Ignition switch question.

[Bill Seward]

Zilla has had this goofy quirk for a while now. Bike starts instantly. Runs fine. However when doing a cold start, and start riding, the bike cuts out just for a fraction of a second when you let off the gas, pull in the clutch, or hit a bump. After about 1/4 mile, it stops, and the bike works fine. The tach bounces up a few hundred rpm, but I think that is caused by the fact that the cutting out is such a short duration that the tach doesn't have time to fall back very far. When the bike returns to normal, the needle gets a signal and momentum carries it up a bit. Voltmeter shuts off at the same time. When things go to normal, voltmeter does its start up sequence. This tells me there is a intermittent loss of voltage. Headlights flicker, too...

I started poking around, and found the bracket holding the switch to the bike was really loose. Removing the switch, I disconnected it, and had a look at the 3 connectors. The red one was corroded a bit where the wire went into the connector. This was the connector coming from the switch. The connector going to harness looked fine. The 3 male connectors on the switch side looked a bit like they may have gotten a bit hot, and discolored.

I don't think the loose bracket caused my problem, but I'm going to cut out the connector from the switch, and solder on 3 new male connectors. The gremlins of an old bike..... Hopefully, this will fix it.

Suggestions, ideas, or comments are welcome!

 

[Jan Bee]

Zilla has had this goofy quirk for a while now. Bike starts instantly. Runs fine. However when doing a cold start, and start riding, the bike cuts out just for a fraction of a second when you let off the gas, pull in the clutch, or hit a bump. After about 1/4 mile, it stops, and the bike works fine. The tach bounces up a few hundred rpm, but I think that is caused by the fact that the cutting out is such a short duration that the tach doesn't have time to fall back very far. When the bike returns to normal, the needle gets a signal and momentum carries it up a bit. Voltmeter shuts off at the same time. When things go to normal, voltmeter does its start up sequence. This tells me there is a intermittent loss of voltage. Headlights flicker, too...

I started poking around, and found the bracket holding the switch to the bike was really loose. Removing the switch, I disconnected it, and had a look at the 3 connectors. The red one was corroded a bit where the wire went into the connector. This was the connector coming from the switch. The connector going to harness looked fine. The 3 male connectors on the switch side looked a bit like they may have gotten a bit hot, and discolored.

I don't think the loose bracket caused my problem, but I'm going to cut out the connector from the switch, and solder on 3 new male connectors. The gremlins of an old bike..... Hopefully, this will fix it.

Suggestions, ideas, or comments are welcome!

They do get hot and melt-I bypass the connectors also.

 

[Bill Seward]

Damn wires coming out of the harness aren't very long. Fortunately the connector there looks perfect. I would rather cut the whole thing out and PosiLock the wires, but new male connectors should fix the problem. If that was the cause of it. Thanks, Jan!

 

[Bill Seward]

I clipped off the connector attached to the switch, and soldered 3 spade connectors to the wires. These have been heat shrink tubed to just leave enough of the blade exposed to make a good connection. I'll just plug them into the wiring harness and hit it with a bit of silicone sealer. While I was at it, I took the switch apart. the little copper dots were a bit blackened, but a touch of 320 sandpaper cleaned them up shiny. After assembling, I checked resistance with a voltmeter, and the switch is functioning well. We'll see how it works tomorrow.