand brake lever or foot brake lever will cut out the brake light and light up both rear flashers and then kill the bike.

I don't know what "Rear flashers???" means. If it means are the bulbs working - yes. If it means are they working properly then - no.

[John01XX]

Randy,

I think he had the same question I did, Rear Flashers ?????

There are no flashers on the Bird so I assume your are referring to the left and right rear turn signals.

The left and right rear signals should never be blinking at the same time like "flashers" do.

The rear signals are 1156 bulbs and as such are only "on" when the turn signal is activated.

The front signals double as running lights but the rear signals do Not.

[LogoMan]

In general, I hear that the wiring on the XX is stupid, lazy, and not very nice.

Why not be helpful instead of walking in with muddy shoes?

[LogoMan]

Randy,

I think he had the same question I did, Rear Flashers ?????

There are no flashers on the Bird so I assume your are referring to the left and right rear turn signals.

The left and right rear signals should never be blinking at the same time like "flashers" do.

The rear signals are 1156 bulbs and as such are only "on" when the turn signal is activated.

The front signals double as running lights but the rear signals do Not.

Sorry, John, I got a bit colloquial.

I meant turn signals. At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if they started blinking at the same time.

Do you think I've got a switch problem or something else?

EDIT: The bike was showing 220 degrees and the fan was off. I'm assuming this is a related problem.

As I said, the fuses for all these things checked out fine.

[cbrxxquad]

Yeah, turn signals instead of flashers,,,, so I am thinking you have a problem in the flasher,,,module,,,shorted, across terminals, with corrosion. Pull it and see if the errors go away. If not, start pulling fuses and see if it does. Which one cures the problem.sssss.

Sheeeessss Am I that hard to understand,,,just read it outloud to somebody..bet they git it..

[LogoMan]

Yeah, turn signals instead of flashers,,,, so I am thinking you have a problem in the flasher,,,module,,,shorted, across terminals, with corrosion. Pull it and see if the errors go away. If not, start pulling fuses and see if it does. Which one cures the problem.sssss.

Sheeeessss Am I that hard to understand,,,just read it outloud to somebody..bet they git it..

lol. You crack me up.

Reminds me that I should have had a beer and now it's too late.

Thanks for the help. I'll locate the offending module and pull it.

But tomorrow I'm going to something you would absolutely love! The Flywheelers event in Fort Meade. cudgel went on Fri. and I would have gone today if I'd known about it. Hope it's not raining tomorrow.

[wrgoudy]

Sounds like a grounding problem somewhere, which can cause a host of strange problems. Had a similar problem with a 595 Triumph Daytona.

After rereading this thread, the other thing that comes to mind is a problem with the control wiring grounding somewhere, possibly under or within the switch pods. Just some ideas FWIW.

[LogoMan]

Sounds like a grounding problem somewhere, which can cause a host of strange problems. Had a similar problem with a 595 Triumph Daytona.

After rereading this thread, the other thing that comes to mind is a problem with the control wiring grounding somewhere, possibly under or within the switch pods. Just some ideas FWIW.

Thank you, Bill. Things really are haywire. I''ll check my grounds.

Pulled the flasher module. Clean as if it just left the factory. Haven't checked to see if it was operational, yet.

[jon haney]

I would check the wiring (in the tail section) for the tail/brake light and signals for a short.

[Mekanix]

That sounds a lot like what my harness was doing before the solder harness "fix". It took care of it for a few years, but now I have so many ghosts in my machine that I am just going to buy a new harness from the ecu to the motor. Almost $400 last time I priced them on bike bandit. Mine is a 99.

I have black electrical tape over the check engine light and I just ignore it, but I have barely ridden it as of late. Still runs like a train though.

As a review of my previous problem, when I rode in the rain, blinkers acted really weird. Also my check engine light would fade on and off. A few days of dry weather and it would go away. Eventually the light was on more and more and then I did the harness cut and splice.

Year before last, I tore the harness apart and did redundant grounding. It did nothing to make the light go out. New harness is still cheaper than a new ecu, and I think I missed a wire because it will start with the kickstand on. Might as well get myself a new harness now!

[John01XX]

99 Wiring Harness

OEM Retail:

$ 442.00

HDL price:

$ 332.46

you may even be able to find it cheaper than Honda DirectLine

[mikesail]

Pretty typical problem of a missing ground connection. Your bike ECU is finding a ground path thru the light bulbs filament most likely, by applying power to the bulb you force the connection to become 12v instead of "ground". This is why it dies instantly.

Make sure the ground connections from the ECU all the way to the chassis are good, I think that will solve it.

[JB4XX]

Pretty typical problem of a missing ground connection. Your bike ECU is finding a ground path thru the light bulbs filament most likely, by applying power to the bulb you force the connection to become 12v instead of "ground". This is why it dies instantly.

Make sure the ground connections from the ECU all the way to the chassis are good, I think that will solve it.

Mike knows his electrical stuff...listen!

[LogoMan]

In general, I hear that the wiring on the XX is stupid, lazy, and not very nice.

Why not be helpful instead of walking in with muddy shoes?

Irony bus is coming straight at you!

Hey look! More keystrokes and still no more help.

[LogoMan]

Pretty typical problem of a missing ground connection. Your bike ECU is finding a ground path thru the light bulbs filament most likely, by applying power to the bulb you force the connection to become 12v instead of "ground". This is why it dies instantly.

Make sure the ground connections from the ECU all the way to the chassis are good, I think that will solve it.

Thanks, Mike!

Where would this ground connection from the ECU to the chassis be? The ground connections on the frame crossmember appear to lack any corrosion and they are tight.

[mikesail]

Don't know, mine hasn't failed yet!

But, undo the frame connections, visually inspect and retighten. Make sure the crimped part of the wire going in the ring lug is good too.

Unplug the ECU, inspect the connectors there.

I think there is a connector for the rear subframe assembly, no? Check that.

report back.

[LogoMan]

Don't know, mine hasn't failed yet!

But, undo the frame connections, visually inspect and retighten. Make sure the crimped part of the wire going in the ring lug is good too.

Unplug the ECU, inspect the connectors there.

I think there is a connector for the rear subframe assembly, no? Check that.

report back.

Thanks! Will do.

[Byrdman]

OMG, this is a first! The Irony Bus is turning around and coming back to hit him a second time! Call Guinness!!

Dude, drop it......

[cbrxxquad]

What I meant is to pull the flasher moldule and see if the problem goes away, with it out. Do this with the fuze's too, one at a time. Like Mike was talking about see if there is 12 volts on the ground side is what is the results. Kinda hard to explain, but pulling them stops it from happening. And give a clue to where to look for the problem.

If you do it one at a time to see when it stops the existing problem. Feedback is the problem.

and yes, the pub is where we play, and here is serious.

Any bike broke is serious.

[Byrdman]

Good point, apologies for dribbling into the garage.

Normally, I like your dribbling...............

[LogoMan]

Thanks for keeping this on topic guys!

I just pulled the rear cowl and 5 minutes later this is what I found. Not sure if it's causal or symptomatic, but did notice the insulation on the wires going in to the plug was fried before I saw some discoloration on the plug itself. Things were a bit tight in the space those wires were running through after I made them share space with the rear shock reservoir tubing. The insulation could have been rubbed off the wires and completed the circuit. (I'm pretending to know electrical jargon.)

I haven't look up what the wiring to this plug relates to, but the plug certainly needs replacing. Any ideas what caused this if my assumptions don't sound valid. And do you think that I have a problem that could have led to this one?

Also, where does a person get a new plug?

[mikesail]

that would be the alternator connection. I think someone here has replaced them, as part of the R1 mod.

Not necessarily your problem with stalling, but fix this first Grasshopper. then see where things are....