Weird electrical issues...

[vicenzajay]

Well, after getting the bike back on the road and running well, I've run into two relatively minor issues that have some odd characteristics.

John (lunaticfringe) has given me some great advice (on this and so many other things), and I'll be working on those suggestions to try to hunt down the problem. That said, I wanted to pulse the board to see if anyone has had anything like them (with regard to some of the details). Might be something 'off the wall' going on, and maybe someone has already walked this path before with some wisdom to cut down on wire-chasing.

The two issues themselves are somewhat common:

- Neutral light sometimes doesn't work
- Speedo/odometer quit working while tach works fine.

These are not uncommon at all on the board (and over on badweb, etc.). The odd things are:

- Neutral light works perfectly until bike gets at least 35-40 miles into spirited ride. Then the light stops indicating neutral (note that there are no issues with actually getting the bike in neutral). To fix it - stop and let bike cool down just a bit. Works to rejuvenate light *every* time. Seems to be a completely heat related causal sequence.

- Speedo/odometer issue is a "every other ride" thing. The sensor itself is brand new, btw. It all works for an entire ride. The next time the bike is started, they don't work. Fix: Turn the bike off with the kill switch, restart bike, everything works.

I should note that neither of these scenarios results in a check engine light/code. I have John's voltmeter installed on the bike, and the battery/charging system seem to be working quite well. I just painstakingly went through all the grounds on the bike 2 weeks ago - they are in superb shape. Bike itself is running super well (engine wise, etc.).

Thoughts?

 

[njloco]

Filament broken, heats up and separates ?
Lose wire ?
Wrong bulb ?
Could the board have a hair line crack that you can't see ?
How about wiring up a connection between the + & - terminals of the bulb connections and hook that up to an ohm meter, take a ride and see if it loses connection after she gets hot ?

Just a thought !

 

[Cooter]

The neutral light in my Ss would do that. It was dirty, but they are so cheap I would just replace it. Make sure it seats well (needs a good ground) and the terminal has a good connection.

Since the gauge cluster only has one power source wire to power both the tach and speedo/odo, means the break is internal (inside the cluster). Replace it with one of the same mileage or take it apart and have a look-see at the inside. If you are handy, it is a easy job and hard to screw anything up.

 

[Cooter]

http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/21/828546.html?1530471860

 

[vicenzajay]

The neutral light in my Ss would do that. It was dirty, but they are so cheap I would just replace it. Make sure it seats well (needs a good ground) and the terminal has a good connection.

Since the gauge cluster only has one power source wire to power both the tach and speedo/odo, means the break is internal (inside the cluster). Replace it with one of the same mileage or take it apart and have a look-see at the inside. If you are handy, it is a easy job and hard to screw anything up.

Thanks, Cooter - when you say 'replace it', do you mean the neutral light itself (within the cluster) or the sensor connection behind the front pulley?

 

[Cooter]

I mean the switch behind the pulley. Its just a ball bearing that gets pushed into the body of the sensor, you can take the sensor out, push in the ball and spray with contact cleaner. It gets oily and stuff in there.

9/10 I have found them to be loose (because they were probably installed with needle nose pliers) so they will lose the ground connection with the body and the light won't turn on.

The light itself is good.