87 K75s - Now the headlight is randomly turning off while driving..."perfect"

[Rcgreaves]

I find myself starting to pine for a more reliable daily ride...this is a loooong protracted bunch of electrical hiccups.  But I am undeterred.  What would cause this.  I have a known starter sprag issue and a recently addressed load shed relay failure.

Battery?

Charging system?
 
Another indication that my load shed relay that interrupts headlight power ( when you start) may be malfunctioning??

I went to bed vexed by this...attached a trickle charger with thoughts it could by a low voltage issue of some sort??


Time to work...I really wanted to ride it to work today :dunno2: :dunno :musicboohoo:

[rbm]

Probably ignition switch is dirty.  A clean up inside will restore reliable electrics again.

K75 K100 K1 K1100 Ignition Switch Cleaning ~ author don ellenberger

[F14CRAZY]

I commented in your other thread about starter brushes a minute ago...the load shed relay grounds through the starter brushes so bad brushes cause this issue too

[Rcgreaves]

F 14 crazy... Reading your reply definitely gave me that telltale:  "k75 owner tingle in the spine" the knowledge this is going to be complicated and expensive.... Great help

[F14CRAZY]

They're not bad.i can't remember but maybe $30 from the dealer. Maybe an hour of labor. Get a can of brake cleaner or Lectra Clean to clean out the starter. A dab of grease in there too

[Rcgreaves]

saving my nickels for brushes or perhaps a Denso reman.  starter posted on the forum.

30$ brushes, $90 reman starter...pay day tomorrow!

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Pull the starter and do a good clean, and measure the brushes.  No need to replace them if they are longer than 5mm.  Instead of 30 or 90 bucks you might be able to get away with an hour or two of work.

[Rcgreaves]

Ok Gryphon, great advice. Will do.  Anyway winter has abruptly arrived in WI :musicboohoo: plenty o wrenching time ahead.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Anyway winter has abruptly arrived in WI :musicboohoo:

You must be enjoying what we'll be getting tomorrow night and Sunday.

[beemrdon]

Did you check the headlight dimmer switch for function?

[kenray]

Had a similar problem recently. Sprayed some electrical cleaner into light switch and worked the switch  up and down. Light is working  again. Good luck. Ken in Katy Tx.

[Rcgreaves]

If by the dimmer switch you mean the high beam low beam switch on the handlebar no in fact I haven't considered that as a potential point of failure. Sadly my work schedule has kept me from time in the shop of light my next step is still to inspect and clean the starter Andres the brushes- stay tuned

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[Rcgreaves]

Again thanks for your patience in seeing me though this process. I'll be sure to close out this thread when I resolve the headlight flicker.  I think I have it, but I need parts. 

Tonight I removed batteries from all my machines in my soon to be sub zero garage here in cheese consin....



I took a few minutes to extract the starter and grinned widely at the excellent mounting, and elegant simplicity of the unit itself.  There's a sealing O ring on the shaft that seemed to be allowing a bit of a leak so I'll replace that.  While I didn't measure the brushes they looked pretty stubby. 


Mighty Gryphon:  5mm long measured....overall? or outside the bracket? 


Commutator was blackened but looked like it would clean up fine.  Ill order fresh brushes, o ring and do a startup to see if my grounding issue gets solved.  Im encouraged.

[rbm]

BTW, the source for running the main headlight beam is different than the source used for the high beam.  Therefore, problems (such as dirty contacts) in the high beam circuitry will not influence problems in the main beam circuitry and visa versa.

[Rcgreaves]

Robert,




So if my headlight vaporizes unpredictably whether low or high beam I'm hoping the depleated condition of my starter brushes impacts both.  Im amid process on rebuilding my starter as Santa momma bought me a rebuild kit.

[Rcgreaves]

Ok so starter is rebuilt successfully today. Next to install and test the grounding of the headlight.


Sorry for the redundancy of my posts related to this elusive topic.

[Rcgreaves]

Ah, Victory!


So today after a winding road of troubleshooting I have solved my flakey headlight issue.  At the center was a set of worn out starter brushes that in deed ground everything on the headstock...so as that one brush gave up contact on every bump everything blinked on and off. 


The brush kit came with all the bits for a complete restoration, bearing, bushing, o ring seals and I recounted earlier that a very specialize posi clamp style bearing puller was necessary to grip the bearing.


My final humbling happened when I overtightened the starter power lead which shattered the insulator inside the starter shorting the power lead on the case and frying my ground lead...Cheap aftermarked plastic bit or not, I know better than to ham hand an electrical connection...  I reinstalled the OEM bit and reassembled...without re greasing the shaft in the bushing.. @#$%@#$ bound as it turned like it was an impellor pump..disassemble , grease...peace...


 So today I disemboweled the relay box, traced the starter power lead to the relay, replaced the now insulator free ground wire with new and presto, it fired right up..we cheered!


Only a couple gripes remain...ok three...errr four.  I'll startt a new thread as this one is finally closed.


Cheers.