The evil electric has struck again

[DangerD1967]

Good news: I now own a new to me k75s 92' with 60k

Bad News: The 94 k75s with 45k miles is acting jealous and electrically angry. I have been training my wife to ride the 94, and she is great at speed, but has been having problems with clutch control at start up and stops. I bring this up to paint whole picture: bike HAS ended up on right side three times. Today while heading out for more training, she started the bike with one press of the starter, warmed the bike for about three to four minutes and put it in first, misclutched and when she tried to restart...nothing. No instrument lights, and the clock disappears when key is turned to any "ON" position. Even thought the battery is less than 3 months old, I thought that it might have been taxed by repetitive starts. Plugged the battery charger onto the bike and waited several hours. Still gives no panel lights and clock vanishes. I am ruling out battery, could this be a load shedding relay issue? My secret thought is that the 94 is protesting being ridden by anyone but me...we all know how redheads can be...(Married to one, and the 94 is one too)

[Grim]

Research "load she'd relay" and starter problems. Issues with the starter may hang the load shed relay is what some folks have found. You may try giving the starter a good thump.

[K75RT Keith]

You have a mechanical failure in the electrical system.  Load shed ONLY does what the name implies.  It turns off all the extra crap like lights so that more energy can go to the starter.  It has NOTHING to do with the starter engaging or turning.

The real possibility is that the starter needs to be cleaned.  If the starter doesn't spin, then the issue is a carbon build-up on the brush contact points.  As a temporary work around, place the bike in gear and roll it backwards.  Then try starting.  If that solves the problem, the "dead spot" on the starter is from the carbon build-up.

No speed or very low speed drops don't kill starters, they just leave dents and scratches

[Inge K.]

Sounds to me that you just have a bad connection at the battery.
Check that the connections is clean and thight, also both ends of the ground connection.

[kioolt]

You have a mechanical failure in the electrical system.  Load shed ONLY does what the name implies.  It turns off all the extra crap like lights so that more energy can go to the starter.  It has NOTHING to do with the starter engaging or turning.

While I agree completely with the above statement, I have got to wonder about the clock not even working.  Since I don't have my K100LT handy now to check.  I don't believe that the clock display should be off.  I don't think that it is part of what the load shed relay turns off.  I'm thinking a battery connection problem.  Possibly the ground connection on the transmission.

[TimTyler]

There's also a ground connection for several small connectors on the frame center bar just below the fuel tank. You'll need to pull the tank to access it.

[johnny]

ig sw whack...

j o

[DangerD1967]

Thanks to one and all. I have had all day at a restaurant to think about my current gremlin. My issue is always time and space: 70 hour work week and no garage to work in; leaving me always in a hurry to get it done during daylight with several pieces of cardboard down to catch any little springy thing. The bikes do live covered, in what used to be our chicken coop, but the roof is only 6 feet high, so difficult to work in at best. Sub issue: Is there a substitute for the expansion tank, the "sight glass" portion of mine is corroded.
 

[Motorhobo]

I don't know of a replacement for the overflow bottle and that ridiculous plastic 'sight glass' thing will get eaten away and is not reparable. I don't know what causes it -- it appears to corrode from the outside. Be very careful when shopping for it on ebay because the OEM part they sell at the dealer will most probably NOT be the one you'll find on ebay. Part #1711 1464650 (see link)

http://store.bobsbmw.com/microfiche/DisplayImage.aspx?Size=Full&Type=Z&ImageID=86302

looks like the expansion bottle from an older k100 -- it has a piece of replaceable clear plastic tubing instead of the stupid molded clear plastic thing which is a better design BUT the outlet hose nipple is located on the front of the unit which makes it near impossible (i.e. completely impossible for me) to get it to line up properly with the rubber bushing that fits into the battery holder bracket. With the outlet nipple on the front, the outlet hose and frame have to occupy the same space which in my experience is a physical impossibility. The stock water bottle on newer k75s has the outlet coming off the rear of the unit, as do the new OEM units. I got one piece of crap off ebay that itself had some corrosion and had the outlet on the front. So after getting burned wi that I finally gave in and paid $54 plus tax for a new one. Total cost to me -- nearly $100 with shipping and now I have an extra useless overflow bottle and a healthy skepticism of ebay as a Kbike parts source.

So if anyone wants to come up with a retrofit solution which replaces that plastic garbage with a tube level indicator like on the k100 AND has the outlet on the rear I'm sure it would be appreciated. Until then, IMHO I'm afraid that is one overpriced part that you're best off getting at the dealer.

BTW I just remembered I'm repeating myself here -- I've already vented about that stupid bottle once...

http://www.motobrick.com/index.php?topic=5182.msg31951#msg31951