Turn the bars and lose power

I took a ride today about 110 miles. I arrived at my destination turned the bars to the left and lost all power (electrical). Turned them back to center and everything is back. I tried it 3 or 4 times and it does it every time. I rode it back home with no problems. In my driveway it does it again. It seems to me like a broken wire. Anyone else have this problem?

Jack

Evening Jack

Yes, quite a few others with the same issue.

Usually a broken green or red wire inside the main wire harness that runs along the steering neck (usually at or near the first zip tie).

A little surgery & you should find the break.

+2 on the broken wire. Happened on my 96 GS and my 04 RT both.

Thanks DR and NavyDad That should make short work of it.

Jack

Done, the red wire was completely in two. It took longer to cut and install the new tie wraps then to do everything else. Thanks again DR.

Jack

Done, the red wire was completely in two. It took longer to cut and install the new tie wraps then to do everything else. Thanks again DR.

 

Jack

Did you check the other wires - they often break under thier insulation - especially the larger gague wires like the red and the green. The primae cause of this failure is the tie-wraps being too tight and forcing the bending of the loom to be concentrated in one spot. Re-fitting the new tie-wraps loosley allows this bending to be spread over a larger area reducing the stress on the wires.

Andy

Yes,I did that DR said the red or the green so I checked them both. The red was in two, the insulation on the green was cracked, so I did them both. The tie wraps are not as tight. Thanks for bringing that up Andy, that a good point. To bring up the root cause.

Jack

This just happened to my 04 1150 RT with 80,xxx+ miles this morning. However my machine only died twice. Now I can not get the problem to occur again. I plan to pull the panels this weekend to inspect the main loom.

Does anyone have photos of the issues or corrective messues? Even photos of where to look?

Thank you.

Snowy.

The break is almost always under the first cable tie below the ignition switch. About where the white cable tie is in this picture - loosely fastened so cable can move to avoid the issue.

Andy

Hello again,

Need a little more assistance.

Here is the mess. Boffin, I am almost sure is correct. Just moving the ignition switch is wire will cause the bike to lose power. So I have taken the panels off, windshield, mirros, and the dash. I have un-zip tied a bunch of things. In the below photo is where I am, and where I am stuck.

The ignition switch is routed up the left and is the orange plug. with everything un-zip tied, I now wanted to remove the ignition key switch itself. However I have never seen these from below. Can someone describe how to remove the ignition key switch?

I am thinking the propeller like hardware are safety screws. Is this how the ignition key switch is extracted? Do I need some fancy tool I wont be able to find?

Thank you.

Snowy.

Evening Snowy

Those security screws are to remove the entire ignition/lock assembly.

All you need to do is remove the lower electrical switch itself (see picture). There is little screw holding the electrical switch in & you can remove that without removing the entire assembly. You might find some sealer over the screw head.

Well here is culprit!

Was distracted for a few days... But I got the wire out and found the red wire broken. Along with the copper showing on the purple and green. I patched it and secured the wires together for now. I wish I had understood more of what I was taking out. I would have order the cable and just replaced it. I thought the whole key switch was coming out like on the old Hondas Oh well, I will be ordering one soon.

Thank you every one for your help! I now plan to ride my bike to work tomorrow!

Snowy.

Thanks for the picture Snowy. It really makes it clear where the problems lie for those hunting this issue.

How is the harness fastened to the key switch? The tiny hole on the right side? Allen or straight? Can't get anything in there. Got thread lock on it. Closing in on the area of the short. Stripping the insulation off the wires now.

How is the harness fastened to the key switch? The tiny hole on the right side? Allen or straight? Can't get anything in there. Got thread lock on it. Closing in on the area of the short. Stripping the insulation off the wires now.

Afternoon greengary

I'm pretty sure that you have an intermittent "open" not a "short" (a short usually blows fuses or burns wires).

On the little screw, yes, you will have to dig around to get to it as there is usually a soft type sealer over the screw.