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HELP!!! Electrical issue. No speedo, no lights, bike runs fine.

5K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  BillV 
#1 ·
Got a problem with my GSXR 1000 k6. Hoping someone can help me solve it or at least point me in the right direction.

Bit of history on what has happened:
Had a problem with my instruments resetting occasionally for past 3 months or so (clock would reset, trip meter would round up to the nearest mile etc). It usually happened when starting the bike up. I use it every day for commuting so it is not standing unused for long periods.

Not sure if relevant but about 2 months ago my battery went completely dead (it was old) and the bike would not start obviously. Got a new battery and everything was fine. Then one day I left the parking lights on all day and drained the battery. Got my breakdown cover so AA came over and boosted the battery so I got the bike to start. Everything was fine since except the continued random clock resets.

Last week it started resetting more often and sometimes it did it when I switched on the high beam lights. Had a look at the left handlebar switches and the yellow wire to the high beam switch had a bit of insulation wrapped as if it would melt a bit (just about 1cm or so from the solder, the rest looks fine). Took the switch apart and it did show slight burning on that contact and it was really mucky. Cleaned it all off, insulated the melted cable bit with electrical tape and it all seems fine for 1 day.

Going to work a day after, I turned on my indicator and the whole instrument panel went dead (no speedo, gear indicator, rpm) and the headlight was not working. It all came back to life on its own about 10s later. Since then it happened few more times and usually it either came back to life on its own or I had to press indicators or hazards or highbeam few times.

Well… eventually it went dead and stayed that way :sad So this is what I need help with.

I will try to describe what is happening as best as I can:
  • Bike starts and runs fine
  • Instrument panel - no backlight and nothing on the display except the neutral light
  • Switching the ignition on, the rpm needle does not go up, but when switching ignition off it then goes all the way up and back down
  • When ignition is on and I press the engine start button and hold it (no clutch so the bike would not start) it initialises correctly - rpm needle goes up and back down, backlight is on, display is working etc. and also the position (side) lights come on, It just looks as it should. When i let the button go it obviously dies. Also I noticed that the lights are still not working and neither do indicators. Pressing hazard on the position lights flash instead of indicators.
When ignition is on:
  • All indicators are on but very dim
  • Turning on indicators - correct one on the front is flashing but still very dim, the back one is at normal brightness and flashing
  • Position (side) lights are on but dim
  • Pressing the pass (high beam) the position lights go off completely
  • Brake light works perfectly fine (front and back breaks)
  • No low beam


What did I check so far:
  • As mentioned at the beginning - left handlebar switches where yellow cable going to high beam switch looked like it overheated or shorted
  • Checked the fuses and the main 30A fuse - all ok.
  • Took the airbox off to get to the wiring harness and check quite a few connectors etc. all seem fine. Cleaned few connectors at the front, that go to the instrument panel and left switches, with a contact cleaner. Checked the regulator/rectifier connectors and all appear to be fine.
  • Voltage on the battery is 12.83V. When ignition is on it drops to around 12.4V. Switching indicators on or high beam or start switch it drops a bit further but the lowest I have seen was around 12.1V.
  • While looking at the wires I noticed that one brown wire (possibly with more markings) near the ecu plug (under the seat) was cut and insulated. No other cable looks to be touched. I reconnected it but did not change anything.
  • Noticed that my regulator/rectifier is located under the seat just above the rear shock. Might be wrong here but shouldn’t it be at the front/left under the tank or radiator somewhere? Might have been relocated by previous owner but looks to be done professionally as it is all neat and tidy.


Any help would be appreciated on what can be the fault or what to check next. Since it is just before christmas I would like to avoid getting the bike to a garage and spending a lot of money getting it fixed. Would prefer to at least try and diagnose it at home and use garage as a last resort.
 
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#2 ·
Take a look at the service manual or the parts fiche. The regulator is located where you describe on K5/K6. It was moved forward on K7/K8.

There's a large 16 pin connector with a sheath over it inside the left front fairing. Everything electrical to the front end passes through that connector and it's well known for acting up as it isn't a sealed type (was first sealed on the K9). The B/W lead is the ground for everything. If your headlights work, it's probably OK. However I'm not so sure that yours is 100% as the high beam affecting the position lights suggests that it may be on the way out. There are two +12 V leads to the cluster. The R/Bl is always hot. If it goes bad, the clock and the presets like the shift light RPM setting will be lost. The O/G is switched and sounds like it's the source of your problem. Does your horn work? The O/G also supplies the horn on the main harness side of the connector. So if the horn works, 12 V is at least getting to the big connector. The position lights are supplied by the Br lead. The turn signals are supplied by the Lg and B leads. Those leads also run to the cluster and the cluster indicators should still work if there isn't any power to the cluster. Put the ignition switch in the "P" position and check the position lights and turn signals, including the cluster indicators.

It's also possible, but less lilkely, that the collector at the back of the cluster has some corroded terminals. Beyond that it's some damage to the wiring harness or the cluster itself.

A cut B/Br lead to the ECM is associated with removing the SET valve as part of installing an aftermarket exhaust. The only Br lead to the ECM is for the cam position sensor. The bike wouldn't start if it was cut.

The Y lead from the flash-to-pass and dimmer switches runs to the big connector and supplies power to the high beam. You might be just seeing corrosion. There could be overheating if it was also supplying something else or if a high beam that required lots of power (like the early HID types) was used.

P.S. Check the big connector per above but the more I think about your symptoms, the more it sounds like either a bad ground and/or shorts in the forward wiring harness. Dim bulbs happens when a ground is bad and the current leaving the bulb finds a path to ground by flowing through another bulb. The same thing is happening with the flashing position lights. Clock resets are loss of power to the R/Bl lead, a bad ground, or a problem with the cluster. No backlight is loss of power to the O/G lead, a bad ground, or a problem with the cluster. But all of these could be associated with a messed up forward wiring harness. This should be fairly easy to sort out with a multimeter.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for quick reply BiilV.

Will check the 16 pin connector when I get back from work. The horn works fine. I will check the cluster indicators also as I only noticed the neutral light being on but will check for indicators. I have unplugged the cluster and tried it this way but obviously no change, the connector for it has a rubber cap on it so it looks like new and no corrosion.

The B/Br cut lead to the ECM makes sense as it has a Yosi exhaust on so will disconnect that back. Not had any mods to the headlights and the high beam bulb looks stock. Will check for the wattage rating as someone might have replaced it with i.e. 70W one which explain the drain.

I do have a multimeter but I completely suck at electrical on vehicles. Would need some pointers on what to check in the harness and how. How to check for bad ground and/or shorts? To check +12V on the R/Bl I assume I need to disconnect the 16 pin connector, red multimeter lead to the slot and black to the battery negative terminal?
 
#4 ·
Hello
wow, you really know your stuff.
could you give me any advice with my GSXR L2 1000
the power mode is not working, when i bought the bike it went on then it started to turn off while i was riding.
now it doesnt turn on at all.

Also my bikes idle speed bounces between 1100 to 1500 continuously when the bike is hot and cold.

It has a leo vince race pipe installed. i thought it might be affecting it but, i would like a second opinion.

thank you for any help

Adventura
 
#6 ·
"The B/Br cut lead to the ECM makes sense as it has a Yosi exhaust on so will disconnect that back. Not had any mods to the headlights and the high beam bulb looks stock. Will check for the wattage rating as someone might have replaced it with i.e. 70W one which explain the drain."

Don't know what "disconnect that back" means but it ought to remain disconnected if the SET valve is removed or disabled. The preferred way is to remove the lead and its pin from the ECM connector but it's not uncommon for people to just cut the lead, which seems to be what you have. You'll get a C46 error if the SET valve is removed and the Br/B lead is left connected.

Separate the connector halves and look for corrosion on the terminals. Clean that up. However corroded terminals really need to be replaced as they tend to fail again shortly after being cleaned. Some dielectric grease may help. One thing to do with the multimeter is to measure the voltages at the connector and check for a voltage drop across the connector, i.e. with the connector together and the lights, etc. turned on. You may have to unwrap the tape that hold the shroud onto one side to get to the pins. Any voltage drop should be small, i.e. millivolts.

A 70 W high beam is probably OK. What I was referring to is early HID beams that drew something like 10 or 15 amps when first turned on. The preferred hookup was to rewire so that the high beam lead activated a relay that supplied power to the HID straight from the battery. Those systems are obsolete nowadays.
 
#7 ·
BillV - you are a star. Looks like problem is fixed. The offender is B/W lead on the 16 pin connector. Cleaned it up a bit with contact cleaner and the bike came to life. Got few pics of it. Looks like it is badly corroded rather than burned due to the brownish/reddish colour. Will clean it up properly and spray some ACF 50 on it as it seems to be good as dielectric grease / protector. Unless you think it is burned up and needs more investigation to the root cause?

As for "disconnect that back" -> it looked like just cut so thought this might be the source of my problems, as it stood out, so temporarily connected it up again. Will obviously undo that and insulate it properly with tape.

Anyways. Thank you. If you are ever in London, I will buy you a beer :grin2:
 

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#9 ·
^Yep. You see that a lot on the stator connector. The contacts start to fail, which introduces some resistance. That plus the current creates ohmic heating, which accelerates the corrosion and can get hot enough to damage the connector body. You'll get by for a while but the problem is likely to come back. You ought to consider replacing the body and at least the contacts for the B/W lead. Eastern Beaver is one source but there probably are others. I think the body halves are Sumitomo 6090-1099 & 6090-1071.

All that crap that you see inside and around the connector is why it should have been a sealed connector in the first place.

P.S. I don't know anything about him but here's an Italian source for the pins. As best I can tell, the male pin is 8230-4282 and the female is 8240-4422. You'll probably pay more for shipping than the pins.
 
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