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Switchgear - ergh


skulkerboyo

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So my horn isn't working and now my indicators are either not kicking in at all or straight away for taking a few seconds. If I operate them ungloved and be precise about the movements then they seem fine.

 

Time to open and clean? Is this a common thing?

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Ish.  Depends on how hard a life the bike's had, if it's been exposed to pressure washing, etc.  Open, clean and re-apply dielectric grease.  Could also be a broken wire.

 

Ciao,

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Easiest place to start!

3 hours ago, skulkerboyo said:

Time to open and clean? Is this a common thing?

 

Also, be sure to check the connectors on the horn. They are just friction fit on the tabs. Could be loose or broken.

I've not had issues with turn signals on the VFR, but others have. Seems to be cold/cool weather related, if I recall. I did on my old PC800, and it was definitely cold related. Mainly due to caked up old grease becoming solid at lower temps.

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Opened it up last night.

 

Grease was dirty etc so took most of it apart. Cleaned out what was there and repacked with new dialectric grease. It's still not as responsive as I'd like but much better. I'll live with it til after winter unless it kills me . . . . . . .

 

The horn was a different matter - switch was working but nothing getting to the terminals. Found that one of the wires had all but snapped half way up so had to resolder a new section.

 

Will probably look at the other side's switchgear soon. I imagine they're both as minging as eachother.

 

 

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Fairly common now as these bikes are getting old, when you clean the grease out check for wear on the contact areas. Mine needed a little bend to compensate for the wear on the metal conductors !

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  • 1 month later...
On 10/11/2016 at 1:39 PM, Mohawk said:

Fairly common now as these bikes are getting old, when you clean the grease out check for wear on the contact areas. Mine needed a little bend to compensate for the wear on the metal conductors !

 

This.

 

I had a dead spot on my 5th gen high beam switch - it was really unnerving not having any form of lighting for 3/4 second when travelling on dark, twisty roads. It turned out that the contacts were a little worn, and needed a some attention. 

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2 hours ago, Loftust said:

 

This.

 

I had a dead spot on my 5th gen high beam switch - it was really unnerving not having any form of lighting for 3/4 second when travelling on dark, twisty roads. It turned out that the contacts were a little worn, and needed a some attention. 


!! So THAT'S why it happens! Well; I'll be sorting that out next week when i use my only weekday off work to go in to work and use my bench/tools (though i am not a mechanic). It's not every time; But DAMN is it scary down country lanes in pitch darkness!

Also: Yes. Indicators regularly refuse to work initially in the cold the first time i use them - Currently cold in the UK, and at least i have a quiet residential road to 'test' my indicators.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Recently had an intermittent problem with my kill switch.  Took it apart and there was like a film of 17 year old dielectric grease hardend on the sliding contacts.  The switch snaps apart once you have removed it from the housing.  I cleaned the contacts with electric contact cleaner on a Q-tip, and it works like new.  Beware! the kill switch is held in position (run or kill) by a spring loaded detent ball.  It won't fly out when you disassemble the switch, but if you are not attentive, it can drop out and you'll spend a half hour or more searching for it.  Whatever its made of, its non-ferrous; you can't use a magnet to probe for it.  Jeff J. 

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