Fz6 05 Scary Experience.

[fozzie99]

Heading home yesterday on motorway, a weird thing happened.
Travelling at a comfortable, a bit above legal speed, the bike died.
All the electrical system went dead.
I coasted on to the hard shoulder,and began to think about getting home, which is about 20 miles away.
Then i thought, perhaps its just a fuse. oops had not read all of owner manual, so didn't know where to look.
Then, just before a major panic attack struck, i turned the key and hey presto, all was well. The bike was back to normal, which now leaves me with a bit of a concern. Why? & How. And what if I happen to be overtaking on a busy road and it happens again. I don't fancy becoming an ornament on the front of a HGV.
Has anyone else had this happen, or can point me in the right direction.
Thanks.

 

[jtarkany]

Heading home yesterday on motorway, a weird thing happened.
Travelling at a comfortable, a bit above legal speed, the bike died.
All the electrical system went dead.
I coasted on to the hard shoulder,and began to think about getting home, which is about 20 miles away.
Then i thought, perhaps its just a fuse. oops had not read all of owner manual, so didn't know where to look.
Then, just before a major panic attack struck, i turned the key and hey presto, all was well. The bike was back to normal, which now leaves me with a bit of a concern. Why? & How. And what if I happen to be overtaking on a busy road and it happens again. I don't fancy becoming an ornament on the front of a HGV.
Has anyone else had this happen, or can point me in the right direction.
Thanks.

:welcome:
Just a thought...but is it possible that you accidentally hit the kill switch?

 

[Dave 321]

:welcome:
Just a thought...but is it possible that you accidentally hit the kill switch?

Kill switch wouldn't do all the electrics...

 

[Evitzee]

Sounds like it could be a vapor lock in the fuel supply. That can mimick an electrical failure. Once the bike sits for a few minutes the vacuum will release the fuel. If it happens again immediately open the fuel filler and see if you feel a vacuum when the cap is opened.

 

[fozzie99]

Thanks for the replies.
Regarding kill switch. I checked that when it died, and as mentioned it wouldn't cut the lights etc.
The same thing would apply to the fuel prob mentioned.
I am thinking its more likely to be either, a connection or earth problem.
Also, I use the bike for commuting to and from work since my car was written off. The problem could be caused by the heavy rain we are having in the uk.
This seems to fit the scenario. The bike was soaking when i set off. and i only travelled about 5 miles when it cut out. Also, giving it some welly on a straight section of the motorway might have forced some water into a weak point somewhere.
One thing i forgot to mention, was that the indicators and back light had packed up before the main event. The starter, front lights,brake light and instruments were all ok. I thought a fuse had blown, and was going to check at home.
At the moment I am hoping that it was a one off thing. I,ve got 3 days off after the weekend and I will check all that i can.
Again thanks.

 

[Motogiro]

Sounds like a loose connection at the battery. This where I would start. Make sure the positive and negative connections are clean and secure then we can start trouble shooting elsewhere.

 

[Ryan T]

Based on your last post, it is possible that water got into a spot that it shouldn't have. Possibly in the rear right panel where the fuses are located or on left side of the front fairing where there are two connectors.

BTW, have you done any mods that required electrical work? Look there as well, that's a really good place to check (the last item you worked on).

Hope you figure it out. When you do, let us know.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Sidestand?

A safety measure implemented with most bikes. The bike will automatically shut down if the sidestand is down. Sometimes, we take off not having the sidestand fully locked in it's up right position and it will work it's way down to a point in which it will shut down.

When you pulled over, did you put the bike back on the sidestand?

 

[Andz]

Sidestand?

The sidestand switch wouldn't kill everything, just the engine.

My '04 did a similar thing a couple of years ago. I called the dealer, they came and picked it up. An hour later I was on my way with a shrug from the workshop manager. I got about a kilometre down the road when it died again. Back to the dealer... two weeks later I got it back, no charge because they couldn't find anything wrong. They basically tore the electrics apart and rebuilt it and it has never missed a beat since.

Maybe it is just a loose connection. Check all the multiplugs.

 

[RJ2112]

Heading home yesterday on motorway, a weird thing happened.
Travelling at a comfortable, a bit above legal speed, the bike died.
All the electrical system went dead.
I coasted on to the hard shoulder,and began to think about getting home, which is about 20 miles away.
Then i thought, perhaps its just a fuse. oops had not read all of owner manual, so didn't know where to look.
Then, just before a major panic attack struck, i turned the key and hey presto, all was well. The bike was back to normal, which now leaves me with a bit of a concern. Why? & How. And what if I happen to be overtaking on a busy road and it happens again. I don't fancy becoming an ornament on the front of a HGV.
Has anyone else had this happen, or can point me in the right direction.
Thanks.

Townsend should jump on this one at some point....... but in his absence I'll pass along his (extremely valuable) advice.

Get some dielectric grease, and take apart every electrical connection you can find on the bike and fill the connectors. While you are taking the connections apart look for corrosion.... any color on the pins other than the silver, or bronze/gold that you should expect to see is rust.

The Dielectric grease is a waterproof insulator, that will allow electricity to flow only where the pins are in metallic contact with their mates. You can't get any weird shorts once you have done this.

 

[Wh0M3]

I had a battery cable come lose on me once, it died on the road and everything shut down. I didn't get it started again and ended up putting it in the back of a truck to get it home.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Townsend should jump on this one at some point....... but in his absence I'll pass along his (extremely valuable) advice.

Get some dielectric grease, and take apart every electrical connection you can find on the bike and fill the connectors. While you are taking the connections apart look for corrosion.... any color on the pins other than the silver, or bronze/gold that you should expect to see is rust.

The Dielectric grease is a waterproof insulator, that will allow electricity to flow only where the pins are in metallic contact with their mates. You can't get any weird shorts once you have done this.

Just found it, Thanks!!! If your loosing ALL electrical, as posted above check the battery connections/ground etc. Also as stated above, any electrical connection you can get to, di-lectric grease it. Keeps water/corrosion out. I would also load test the battery just to make sure you don't have a dead short showing up (probably not the problem) just to rule it out...

I would look real close at the ignition switch. Your symptoms mimicks turning the key off. Also check where the ignition harness snaps into the main harness for corrosion. You can spray some WD40 in the lock cylinder as I recall there is a drain in the cylinder. The contacts could just have crap on them causing a bad connection. Some of the Gen 2 FJR's had a soldiered connection come loose inside the ignition switch (there was a re-call). There was also a re-call for the harness being tie wrapped too tight pulling on the ignition switch wires (same symptoms).

If you've done any tie wrapping around the ignition switch harness, I would loosen/remove it. Should the symptoms re-occur after dying, try jiggling the wiring around the ignition switch.

At your convience, you can also try tugging slightly around the ignition switch wiring while stopped and the bike running. Should it be the harness, it may show up then.

I suspect crap in the ignition switch thou. After WD40, switch it on and off several times to clean the contacts... I'd then add something appropriate as a lubricant for the lock cylinder..

Hope this helps..

 

[fozzie99]

Thanks to everyone.
I now have something to work with.
First I need to check the wiring under the petrol tank. I did the lights mod the other week, and anyone who has done the same will know how awkward it is reaching the connection block.
Better get myself a few brews and lock myself in my garage.
Cheers.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Thanks to everyone.
I now have something to work with.
First I need to check the wiring under the petrol tank. I did the lights mod the other week, and anyone who has done the same will know how awkward it is reaching the connection block.
Better get myself a few brews and lock myself in my garage.
Cheers.

If you did the BD43 headlight mod, yes its somewhat tight in there. I did the mod to mine and didn't have a problem. I would go back to that main connector, disconnect it and check the pins making sure none are bent over. You may want to pull slightly on the wires to make sure their in its connector fully. Then make sure the connector is seated fully after adding di-lectric grease...

BTW, it would greatly help the folks trying to diagnose your problem over the internet if you gave them any changes/mods, etc prior to the problem occurring....

Good luck, Scott

 

[tomari]

I twice had this problem and it was because i didn't turn the key all they way and after sometime it whent back to off. not all the way to off just a few mm to close the system. i sprayed some wd-40 in the lock and never happened again.

 

[Cloggy]

I twice had this problem and it was because i didn't turn the key all they way and after sometime it whent back to off. not all the way to off just a few mm to close the system. i sprayed some wd-40 in the lock and never happened again.

I had this happen to me twice as well, the engine didn't cut out but the indicators and rear light didn't work, the first time I turned it on and off and was good to go, second time I just turned it that little bit extra and everything worked again :thumbup: