DaveAlba Posted February 19, 2015 #1 Posted February 19, 2015 Hello all! I recently acquired a 91 1300 with a bit more personality than I was expecting. I was coming home late from a job in another town and all of a sudden, my headlight and all dash lights went out. No moon and a clear starry night made this experience a bit of an eye opener. I pulled over and tried everything I could think of to get some kind of lights somewhere. Finally, out of pure frustration I brought both hands down flat on the plastic gas tank/battery/electrical stuff cover pretty hard. Suddenly I had lights again. This leads me to believe I have a loose or corroded wire somewhere, but I'm not even sure where to start looking. I just got the wiring diagram for this bike from the tech library (holy freaking cow is that handy), but I'm not sure where to begin looking for the problem. I am curious about the "Reserve Lighting Unit" and it's connected reserve light. What are they for? Anybody know? I've had this bike for just a few months now (4 or 5) and am really impressed with both the power and the mileage. I'm not sure of how many miles are on it because the speedo burned out on me within the first month. I'll be looking for a replacement soon, but I want to focus on the lights issue first.
Neil86 Posted February 19, 2015 #2 Posted February 19, 2015 The Reserve Lighting Unit is designed to monitor headlight circuit and should one beam be burnt out, switch power to the other beam to maintain some headlight illumination. Normally when this occurs you would have an alarm on the CMS showing a bad headlight filament and when you were trying to use the failed filament the white HEADLAMP indicator on the dash would be illuminated to show the Reserve Lighting Unit was powering the other filament of the bulb. A more likely culprit are weak fuse clips for the headlight fuse....they oxidize, run hot and can lose tension, ..etc Look at the clips for oxidation and melting on the plastic dovetail groove the clip sits in on the fusebox.
MiCarl Posted February 19, 2015 #3 Posted February 19, 2015 To elaborate on what Neil86 said: If it hasn't been upgraded the fuse panel is almost certain to be failing. It's under that cover you banged on, on top of the battery. It's very likely it's either bad or been poorly repaired previously.
Venturous Randy Posted February 19, 2015 #4 Posted February 19, 2015 First of all Dave, a big welcome to the forum. We hope you join us and if you do, it will be the best $12 you will EVER spend on your bike. So far, it already looks like you have a great appreciation for these bikes and we like that. It also looks like the two failures you encountered are things that have been covered in great detail here and if you had known, you could have saved yourself some money and frustration. The speedometer failure is usually related to a bearing needing to be greased when it starts squealing and as already noted, the fuse box should be on the top of your priorities to get done. There is a member that sells a very good package here or you can get something from an auto or electronics store. Randy
MiCarl Posted February 19, 2015 #5 Posted February 19, 2015 Speedo could be a simple as a broke cable too.
bongobobny Posted February 19, 2015 #6 Posted February 19, 2015 +1 for a bad fuse connection, likely corroded...
Flyinfool Posted February 19, 2015 #7 Posted February 19, 2015 The other common culprit is the contacts in the start switch. But I would start with the fuse box. Those factory fuse holders are really bad news.
DaveAlba Posted February 19, 2015 Author #8 Posted February 19, 2015 Thanks for all the attention, and the big welcome. I have been a Yamaha fan since I got my first 550 Maxim. I've always liked the look of the Venture, but never found one in good enough condition to even consider until now. This one my mechanic found for me and worked an amazing deal for it. Literally an "offer I couldn't refuse" type deal. Boy am I glad he did. I noticed that the original fuse box appears to be in really good condition, but there is a second fuse holder installed close to the steering neck. I say installed, but it's more like a floater in that it's not mounted to anything, just hanging out up near the fairing on the right side (driver's perspective, that is.) I'll tear into it in a bit. I just got back from running some errands and thought I would see if anyone had any advice for me. Thanks again and I'll keep you folks posted.
Neil86 Posted February 19, 2015 #9 Posted February 19, 2015 The main fuse box has the glass fuses....there is an auxilliary fusebox labelled FUSE on the lid, that has a few of the ATC fuses in it too.
MiCarl Posted February 19, 2015 #10 Posted February 19, 2015 That main fuse box can look brand new, but the clips have hair line cracks and are weak. Replace it. (You probably had the same problem on the 550 max)
Prairiehammer Posted February 19, 2015 #11 Posted February 19, 2015 Thanks for all the attention, and the big welcome. I have been a Yamaha fan since I got my first 550 Maxim. I've always liked the look of the Venture, but never found one in good enough condition to even consider until now. This one my mechanic found for me and worked an amazing deal for it. Literally an "offer I couldn't refuse" type deal. Boy am I glad he did. I noticed that the original fuse box appears to be in really good condition, but there is a second fuse holder installed close to the steering neck. I say installed, but it's more like a floater in that it's not mounted to anything, just hanging out up near the fairing on the right side (driver's perspective, that is.) I'll tear into it in a bit. I just got back from running some errands and thought I would see if anyone had any advice for me. Thanks again and I'll keep you folks posted. Annotated pics of the primary fuse block with glass fuses and another pic of my revamped primary fuse block along with the second OEM fuse holder as well as the auxiliary fuse block I added.
Venturous Randy Posted February 20, 2015 #12 Posted February 20, 2015 (edited) Years ago I was coming up to a stop sign, getting ready to pull out on a highway when the bike died and lost everything. I ended up finding the main fuse in the box next to the starter solenoid had blown. I ended up bypassing the fuse to get home. I got several more fuse strips as spares and never did have a problem with blowing that fuse again. Due to this, later on when I wired up my fog/running lights, I ran them straight from the battery, through a fuse, relay and switch to the lights. Yes, I have to be careful with not leaving the lights on and running the battery down, but if I ever have a main fuse blow, I will still have lights to get off the road. Randy Edited February 21, 2015 by Venturous Randy
DaveAlba Posted February 20, 2015 Author #13 Posted February 20, 2015 OK. I found it. It is an aftermarket fuse box with all ATC fuses. Whoever replaced the original didn't put a connector on all the way and the wire for the headlight was working it's way out. I got it fixed and now have steady lights again. Thanks for the great advice and quick responses.
Venturous Randy Posted February 21, 2015 #14 Posted February 21, 2015 Hey Dave, glad you found the problem. Now, if you join and also put your bike info under your name, you will be amazed at how much help you will get. Randy
Neil86 Posted February 21, 2015 #15 Posted February 21, 2015 Save yourself future grief and go through all the crimps for the replacement fuse box.
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