1 Electrical gremlin Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:12 pm
Bikesmith
Silver member
Hey friends,
My usually dead reliable 1985 K100RS is giving me trouble in the middle of a touring trip and I'm hoping you guys can help me out.
Here's what happened: About 300 miles into my day I was pulling into a small town. As I slowed down coming into town I noticed that my starter was coming on intermittently. I'm not sure if it started right then, or if it had been doing it a while and it was only when I showed down that I noticed. I pulled into a parking lot to check it out.
When I tried to start the bike again, the dashboard lights came on normally. Pushing the starter button activated the fuel pump but I got nothing from the starter. Bad starter relay seemed like a good guess, so I replaced that and the load shed relay too, just in case, congratulating myself for carrying spares. But it had no effect. Starter button still activated the fuel pump, but not the starter. I did confirm the starter relay is clicking. That was the end of my power of diagnosis. Isn't it amazing how much harder it is to think clearly with a broken bike by the side of the road than comfortably in your home shop?
I figured I might have killed my starter, so I tried bump starting the bike. It worked! Yay! Sunset was approaching fast and I was starting to think it might be an overly interesting evening. By the way, bump starting was way easier than I expected.
So I continued my ride thinking I'd killed my starter. But then I noticed that my headlight was out and none of my switchgear was working properly. No horn. Pushing either turn signal button or the cancel button makes all four turn signals and the dash light flash once. Other than that the bike rode perfectly.
During the rest of my ride to tonight's hotel, I started wondering if one of the switchgear connections to the loom might have come loose. When I got here I checked that. Nope, they're both tight. Wiggling them made no difference.
So, any thoughts about what might be going on? I'm hoping you guys might have an idea that can get this trip back on track. If not, I'm bump starting and heading for home as quickly as possible tomorrow morning. I have a pretty good selection of tools to try ideas, but no multimeter (Damn! That's a mistake I won't make again).
What do you think?
- Jon
My usually dead reliable 1985 K100RS is giving me trouble in the middle of a touring trip and I'm hoping you guys can help me out.
Here's what happened: About 300 miles into my day I was pulling into a small town. As I slowed down coming into town I noticed that my starter was coming on intermittently. I'm not sure if it started right then, or if it had been doing it a while and it was only when I showed down that I noticed. I pulled into a parking lot to check it out.
When I tried to start the bike again, the dashboard lights came on normally. Pushing the starter button activated the fuel pump but I got nothing from the starter. Bad starter relay seemed like a good guess, so I replaced that and the load shed relay too, just in case, congratulating myself for carrying spares. But it had no effect. Starter button still activated the fuel pump, but not the starter. I did confirm the starter relay is clicking. That was the end of my power of diagnosis. Isn't it amazing how much harder it is to think clearly with a broken bike by the side of the road than comfortably in your home shop?
I figured I might have killed my starter, so I tried bump starting the bike. It worked! Yay! Sunset was approaching fast and I was starting to think it might be an overly interesting evening. By the way, bump starting was way easier than I expected.
So I continued my ride thinking I'd killed my starter. But then I noticed that my headlight was out and none of my switchgear was working properly. No horn. Pushing either turn signal button or the cancel button makes all four turn signals and the dash light flash once. Other than that the bike rode perfectly.
During the rest of my ride to tonight's hotel, I started wondering if one of the switchgear connections to the loom might have come loose. When I got here I checked that. Nope, they're both tight. Wiggling them made no difference.
So, any thoughts about what might be going on? I'm hoping you guys might have an idea that can get this trip back on track. If not, I'm bump starting and heading for home as quickly as possible tomorrow morning. I have a pretty good selection of tools to try ideas, but no multimeter (Damn! That's a mistake I won't make again).
What do you think?
- Jon
__________________________________________________
Jon
Mechanically competent, electrically perplexed
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1985 BMW K100RS
1959 BMW R60
1942 Chevrolet 3/4-ton Special
1940 Royal Enfield WD/CO
1975 Porsche 911S