[mandrbarrett]

I have an intermittent electrical problem and would appreciate some help. (MTS1000DS, 2003)

A couple of weeks ago I turned the ignition key and the instrument panel did not light up. The engine would not turn over on the starter button. However the side light did come on and my heated grips worked fine. After switching off and on again a couple times everything worked fine and I forgot all about it.

Earlier this week I had the same problem again but much more persistent. Now it fails to switch on about once every three or four times.

Checked all fuses – all ok.

Checked all connectors – nothing visibly dirty, no pins bent or broken.

Removed the ignition switch and checked its resistance – originally 3Ohms on each circuit – sprayed contact cleaner in and worked the switch, now down to 0.5Ohms on each circuit, however this did not improve the problem.

With the switch on and the instruments not lit up I have removed the connector on the back of the instruments and checked out the red/black wire which supplies the switched 12V. It is live. On plugging it back into the instruments everything immediately powers up normally. Still no fix for the problem though.

The only major work that I have done recently on the bike required me to disconnect the big circular plug & socket on the left of the bike behind the battery (number 49 on the wiring diagram) to get better access. I have checked it and again it is clean with no pins damaged.

From what I can tell the ignition switch works fine and the instruments are receiving the full time 12V signal and the switched 12V signal. The problem still looks to me like a power problem on one of the feeds to the instruments, but I have proven that not to be the case.

Has anyone seen anything similar? Does anyone know how to debug the ignition module? Could a problem with the ignition show itself as a failure of the instruments to power up?

Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated as I’m getting desperate for a fix and am concerned about getting stranded at a fuel station after a fill-up.

Thanks,

Mark.

 

[ducman851]

Possible main relay issue?

 

[csandersii]

I have a short behind my fuse panel once where the vibrations of the wiring rubbed a hole in the cable exposing bare wire.

Electrical problems, the worst ???

Good Luck [thumbsup]

 

[test-reg]

I'm starting to get a minor problem on my '99 M750, where if I don't turn the key fully clockwise I can end up with it in this intermediate position where the bike will start and run, but I've got no instrument or tail lights. I don't worry too much about it - at night when I _need_ the tail light, I notice pretty quickly that I've got no instrument lights and jiggling the key all the way over always fixes the problem. I assume the key switch is a sealed unit, and that to replace it I'll need to end up replacing all 3 locks (ignition, tank, and seat) or deal with having multiple keys to operate the bike...

big

 

[mandrbarrett]

Thanks guys,

I'll check for any shorts or relay issues. I'm also planning to see if there are any diagnostic codes stored in the dash - don't know why that didn't occur to me yesterday.

One thing I forgot to say yesterday is that when the ignition is on but the dash not powered up, it ticks once a second, as though a relay is picking and dropping. I know that if you remove and replace the big plug behind the instrument console, the dash ticks rapidly for about 15 seconds - this is the same noise but less frequent and not stopping even after several minutes.

If anyone else has a fresh idea I'd be grateful to hear it. I'll post another comment after having another look at it.

Cheers

Mark.

 

[mandrbarrett]

I've just been having a look around the bike and have found that the ECU fuse has blown. If this is my problem then I'm staggered that it ran at all. Maybe the ECU was sinking enough current to run via one of the sensors.

I'll stick a new fuse in tomorrow and report back.