| Author | Message | ||
     Upthemaiden |
Every time my bike is caught in the rain, whether I'm actively riding in it or it gets rained on while I'm at work and come out to a slightly wet bike, my neutral light stays on for my whole ride home. It's only at about 25% brightness. Doesn't cause any problems but I'm curious about it. Obviously the water is getting in somewhere. Do you think it's something with the neutral switch on the engine? maybe worth pulling, cleaning, and globbing on a little dielectric grease. I don't assume it's water getting into the actual indicator lights, since it's only the one light that does it. All of the lights have started to flicker on a regular basis, but I'm assuming there's a ground connection somewhere that needs cleaned up. | ||
| 89rs1200 |
The switch is located just forward of, and nearly under, the belt front pulley. Good place for dirt, oil, water to collect. Get some engine de-greaser and clean out that area. If you have electrical contact cleaner, pull the wire off and clean the connections. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The switch grounds the circuit, to turn the light on when needed. Sounds like you have some debris down by the switch, that is causing a partial ground condition when wet by conducting "some" electricity. Ditto the "clean the area" suggestion. | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
My guess would be a schaffed wire from the neutral switch and making a short with wet weather | ||
| Upthemaiden |
Along the lines of what I was thinking. I'll see if I can get some time to take a look at it this weekend. | ||
| Akbuell |
Perhaps you might try unplugging the wire at the switch and wash the bike. If the light comes on, the problem is somewhere in the wire/harness. If it doesn't come on, the problem is at the switch, most likely the connector. Hope this helps, Dave | ||
| Upthemaiden |
I would assume unplugging it would make an incomplete circuit and the light wouldnt turn on no matter where thre problem was. Just thinking out loud though. | ||
| Akbuell |
Yes, unplugging will make an incomplete circuit. IF the problem is a chaffed wire between the connector and the neutral switch, and that chaffed area gets wet, then current can flow to ground, and the light will come on. IF the problem (and is most likely the issue) is a dirty/loose connector, or the switch itself, then unplugging and getting it wet, the light will not come on. Hope this helps, Dave | ||
| Upthemaiden |
Took a look at it. It was indeed pretty filthy(along with the test of my engine). Due to the style of the connection and the placement of it behind the drive belt, I couldn't really pull it off to cleans it well. I did spray it down with electrical parts cleaner and globbed some dielectric grease on it as best as I could. I'll see if it helps next time it rains. Luckily the next few days look pretty dry, so I'll have to wait to test it. A more common problem is that my indicator lights all seem to flicker when the bike is running, but stay on fine when the engine is shut off. That one seems like an obvious poor ground connection. I'll have to look at the wiring diagram and see if I can figure out where those lights are grounded. Not too worried about that one though, I'll get to it when I get to it. | ||
| Ratbuell |
If "the lights" are flickering, I'd look at system grounds, not component grounds. Battery cable tight? At both ends? Should also be a ground strap (braided, I believe) between frame and swingarm. I know, the components in question aren't on the swingarm, but a 'floating' ground anywhere in the system can cause things to go wiggy. I'd also pay attention to ignition system grounds, in case coil-firing draw is what's causing the system to dim. |
