The Recall Ignition Switch - What's new about it?

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Brodie

Darksider #16 - and Proud of it !
Joined
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Location
--- Milpitas, CA --- San Jose Bay Area
Ladies and Gentlemen of the FJRForum

There has been a lot of bandwidth used lately concerning what Yamaha has done to make the recall ignition switch more robust.

Nobody has actually opened one up to have a look...



Untill now.



This is The Recall Switch from Yamaha that was installed in my bike yesterday...

TheRecallIgnitionSwitch-1.jpg


I took my bike to OTD Cycle Sports in Burlingame, California. The service manager, Shawn, was very accommodating. When I contacted him last week he said to wait to make an appointment until he had the recall kits in hand. This being the early stages of the recall, he could not make any promises concerning the availability of the parts. Yamaha delivered in a timely manner and he had me come in when convenient to me.

Shawn was up to speed on the procedure for the recall work and assured me that the original key for the bike will be retained. They had serviced a handful of bikes before me, and when I was there I saw he had a list of over 100 owners he was attempting to contact for the recall. The mechanic, Scott, who did the work on my bike did a fine job with it. I had asked for a Throttle Body Sync while the tank was up and the bike runs great!

The following are the pictures I took before I brought the bike in for recall work. I was up till 2am that morning getting the bike back together so i could ride it in.

The wiper contact plate.

IMG_0027.jpg


The solder contacts, mine were intact, although the red and tan wires did get awfully warm...

IMG_0030.jpg


The contact carrier, note the melted area...

IMG_0031.jpg


The failure mode, why I sometimes had to turn the key on and off a million times to start the bike...

IMG_0032.jpg


The following are the pictures I took after I drove the bike home, removed and drilled open the recall switch.

Drilling out the security screws...

IMG_0042.jpg


Uncapping the recall switch...

IMG_0048.jpg


The recall switch wiper plate and carrier...

IMG_0047.jpg


The recall switch solder contacts...

IMG_0045.jpg


The recall switch harness connector...

IMG_0046.jpg


As you can see there is definitely a change in the design.

There are more contact points on the wiper plate. There is another wire in the harness. The way the redesign works is it splits the electrical load between two sets of contacts thereby cutting the resistance in half. The goal is to keep the switch contacts cool enough by doubling the contact area and avoiding any possibility of a thermal runaway.
My conclusion...

Get the recall switch!

It will cost you nothing.

It will work as advertised.
If after all this is done to your bike and you are still unsure with this recall fix, I will continue to make the Ignition Switch Relay Harness. My price is still $50.00 plus shipping for FJRForum members. Click here for details... Ignition Relay Harness

Now go out and enjoy this fine product that Yamaha has brought to market.

As for me, I have to get back in my garage to put my bike back together.
:rolleyes:

Brodie
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the tutorial. Awesome job.

I ask you folks, how many feejr owners would rip apart there MC for the good of the colective.

The other advantage is now he can clean lubricate and maintain the switch during down time.

+1 Brodie.

 
Gunny that.

Brodie. You have gone above and beyond the call of duty.

Yamaha. I am duly impressed that you have actually done something that will effect the failures.

Everyone else... I would still get a brodie bypass relay if I had a 2nd gen.

 
Thanks for dissecting your new switch to find the truth! The new version looks to be a proper solution!

I get mine replaced next Friday.

Haven't had any issues with my original switch, but I have been carrying an emergency kit around with me for several years now.

 
Thanks Brodie - good stuff. My new FJR will still have your relay as a backup.

I'm guessing it'll end up costing Yamaha close to a million bux after it's all over. Let's see: about 9300 affected bikes times roughly $100 ($40 parts and $60 labor), plus unknown re-engineering and related production costs. And then there's the current problem of FJR unavailability that my Dealer recently mentioned. Will call Yamaha on that tomorrow.

There's a lesson here somewhere, especially when an early admission of an issue and a prompt fix would have saved them some money.

They did raise the price $600 for 2009 for the heck of it, but now it's down back $500 until the end of March, presumably due to slowing sales and other "adjustments".

Maybe that's why their managers won't be getting a bonus this year, and four day work weeks for the rest. Hope they recover ok, and thanks Yamaha for the fix.

Gary in Fairbanks.

 
Brodie...Awesome write up! :yahoo: :clapping:

The easyout set you have, what brand is it and where did you get it. Looks alot better than other ones I have seen.

 
Brodie,

I just knew your were gonna do this.... your are the man!!!! I received my recall notice and was

waiting to hear some input..... I am glad your are working with me and

not against me......... B) :rolleyes: :lol:

B.

 
Holy Crap!

We can't blame Cabin Fever when you sacrifice a poor ignition switch to the god of scientific method! You live in freaking California!

Keep this shit up and people will list you among the likes of ionbeam, Constant Mesh, Radman and others who go above and beyond to help us less technical folk.

 
Great write up! When I first saw the pictures I thought "uh oh, Yama has made a Brode switch!". But not quite, still a lot of power going thru the key switch. Keeping my mod installed, even when I finally get around to the recall.

Well done!

 
Thanks for the info.

I'm supposed to get my done on the 28th. The people up front told me I'll have separate keys. the service guys weren't in when I made the appointment. So I figure I'll take it in and talk with the service guys to see if they know what's going on. If not, I'll leave and find another dealer who does.

 
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