Help...My Beloved Bike Died.

[stuckonstupid]

Hey Guys

 

I went to the Grocery store on Saturday and when I came out to go home I inserted the key and at first the lights blinked on and then nothing. Great, I thought to myself. I went home and grabbed my truck and trailer, went back and hauled the bike back home. Here's where it gets interesting...I turned the key to the acc. position and the radio started playing intermittantly. I was tired and decided to work on it on Sunday afternoon. When I went back and took the lower half of the fairing so I could get to the starter ( I thought it was probably a loose wire on the starter or a grounding strap...It wasn't ) I would turn the key to Acc. and the radio would not work, but when I turned the key to the On position, one little light came on in the radio but it would not play and nothing else would light up ( ie. dash light, pump, lights...completely dead ) but the little light on the radio was on. It would only come on in the On position and go off in the Acc position. But still nothing else would come on. It's got me stumped. I checked the starter solenoid. It's not loose however I know little else. If any body would be so kind as to point me in the right direction, I would be grateful.

 

Thanks Ken:fingers-crossed-emo

[bongobobny]

Could be your ignition switch, but it could also be your battery is going south. Also a possibility of a bad ground cable or conection on the battery cable, especially where it goes to ground...

[84xj1100]

Not to insult yer intelligence......something my dad would always say.....did you check the obvious?

 

I would start with the fuses......main fuse, fuse panel and all the connections leading to it. I say this because everything except the radio is out (it may be wired direct to the battery??)

 

Then move to the ignition switch and the battery itself (as was mentioned)

[Condor]

My guess is it's the battery or connections. Unlike the 2ndGens, I've never read about a 1stGen ignition switch going bad. Don't forget to check the stater relay. It might be, depending on how often and far you ride the bike, an undercharged weak batt. Try jumpering the bike with a good charged batt.

Happened to me once. Started the scoot and rode up to the gas station. Took care of business and went to start it again, and it was deader than a door nail. Called the wife and she brought me another batt, did the swap, and all was good.....

[GeorgeS]

Check the Contact fingers for the Ignition Fuse, They are notorious for coming loose, and breaking OFF. IF SO, replace with an " IN LINE FUSE " . Avialable at any auto parts store. It feeds power to about 7 different items.

This fuse, if open will " kill" the following items:

Fuel pump,

TCI,

Fuel pump RElay,

Tachometer,

Barro pressure sensor,

And several other relays .

 

Also, check the Battery Ground cable where it connects to the Crankcase at front, right corner of the engine.

 

Battery might be shorting out " Internally " -- fix here, obvious, a new battery.

 

In short, Open Ignition fuse, you are No GO !!!

[stuckonstupid]

Yeppers,

 

I checked the fuses and cleaned all contacts on fuses, I will try the battery thing and relay. Thanks guys for the ideas, you guys are the best.

Ken

 

I'll let everyone know when I get it fixed and what caused it.

 

[6m459]

Hi,

 

I recommend replacing the entire OEM fuse panel. Yamaha should be ashamed of itself for those original ones.

 

Here is a pic of my solution using a couple of little fuse ATM blocks ganged together.

 

http://home.powergate.ca/~bjh/pix/P0002238.JPG

 

I have done this to both my Ventures now and many hundreds miles of trouble free motoring has ensued.

 

Looks bulky but fits nicely under the false tank cover like it was made for it!

 

Its an easy job. There is JUST enough wire to cut off the wires as close as possible to the old fuse panel and crimp on a quick connect and route the wires as shown.

 

I recommend doing one wire at at time so you don't get confused about which wire goes where.

 

Hope this is of interest.

 

Brian H.

[Props]

Ditto on Condor's reply... all going well until went for a little ride with the honey... stopped for gas and she wouldn't crank back up. Got her started on a downhill patch and ran her hard all the way home... the bike, not the honey... and found a bad battery.

 

This was the second bad battery from Wallyworld in less than 6 months... needless to say I don't waste good money on cheap batteries anymore. Installed an Interstate battery two years ago and still going strong.

 

Will say that if you haven't done it yet... it pays to take apart, clean, and give a squirt of dielectric grease into EVERY connection on these bikes.... they will do all kinds of crazy electrical related things due to the minutest amount of corrosion.

[Poledar]

Ken,

 

Just as an aside, check to see that the side stand switch isn't hung up. That will not kill the battery, but will keep the bike from starting.

 

Good luck!!

 

POLEDAR:fingers-crossed-emo:starz:

[stuckonstupid]

:thumbsup2:Thanks to all that wrote back with all the ideas.

 

Well, Believe it or not, it was the battery. Dead as a doorknob. I never in my life thought a battery could die that fast. Thanks again for the help, you guys are the best.

 

Ken