My K100 is having a few issues, mostly that after doing a few miles (20+ ) the indicators go dodgy, sometimes they will come on, sometimes both will come on and sometimes neither or the wrong one will! also according to snod my headlight dims and brightens quite a lot. Wondering if you could advise me of the best place to start looking!

Clean the starter inside for carbon dust, clean the commutator and renew the brushes.

The headlight and flasher relay (and other this and that) gets the power via the load shedding relay, the coil in the LSR is grounded via the starter brushes.

Have you had the starter out before? Its not so hard to get out, two Allen screws which you can see behind the coils. You have to take out the battery to do it. starter itself iis easy to do, quite a few posts here.

So that might be causing both problems? Its recently had a new fan motor put in, just wondered if that had anything to do with it or its just a coincidence!

ah thats could be it, we have topped the battery up and stuff recently, possibly it hasnt gone back right. will definitely try it,m needs to be right for germany! two weeks on tuesday...

I had the same problem on my LT. Did starter motor and it didn't help. seemed that at some point I messed up the earths under the tank. There are a few, brown wires and bolted to the centre tube, take them off and clean them. I never finally resolved it.

Starter motor does make sense though, i have had to bump start it a few times since its started acting up, not too hard to do but do turn a few heads running along with him!

Bump starting? How good is the battery, because a dodgy battery will also cause some electrical 'confusion'..........

Not sure, its not mega old, maybe two years. Did check the fluid and it did need a bit more. so could be battery or starter?

Starter is worth doing, its so easy to get at. About the size of a can of coke [the kind you drink], only two long screws in it, but before you open it put some [scratch] marks on the casings so you align it correctly when you are reassembling it. Some 1200 grade wet and dry used dry is good for cleaning it off.

But I am a little suspicious of the battery too. You shouldn't be having to bump start it. On my LT my battery was signed off as being ok. 2 weeks later I was up in Mayo and on a Friday morning the bike wouldn't start....battery! Friday in Mayo is not the place to be looking for a battery for an LT, or so I thought. One ride on lawnmower shop later I had one for €50!

Since you have a fellow K one might think about swapping some parts but I know there are differences, yours is 8 valve and the RS looks to be a 16 valve. A little tip for your trip to Germany. There is space for spares in the relay box. A spare starter and load shed relay are stored in mine. Only because I have them. room for spare bulb or two as well.

Ha ha the white one isnt mine and i dont think he would appreciate me salvaging parts just yet! We havnt quite got to the 'please can i steal this off your bike' part yet  And got a bulb kit and various bits under the seat, look well prepared at least!

A little surreptitious swapping of parts was what I had in mind, not salvaging.....

Ha ha could be a plan but we tend to meet halfway so never the right tools and so far it seems to like raining on us!

Have the battery load tested at a local garage.  You may have topped it up and possibly the terminal voltage with no load is 12.4V or so now.  But wet plate batteries sulfate resulting in shorted plates and, under load, the terminal voltage might drop below the minimum necessary to turn the starter over (hence the bump starts) and may weld your starter relay (more headaches and expense).

If the load test fails, pick up a new AGM sealed battery.  Saves maintenance and has a very long service life.

Oh, and clean the starter.  It can't hurt and will probably help.

Brilliant, thanks guys!

92KK K100LT 193214 wrote:Since you have a fellow K one might think about swapping some parts but I know there are differences, yours is 8 valve and the RS looks to be a 16 valve.

The RS is 8v but its owner would like to be able to go home on it afterwards..

The headlight seems to dim in town or at low speed suggesting it dims when the revs get low, I would suspect the alternator? It might explain why there's so little charge in the battery too. I am not an expert though, only had mine since March!

The RS' owner mightn't be wanting to go home, was just trying to help a fellow K rider.

If you have seen the lights going dim in town then yes I would go with alternator too. I recall another thread on that here not very long ago.....

I've been getting similar probs - dodgey indicators, h/light not working, dead starter etc...have cleaned starter, checked earths, ran an extra lead from under tank earth to -ve battery etc & no change so gonna renew starter brushes...hoping its not the sprag clutch? - that's mega pain...
Starter will work if bike is pushed back in 2nd a little...

ok, sorted the starter motor with new brushes & cleaned up the commutator (thanks clymer for that term...the wee copper blocks the brushes push on)...so at least the engine starts on the button now but still having front side light flashing with indicators!...ho hum on to checking out the ignition switch now...
handy tip from on here or somewhere...starter motor can be removed without removing battery - just remove battery clamp & tilt battery back to get starter motor out...saves me losing those bleedin battery post screws!

Check fuse #7 Mark. check it with a meter don't just have a look as we have been seeing them open circuit from internal corrosion for some time.  Probably best to replace all of them I have ended up doing just that.

I would strongly suggest you start by cleaning the starter!  MANY issues with K-bikes are directly attributable to dirty starters and earths/grounds that are corroded.  Battery and relays are likely secondary faults related to the dirty starter.   Cleaning is a simple and inexpensive precautionary maintenance point.  Short of marking the case so that is assembled the same way it came apart the hardest part is removing the mounting bolts.

thanks for comments lads...turns out the lights issue was down to one of the connectors under the tank...after checking about 5 of them I got lucky...now on to sussing out why the abs light is on...jeez if its not one thing its another...

Markzz wrote:but still having front side light flashing with indicators!...

Markzz wrote:but still having front side light flashing with indicators!...

Bad ground, I'll guess.