No start no dash lights except the green backlight...

[Laitch]

Its an automatic switching one. I can not change it.

10-4

[Conrad325i]

Hey guys.

So I took my bike on its maiden voyage today to eat at cracker barrel... Got there and back...

when i turned the bike off at home i noticed I couldnt determine if it was in neutral or not when I flipped the key back on to see if my sprag had come unstuck on its own... (lol)

I have no lights anywhere now. The battery is brand damn new and I just rode it like 30 miles.

Im thinking its a bad ignition switch.... But Im really not happy because I just got it registered and covered today and then its not running again......

[TimTyler]

... to eat at cracker barrel...

That's the problem, right there.

Also... start by checking your battery voltage.

[Conrad325i]

Haha Tim, if you can find a better place to eat meatloaf, mac and cheese, and turnip greens for $7 let me know haha maybe its a southern thing.

And yeah... My dad has my multimeter.... idk when I can get it back may go buy one

[Conrad325i]

So i let the bike cool off and it works again.... Hmmm lol

(Sprag is still stuck haha)

[The Mighty Gryphon]

My money is on the ignition switch.  You gotta go in there sooner or later.   It will probably look clean in there, but don't be fooled.  All it takes is a microscopic layer of crud to mess things up. 

Another failure mode is that everything lights up nice when you turn the key, and then dies when you hit the start button.   

The most annoying is when it starts, and about 2-3 minutes of riding later shuts everything down.  Fortunately, on mine turning the switch off and back on restored proper electrical operations.

At least you don't have ABS that will record a low voltage code and start flashing the damn light requiring a reset.

[Conrad325i]

Is there a writeup for a disassembly and cleanup?

[Laitch]

Is there a writeup for a disassembly and cleanup?

Yes, in the Workshop somewhere. Search box "Ignition Switch". Search in the Child Boards and in No Start, too.

[Conrad325i]

I just find it hard to believe that it would just start working after the bike sat for 30min and cooled off... but if the boot fits...

[Laitch]

Dirty or loose electrical connectors react from heat and vibration that sometimes disconnects their contact and sometime allows it. That's the reason to check and clean connectors and switches on a neglected bike.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

That switch is not one of the high points of German engineering prowess.  As far as I could see when I took mine apart, there is minimal contact area and even less pressure pushing the contact points together.  The cherry on top is the mechanicals that limit the travel of the contacts toward each other.   

A design that doesn't take an awful lot to malfunction...

[Conrad325i]

I guess. I just wouldnt think heat would have much to do with the ignition switch due to its isolation up on the dash. But the design just being shitty makes sense.

[johnny]

greetings...

everytime i ride i manipilate all the switches... except the horn... cause i gotts an electric supercharger hooked to the horn switch... it reduces my milage to 20mpg... butts itsa small price to pay for maximum  yeeeehaaaaa...

its inactivity that makes them switches go whack... gotts to manipilate them...


j o

[Conrad325i]

Haha johnny im gonna just switch the switch 40 times before and after i ride. And all my other switches for that matter.

[Conrad325i]

So i went on alittle ride today thru some back roads. Had a great time.
Pulled out on the main road, went about a mile and the bike totally died on me.

I coasted into a neighborhood entrance and was immediately able to restart the bike.
Found it a little odd and kinda creditted it to the fact that i had pulled in the clutch immediately following full throttle and it was like a wierd little thing idk. Anyways...

Rode it the remaining couple miles home. Turned it off and tried to start it again and it wouldnt start.
(No dashlights aka Bulb Monitor and green neutral and the choke light didnt illuminate with key on and killswitch in running position.)
Jimmied the key and rocked the bike back and forth in 1nd gear to move the rotating assemble around and it came to life and let me start it.

Rode it around the yard and up the street a little bit and it just randomly died again. This time i didnt rock the bike back and forth amd just switched the keyback and forth like 200000 times. Took 3 min or so and then it came back on.

So im not sure but im kinda thinking this means a dirty starter losing ground.

Any thoughts?
I probably need to clean the switch and the starter and replace the brushes but Id like to know the exact problem instead of it being one of a few things and broadly fixing them all.
Id like to nail down exactly what the symptoms are of an individual problem so that if im ever on the side of the road i will be able to quickly fix the problem.

I hate that I still dont trust this bike to make a long trip when i cant afford to be late or something.
Its done 30-40 mile trips just fine but then other days cant go up the road and back.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Sounds like an epidemic of ignition switch problems this spring. 

It's not a bad idea to clean the switch now.  It probably is the problem, but if not, cleaning will prevent it from becoming a problem.  I would do it first before doing anything else.

http://www.eilenberger.net/K75S/IgnitionSwitch/

http://www.k100-forum.com/t10465-help-needed-stalling#123754

[Martin]

+1 Gryph had the same problem which disappeared after I cleaned the switch.
Regards Martin.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Which reminds me that I need to do a preventative clean on the switches on my 100 and K75S. 

[Conrad325i]

So i cleaned the FFFFFFF switch and it was all good to go... And now im stuck on the side of the road waiting for it to decide to work again.