FJRF009.2: "Intermittent Ground Wire Connection"

[Joe2Lmaker]

... the tech working on the bike said he talked to Yamaha and they wanted the old spider caps reinstalled and Brodie's harness pulled from the bike.

Just curious, is Yamaha calling them "spiders" now?

Edit/addendum: I'm on the list for a full harness. Last week I called Katie(sp?) in the service department at Larson's Cycle, Cambridge, MN. She was familiar with the recall. In fact it sounded as if she had it memorized, only a couple of days after it was posted here. VERY sharp woman. She remembered me from the ignition and ECU recalls and knows I don't like other people working on my bike.

So, I'll wait. They won't see my bike until they've had a few opportunities to practice.

 

[HIGHLANDER]

Don't know if Yammie is, but the tech advisor knew what I was talking about when I brought the bike in and the service tech wanted the "caps" back.

 

[Morecowbell]

I went to my local Yamaha dealer on Monday afternoon to order a few small parts. While I was there, I asked the woman at the counter to add my name and address to the VIN record for my bike. I bought it used back in March and had no idea if Yamaha would be able to find me in order to mail the recall notice. On Tuesday, my mailbox contained the Safety Recall Notice from Yamaha in Cypress. Now is Yamaha really that fast, or did they get my address and info from CA DMV records? I'm just curious, since the timing was so odd.

I'll be looking forward to talking to the service department to see when they'll have the parts to do the work on my bike.

 

[ScottyUSN]

Called Yamaha to confirm me and the FJR where married up in their database, and get a warm fuzzy the Ignition recall was conducted before I bought the bike. I was in the system and the Ignition recall was conducted.

The guy on the phone was very helpful and informed me the parts for the Spider recall are abundant (2300 on the shelves) IF and it's a big IF you do not need a new harness due to the spider ground issue. If you require a entire new harness, those are off the shelves faster than being produced.

Fingers crossed when they break my bike down, they don't find anything melted.

 

[Woketman]

I am the original owner of my '06, bought new at a Yammy dealer two years ago, and I still have not heard a peep from Yamaha.

 

[n1acguy]

I'm gonna wait a while on this one. My dealer kept putting me off on the ignition switch recall, so I never had it done. I had already installed Brody's relay harness so I'm not concerned about the switch anymore. They were clueless about my clutch sticking when the bike was new, and I found out about soaking the clutch plates from this forum. No problem with the clutch since I did that myself.

Trouble is, the other 2 dealers near me have horrible reputations, and I won't let them touch my bike.

I wouldn't mind buying a ground harness from one of the forum members and installing it myself rather than screwing around with one of the local dealers, but then the bike will have 2 open recalls on it.

Hmm......... I'm gonna sleep on it. For many nights

 

[RaYzerman19]

Will I burn in hell if I don't get the recall done and leave my Brodie harness on?

Same boat here. Installed Brodie harness and had no previous problems. We don't know if the new Yammy harness is any different than the one we already got, except it's brand new. What will stop it from failing? Maybe they're gonna grease it this time. Anyway, I hope I never see that recall letter....... not worried about any flames!!

 

[jetrep]

Thanks for the info.

 

[beemerdons]

Damn, did I screw those pics up , I should have checked them before leaving the dealer. They were over exposed and this is the best I can get them playing with the Photobucket adjustments.

Ah don't worry about it HIGHLANDER, I also post when I am drunk and stoned!

Hell's Bell's, look at rushes; that's a quart of Jim Beam and a half-bag of Maui!!

 

[zzzzip]

I called the Yammy dealer today to get a kit ordered (even tho' I have yet to receive a letter), and the service guy was not on track until I said something about the grounding spyder recall, and then the light came on. He referred to it as the "spyder" too and said he'd order it today.

The guy I talked to on Saturday, who was familiar with the recall, said that since it was a safety issue, they were required to put my bike at the front of the line for work. Maybe he's blowing smoke, maybe not. We'll see.

 

[Lee-N-Reno]

I also received my notice in the mail today, and yes will contact the dealer about it. But I have also install both harnesses from Art last year, before I had a melt down :clapping: . So I guess will find out if the Dealer will say something about the other fixes, or light controller for my lights in the Top Case.

 

[Jim in Phoenix]

I received my spider recall yesterday. Called Temecula Motorsports today and they said they received the recall bulletin and to bring the bike in for the recall. I asked if they had the parts in yet and NO was the answer. I was told they would tear the bike apart and see if I needed the replacement parts. If not, they would put the bike together and I could ride it home. If I needed the fix, they would keep the bike until the parts came in, leaving me without a ride. I said I would call back on a weekly bases to see if the parts came in and then bring the bike in for the fix.

But what got me was when the service mgr said they would put the part on only if it was needed. WTF, I was under the impression the fix goes on regardless if it was needed or not. :glare:

Here is my experience so far. I got the same message from Ride Now Powersports in Phoenix (too late for your input Skooter - but thanks anyhow). And when they took my bike apart, the harness was OK but they did not put the bike back together as promised. So, I have been without my 2006 FJR since last Friday. But the good news is that the "fix" is at the dealers (arrived this afternoon) and I will be back on the road tomorrow - worry free. If I wanted to go to WFO and it had not been cancelled, I would have been SOL. How willing are you to risk a failure?

 

[Roy Epperson]

I was in getting tire mounted and balance on my wife's bike and new front for my FJR today. I had my recall notice that just arrived as I was going over to East Bay Motorsports in Hayward, CA. While waiting for my front to be done, the service manager verified my VIN and the bulletin. Per the bulletin, it is for VINs between 2006 and 2009. He did not know what might be different with the 2010 and 2011 models.

If I understood him correctly, there are two harnesses. One is a short one which is done regardless and is available. There is a second that if there are signs of possible problems elsewhere, the longer harness needs to be installed. The second harness is back ordered until 8/15 and they can only order it if there is verified damaged and it is allocated to a specific VIN and then the warehouse will ship the part.

The book time for complete replacing both harnesses is 3 hours (doesn't include getting the 2nd harness shipped LOL).

Sure glad I installed Brodie's harness... ain't gonna worry... except for getting the "recall done" some time.

 

[FJR-RemingtonRider]

WTH there is a front break switch recall?

Sorry, can't pull quotes w/phone.

 

[Ignacio]

WTH there is a front break switch recall?

Sorry, can't pull quotes w/phone.

Wrong thread. Check this one. It's why we number and pin them....for your reading convenience.

 

[not2shabby]

Just a thought.

I would think the dealer won't even notice my harnesses when they check the bike, and do the recall. They will be looking at the spiders, not the fans, and head lights. So I would think if you have my harnesses in, you could leave them if you want, and let the dealer add there fix as well. It looks like the recall is tapping into a spider to add ground path, so you will be able to run with both fixes (mine and Yamaha) if you want. The only way they might notice my harnesses is if the dealer has to R&R the factory harness, which they won't have to do if you added the overload harnesses before the spiders got burnt.

There was a few of you that added my harnesses after being bitten, and now the bike is grounding threw them. If you are one of them , then you may want to take them out before you take it to dealer, and reinstall them after you get the new factory harness installed (if you want).

Another option for everyone is take the after market spider fixes off, and run with Yamaha's fix. I'm sure this is what Yamaha wants.

Exactly what I was thinking. My spiders looked good, but I plan to check them again and pull the lower fairings off so it should take them no time to install Mamayama's 'fix'. One question though, does their additional harnesss bolt to the engine like yours do? They might wonder why there's more wires running down there if it does.

I haven't received a recall notice yet. I did call and verify my extended warrantee when I bought the bike, so they should have my info.

 

[HIGHLANDER]

Did you even look at the pictures I posted ? :blink: No, it does not bolt to the engine, it's all plug in connectors.

 

[FiveG]

Swung by my dealer this AM. They got the 1st level recall harnesses in, so I'm bringing it in Monday (plus I figure it's time to add a new battery). Hopefully that's all I'll need; if not, I'll have them button it up so I can ride until the harnesses come in (I believe that's three days after hell freezes over).

 

[stevec677]

My bike is in for the 16,000 mile service (actully I'm late with 19,750 miles on the clock) at Phipps Powersports in Albany NY. I just called the service manager "Jerry Jr." and asked about the recall. He knew all about it and said he had the repair parts on order. He will be checking my bike while he has it apart, to see if I need just the fix or a new harness. It's nice to talk to someone who is informed.

 

[Fred W]

So it seems we have enough information at this point to assess the Yamaha engineered solution in this recall.

Their solution is a supplemental wiring harness that is plugged into the S-4 spider connector body after the metal spider has been removed. It then has some connectors on the other end, which will bring each of the individual wires in the S-4 spider to ground. Their analysis must have led them to believe that the overheating of the S-4 connector was due to the excessive cumulative current through the single pin and larger gauge wire that ran off to ground, in the original configuration.

This may (or may not) have been an accurate assumption as to what causes the most catasrophic failures, where the nylon connector body melts down and fries wires up the harnesses. However, I am very suspicious that this does not prevent all the failure modes that have been reported of these spiders. This engineering solution is nearly identical to the solution they came up with for the ignition switches burning up, which considering it is the same engineers should be no surprise. In both cases their fix is simply to provide multiple conductor paths through the same shitty contacts (or connector pins) in order to lessen the heating of said contacts.

Make no mistake. While this will likely reduce the number of complaints to Yamaha, and especially the number of crispy main harnesses that they have to replace (on their dime), it is not a total solution to the problem, anymore than the recall switch assembly is for that problem. Not only did they not make any changes to any of the other ground spiders in the 2nd Gen wiring harness, they also did nothing to weatherproof these S-4 connections, which had to have some catalytic involvement in these failures. Otherwise it wouldn't have taken miles and/or time before the spiders start to burn up.

By all means, you should have Yamaha install their "fix", especially if all you need is the new sub-harness. But if it were my bike, I would take additional prophylactic measures, either via a Brodie or Roadrunner harness mod, both of which go considerably further in addressing these problems.

You 2nd genners may be all giddy that Yamaha has finally paid some attention to this safety issue, but IMO this glass is only half full. YSMV.