Out for a ride, back with issues

I need to go to hospital at the end of next week for a major operation which will curtail any motorcycling for several months, and so I just had to have a last ride before then. I have every intention of draining the oil once it’s laid up for all that time, as last year while I was away leaving it unridden for more than 3 months it wetsumped and drained itself via the crank seal and then the open chaincase, so there’s an ideal reason to get out in the garage

it was a lovely day and the bike was performing excellently. I think I did around 100 miles around our coastal roads and a bit of moorland, then a fast 20 miles home via the dual carriageway cruising at 14.1v , 4000 rpm and 70 mph.

While using my indicators in the correct manner coming up to junctions and overtaking, something of a novelty for me , I realised I couldn’t see the headlamp warning flashing away - but then it was very bright and sunny. So I quickly checked it was operating correctly once I was home stationary. No it wasn‘t working. It was on/off/on/off but at the wrong times, the indicators weren’t flashing all the time, a rear one not at all, and the horn wouldn’t work either. The headlamp and tail lamp, and brake lights all fine.

So, that’s giving me yet another reason to be garage bound tomorrow, I’ll whip the headlamp out and see if it’s a loose connection or two as all of the relevant connectors are in there (or are they under the tank? ) it’s the front indicators that are intermittently working, like a bad earth. The rear maybe a burnt bulb. Good old reliable electrics eh?

Grounds?

For divorce? Probably

Actually I’d hope not as I rewired it when I recommissioned it. and also I added extra earth leads ‘just in case’ so it'll be interesting to see what I find.

It niggled me enough just now to quickly pop out into the garage. 30 seconds later and I’d removed the headlamp unit, and as I expected all the wiring was perfect. As the issues are all LH switchgear related it’s going to be the multiple connectors under the tank. Tomorrow I’ll look at it.

Unrelated to your current (bad pun) problem, but best of luck with your surgery.

Seat off, tank off, headlamp unit off.

Nothing to report here, everything is as pristine as when I rebuilt it. Except…….

the flasher unit is nbg and only flashing intermittently, so I swopped it with the equally old unit off the Trident and all is OK once more.

the horn won’t work. Power is definitely going down to it, I can check that. However, the red earth wire doesn’t show a circuit. So, is the horn faulty or the earth cable? I don’t know, and right now I don’t care, as I do know how bloody difficult it is to get to it. If no one can hear the exhausts then a working horn won’t make any difference.

Flatspot said:

Seat off, tank off, headlamp unit off.

Nothing to report here, everything is as pristine as when I rebuilt it. Except…….

the flasher unit is nbg and only flashing intermittently, so I swopped it with the equally old unit off the Trident and all is OK once more.

the horn won’t work. Power is definitely going down to it, I can check that. However, the red earth wire doesn’t show a circuit. So, is the horn faulty or the earth cable? I don’t know, and right now I don’t care, as I do know how bloody difficult it is to get to it. If no one can hear the exhausts then a working horn won’t make any difference.

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Why not temporarily substitute an external ground [earth] wire from the battery to the horn? That will quickly tell you if the issue is the horn or the red wire going to it. Perhaps push the red wire off using a flat blade screwdriver. Then ground the horn using the screwdriver between the terminal and the horn body. Might be room to do that.

To be honest it’s just too much hassle, so much simpler for me to just fit another horn up by the headstock like a ‘normal’ bike

Flatspot said:

To be honest it’s just too much hassle, so much simpler for me to just fit another horn up by the headstock like a ‘normal’ bike

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Put a horn relay on it while you are at it.