Gen I ignition switch failure

[kolonial72]

So there I am, on my way home after a delightful breakfast at the Lawn Fire Company. About three seconds before I was to make a right turn in a residential area, I got a complete loss of power. I pulled in the clutch lever and guided the Feej over to the curb. Man, glad that didn’t happen while I was turning.

Because my gauge cluster went blank, I cycled the ignition switch a few times. Nothing. I called Pete (Wild72), with whom I had just parted ways following the breakfast. He already made it across the bridge on 30, but cheerfully turned about and came back to help me anyway. (Thanks again Pete!)

We checked the main fuse. Pulled the C and D panels to access the fuses that protect the started relay. All good. Looked under the right side panel at the ECU connections. No loose wires, no corrosion. All the while we cycled the ignition switch a whole bunch. Still no worky.

Pete started messing with the wire bundle that comes off the bottom of the ignition switch. You know, the one that is held tight as a banjo string at a 90 degree angle from the switch? With the switch in ON, we were able to get the cluster sweep. A little more playing got the fuel pump and aux lights on briefly. Pete said hey, I’m going to butcher your wiring a bit. Then he proceeded to do so. Umm, sure, I said.

At the end of it all, a portion of insulation had been stripped from the brown wire and the red wire. The bares spots were placed in contact, which hot-wired the bike. The ignition still needed to be placed in on to start the bike, as there are interlocks in the switch. Well, thought Pete, how will we hold these two wires together so Dan can get home?

The answer:

That's right - a Band-Aid type bandage! I just wish he had HelloKitty or something. Snoopy, maybe. Anyhow, it worked. Got home slowly with no further issues. But I couldn’t leave it like this, so off to Radio Shack I go. One 30-amp rocker switch later, and here’s what we have:

The red is power, the brown is AUX on this switch, might be labeled LOAD or something on other switches. The connector with no wire is a ground. If I were to ground this switch, it would allow the red LED on the switch to give me indication that the switch is in ON. The switch is set on the bracket on the left side of the ignition switch. The interference fit between the bracket and the bottom of the switch keeps it in place.

Note that the two blue wires are still connected through the ignition switch. You could probably do the same thing with those two wires by tapping off of the red/hot to the POWER side and twinning the blues to the AUX side of the switch.

The ignition switch still needs to be in ON to start the bike, along with all the other usual stuff. And when I park, the ignition and my rocker need to be turned off to prevent draining the battery. This is a temporary fix. I paid for a used switch from jocko, it should be in next week. I may be able to swap some pieces between switches to keep the one-key lineup on my key ring.

The problem turned out to be a solder. While I was cutting wire to make connections for the rocker, the red wire pulled rather easily out of the ignition. I mean it almost fell out into my hand. The ball of solder was still attached, so another possibility is re-soldering the wire to the switch. Hey, it gives me something to do on rainy days!

Feel free to offer opinions, anecdotes, et cetera. Any good ideas for a good ground spot in the area of this rocker switch?

 

[SPORT]

Nice pics & write up.

I heard you & Pete had a fun time playing with your ignition.

Did you find whether Yamaha will cover it under the recall?

 

[Zorlac]

"Did you find whether Yamaha will cover it under the recall?"

I doubt they're willing to go down the GenI road.

Prolly end up buying the revised switch out of pocket.

 

[Patriot]

If mine did fail, I'd have to purchase a Brodie harness as insurance

I do carry around a fix it kit with 50 amp toggle, wires coming out of it, and two posi-taps. Also some electrical tape

and an x-acto knife.

 

[Wild72]

Eat your heart out MacGuyver.

Sorry about the boring Band-Aid Dan, I'll get you some nicer ones for the Nova Scotia trip.

Reason I carry a First Aid kit, (as should everyone else!), is that during last year's Sport Touring at it's Finest Ride, the group I was riding with were the first to arrive on the scene of a pretty serious two car accident that had just occurred on some back country roads. Fortunately we had ChecksWrecks in our group, who marshalled us all into action, and as I was performing traffic control duties, I realized that had I been out by myself, I would have been pretty useless to the injured parties without any form of first aid equipment on hand. Fairly soon thereafter, I purchased a compact kit that I keep in my seat bag at all times.

Dan's ignition was my first casualty, and although we had limited equipment (ie: no tools or electrical tape), I think we did a reasonable "get-u-home" botch job on this occasion, and he forgot to add that his daughter particularly enjoyed my care and attention to the Feejer's "booboo"...

Pete.

PS: I have a large triangular bandage just in case you get a puncture!!!

 

[kolonial72]

Hay, woah, leave my triangular "puncture" out of this!

 

[Brodie]

That's a neat use for a BandAid, I'll have to remember it. Glad you made it home in one piece.

That ignition switch on your '05 is the same exact one that's been giving us so much grief on the '06 and later bikes. The electrical current running through the switch contacts is enough to overheat them when they get dirty enough. In my case it melted the wiper carrier inside the switch, in your case it heated the solder enough to detach the wire. Your best bet is to score a new recall switch and then add a relay in the circuit.

Good luck, looks like a weekend project to me.

Brodie