Intermittent Dash

[Patriot]

'04 Gen I

is there like one wire for power under the dash somewhere and another wire for ground or what's the connection is that's what's loose???

two rides ago, all well

last ride, turn key on first thing, no lcd dash...as back bike out of garage and park it...come back to life and is good all day

during week, bike parked in garage, turn key on to check odometer, no lcd panel

today, turn bike on and start it...no dash...no dash for 5 miles, then poof, back on

fine for half the day, park for 1 hour lunch...start bike, no dash, no dash for 20miles...notice no tach, no speedo, no lcd display, don't think any working idiot lights either

I seem to remember no neutral light, but not sure

it briefly came to life while riding when reset everything -> riding 50mph on road...pull in clutch, briefly turn key off, count to 5, turn key on and let out clutch to start back up

then a few miles down road, no dash

stop for fuel, and all fine when start bike and ride home 150mi

????????????????

(no, I didn't search)

 

[wfooshee]

Well, it's not like you've got some added electrical accessories on that thing . . . . . .

The dash panel's connector is way up inside the nose cowling. Not sure where anything's grounded or powered before that plug, but in the plug, the power is on the red/white wire, and the ground is on the black/white wire.

The red/white wire's power comes from the ignition fuse, so there'd be lots of other problems besides the dash if it was close to the fuse. That fuse is between the dash (and other circuits) and the ignition switch, so we can rule out ignition switch, too.

It would be hard to get to, having to pull the nose plastic off, but all I can think of is to physically trace those wires from the plug and see what's up in any connectors they go through.

The meter plug is the one right in the middle of this picture, big rubber boot on it.

Do the clock and trip meters reset when this happens? That might make it a ground problem, not a power problem. Also, does the odometer keep up with your miles while riding with the dash blank? In other words, does it show enough elapsed miles, or are the miles from the blank times missing?

EDIT: I called Mike with these questions, and he states that the trip doesn't reset, but it doesn't count while the panel's out. The gauges are dead when this happens. The regular odometer counts OK. He has turn signal indicators and neutral light, didn't notice oil and engine (which should only come on as bulb tests when first starting) and it wasn't dark enough to verify dash lighting. None of those things just listed (except oil and engine lights) are controlled by the meter electronics, so they should be unaffected. I was asking about them to verify. Since the trip doesn't reset, but doesn't count either, I don't think it's a ground, I'm almost 100% sure that it's the red/white wire, which feeds switched power to the meter. The meter assembly just doesn't know the bike is on.

 

[RadioHowie]

Easy solution...Mike, drive yer lazy ass 6 hours east to Walt and let the unrecognized wire-wizard fix it for ya!

 

[majicmaker]

We All know that I'm NOT an Electricain But, Sounds like a Ground Spider to Me!!! Good luck with that!

Give it to Walt! He can Fix Anything! Like that Kid in the Sixth Sense Movie that see's Dead People, He See's Rogue Electrons! :clapping:

 

[RadioHowie]

So, Vic, if you're not an Electricain, what kind of cain are ya?

 

[mcatrophy]

... Sounds like a Ground Spider to Me!!! ..

Yes, but his is an '04.

 

[Newfie Bullet]

I had the same problem with my 04 during the summer of 2010. I raised the gas tank and found that the contacts in the two large white connector located on the upper right of the tank were severely corroded. I cleaned them using contact cleaner that I purchased from Radio Shack. I then applied a generous amount of dielectric grease to the connectors. I have since ridden about 15000 Km with no more problems.

I also understand that CLR is great for cleaning electrical connectors. Just put some in a container and immerse the connectors into it.

 

[majicmaker]

... Sounds like a Ground Spider to Me!!! ..

Yes, but his is an '04.

That was an attempt at Humor Mc. It was supposed to demonstrate how little I know about electricity, that I didn't even know the ground spider problem was on the GenII.

I know that you Brits have a dry sence of humor but, Come On Man! Let's try and Keep UP! After All, You guys gave us Benny Hill for Christ Sake!! I thought he was Freakin' Hilarious!!

 

[majicmaker]

So, Vic, if you're not an Electricain, what kind of cain are ya?

My Dyslexia must be kicking into high gear! Or maybe I shouldn't have smoked all that Weed when I was a kid!!

 

[mcatrophy]

That was an attempt at Humor Mc. It was supposed to demonstrate how little I know about electricity, that I didn't even know the ground spider problem was on the GenII.

I know that you Brits have a dry sence of humor but, Come On Man! Let's try and Keep UP! After All, You guys gave us Benny Hill for Christ Sake!! I thought he was Freakin' Hilarious!!

Sorry, lack of recent decent riding.

To help with your electrical knowledge, I came across this primer:

To construct a circuit

And do it right

Attach wires and a bulb

And there will be light

But remember the rule

And make it complete

Battery cell, wires

And bulb must all meet

A switch can be used

To break the flow

With no electricity

There will be no glow

Add another battery

To get more light

Giving more power

Makes it more bright

An electrical conductor

Lets the power pass through it

Metal is the best choice

For the wire in the circuit

Always take care

Using electricity

And remember the rules

In this little ditty

Hope that helps

Ps. Benny Hill? Dry sense of humour?

 

[RadioHowie]

That was an attempt at Humor Mc. It was supposed to demonstrate how little I know about electricity, that I didn't even know the ground spider problem was on the GenII.

I know that you Brits have a dry sence of humor but, Come On Man! Let's try and Keep UP! After All, You guys gave us Benny Hill for Christ Sake!! I thought he was Freakin' Hilarious!!

Ps. Benny Hill? Dry sense of humour?

Yeah, really!

Benny Hill's humour was only slightly less discrete than Larry, Curly and Moe.

 

[Donal]

'04 Gen I

is there like one wire for power under the dash somewhere and another wire for ground or what's the connection is that's what's loose???

two rides ago, all well

last ride, turn key on first thing, no lcd dash...as back bike out of garage and park it...come back to life and is good all day

during week, bike parked in garage, turn key on to check odometer, no lcd panel

today, turn bike on and start it...no dash...no dash for 5 miles, then poof, back on

fine for half the day, park for 1 hour lunch...start bike, no dash, no dash for 20miles...notice no tach, no speedo, no lcd display, don't think any working idiot lights either

I seem to remember no neutral light, but not sure

it briefly came to life while riding when reset everything -> riding 50mph on road...pull in clutch, briefly turn key off, count to 5, turn key on and let out clutch to start back up

then a few miles down road, no dash

stop for fuel, and all fine when start bike and ride home 150mi

????????????????

(no, I didn't search)

It's all down to that cheap (e-bay) magnetic drain plug! You know how it is with magnets and electricity

Don

 

[Patriot]

The meter plug is the one right in the middle of this picture, big rubber boot on it.

wiggling, light pulling...no joy

there was a locking tab on top of the connector...it really wouldn't move and felt no way was I going to remove it

I'm pretty sure there is another locking tab on the bottom I couldn't get to

but the fact the lcd display would come to life during a ride (from vibration making the intermittment connection?) makes me believe I'll find the fault by just wiggling something in the circuit and poof...all fixed with some minor cleaning/maintenance

man...there are some things that one should obviously find favor with a Gen I

that access panel on the nose is definitely one of them

the tank is up

there are 3 big "white" connectors of interest

as soon as the tank was up and I fiddled around under there, moving stuff around to get the electricals locations mapped out

turning on the key brought the lcd to life (before raising the tank, it was dead)

does anyone know if any of those plugs would be unplugged to do a valve check (I assume not)

it had a check by my talented independant mechanic at his shop recently

I would think there's more chance this is just age and not anything he could have done wrong to cause these symptoms

I actually think unplugging and plugging would scrape the contacts to work better

but I'm looking for advice so it's fixed and I don't have to fool with it anymore

paging WFooshee to the white courtesy phone...would Walter Fooshee, pick up the white phone...

 

[Patriot]

I had the same problem with my 04 during the summer of 2010. I raised the gas tank and found that the contacts in the two large white connector located on the upper right of the tank were severely corroded. I cleaned them using contact cleaner that I purchased from Radio Shack. I then applied a generous amount of dielectric grease to the connectors. I have since ridden about 15000 Km with no more problems.

I also understand that CLR is great for cleaning electrical connectors. Just put some in a container and immerse the connectors into it.

your post is instrumental in my fix

found 3 large connectors under the tank

they didn't visually look problematic, but had no recurrence yesterday riding 350mi.

Thank You Sir and just finished polishing my 2 Gremlin Bells