Stalled issue

[jburrell]

I'm a newby so be gentle on me. I was riding my 99RSV home the other day (I've had it a week) and I was in the inside lane of a busy road and suddenly everything went dead. No lights no radio, no speedo etc. I managed to get into the susicide lane and stop at a light where there was no left and when the light change I pushed it to the sidewalk. I checked the Key the fuses and checked to determine what all was off. I had no headlight no trip meter, gas guage driving lights etc and therefore the bike would not start or run. Now I have not been putting my battery on a charger as it all seemed ok and I was riding it almiost every day. I was however running with full lights including the extra running lights on the front. Well I called a Tow truck and after about 20 minutes I rechecked my bike and I again had power. I was only 6 miles from home so I cancelled the tow and rode it home with the front running lights off. It was here that I became confused. If this was a short why could I now run the bike and if it was a battery issue why also. Another thing I do not understand is that now the emergency flashing lights are on and I don't know how they turned on or how to turn them off. I don't have the service manual yet (its ordered) so I am not sure what to check out or replace. I believe its a battery issue due to me not using the tender and running the extra running lights up front. PErhaps I shoud ditch the battery for a new one and use the tender on a regular basis since I do not know how old the battery is. What do you think? Replace the battery or look for other issues? How do I turn on and off the emergency flashers? Should I take the bike to the shop and have it checked out? IT seemed to be running excellent and this 99 doesn't even have any scratches nor did it have any blemishes anywhere. It looks a lot newer than its age. IF I take it to a shop what do I tell them to check out?

Your assistance and input will be greatly appreciated.

 

JB:Venture:

[Owen]

I think your 99 is the same as my 08... emergency flasher switch is on the right hand control cluster next to the cruise control. I would be suspicious of the ignition switch...

Here is the service manual.

[yamahamer]

If your flashers were on you may have bumped them and the kill switch at the same time? I have gone to turn my fashers on in the rain and hit my kill switch and panic because the bike stoped.

[MAINEAC]

It doesn't sound like a battery issue... battery's don't recharge by themselves... It sounds like your ignition switch... If it happens again try switching the key off and on and see if anything lights up.

[V7Goose]

A bad ignition switch seems the most likely answer. Even if you had accidentally hit both the 4-way flasher switch and the Kill switch at the same time, you would have still had power to your lights and radio. There is no way the problem you described could have been the battery unless it has in internal opening in the circuit. Although I have seen this once, it is very rare. But here is a quick check - if the battery voltage completely went away because of a bad battery or other circuit problem near the main fuse, you would have also found both trip odometers reset to 0 and lost all your radio pre-set stations. If this did not happen, the problem had to be later in the circuitry, like the ignition switch.

Goose

 

BTW - you can access the owner's manual for your bike directly from Yamaha's Star web site. Check the Parts & Service tab.

[jburrell]

I found the Service manual earlier thanks to all who pointedme to it.. Funny thing si that one item I noticed when I stopped was that the Radio had turned off and it did not come back on until I restarted the bike after the 20 minutes. I did still ahve my trip readings if I remember correctly. The KEy did not seem to make a difference when I first stalled. The only thing I notices was that the radio seemed dead at that point.

 

JB

[jburrell]

You know I bet you are all right. I took a virtural setp back and took another look at this issue. Based from what you all are saying the ignition switch is most likely the issue. Here is my thinking. When I got the RSv the handle bars had 2 in risers added for a better reach for the previous rider (sure helpes me out too). However, I noticed right away that when I lock the bike and I turn the handlebars full L or R the bars bumb the ignition housing. Also, we had to ride the bike home from purchase in a severe thunderstorm just a week ago and the day I had the issue it was about to rain. It seems most likely that I need to remove this and clean it up and look for contact issues. I will certainly do that in the next day or so as I want to take a ride Sat morning to the lake.

A few minutes ago PONCH called and agreed to come over and help me. Thanks PONCH. I don't think this will be too hard and I appreciate the offer but I should be able to manage. However if you want to come over really early Sat and Ride then thats anothe issue. (you lead I'll follow)

thanks to all for their inputs

I will post the results once I have checked it out.

 

 

jb

[Ponch]

JB, My wife's out of town right now. My riding depends on if she's in transit Saturday or not. Will let you know. Ponch

[dmoff1698]

JB

The Exact same thing happened to my 99. Going along fine then nothing!!!

 

Your problem could be in the ignition switch, but before you spring the $160 for a replacement, do me a favor.

 

Remove the seat, battery, and battery box. Attached to the + battery cable you will find the starting relay just below the battery box.

 

They tell me you can see the relay by removing the left side cover, but I don't see how.

 

Mine was a solid mass of corrosion so that you couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. I cleaned it up as best I could and found out the corrosion was the only thing holding it together.

 

Ordered a new one, installed, and back on the road again!!!

That is, up to 6 months later when I had to replace the ignition switch!!!

[jburrell]

Thanks for the info. I will certainly take a look at it this weekend. I have not had another problem since that day but you never know when the Gremlin wil strike again if you fail to track it down.

 

Jb

 

Have a great weekend all!!!!