FJRF009.3 "Spider failures other than S4" Research

mdisher · Jun 19, 2012

Ross,

You should report it, the more data they have the better. Doesn't mean they'll ever fix it, but...

Click the link in the post above and report it, takes only 5 minutes.

-MD

bramfrank · Jun 20, 2012

Absolutely report it. It is unfair to the rest of the FJR owners not to.

I nailed it when the recall procedure document was first released. My contact at Traqnsport Canada agreed with me at the time that it might develop into an issue, but said that until problems started to actually happen they could not force the company to recall that component. I don't now what (if any) changes 2010 and later machines have incorporated in the nacelle harness, but I do have a tingly feeling that a second recall WILL cover more years than the original one.

Is it time to assign a formal sequence number to this latest electrical defect?

RossKean · Jun 20, 2012

bramfrank said:
Absolutely report it. It is unfair to the rest of the FJR owners not to.

I nailed it when the recall procedure document was first released. My contact at Traqnsport Canada agreed with me at the time that it might develop into an issue, but said that until problems started to actually happen they could not force the company to recall that component. I don't now what (if any) changes 2010 and later machines have incorporated in the nacelle harness, but I do have a tingly feeling that a second recall WILL cover more years than the original one.

Is it time to assign a formal sequence number to this latest electrical defect?

Should I report to Canada? Not sure whether they would care about a bike with a US VIN.

bramfrank · Jun 20, 2012

RossKean said:
bramfrank said:

Absolutely report it. It is unfair to the rest of the FJR owners not to.

I nailed it when the recall procedure document was first released. My contact at Traqnsport Canada agreed with me at the time that it might develop into an issue, but said that until problems started to actually happen they could not force the company to recall that component. I don't now what (if any) changes 2010 and later machines have incorporated in the nacelle harness, but I do have a tingly feeling that a second recall WILL cover more years than the original one.

Is it time to assign a formal sequence number to this latest electrical defect?

Click to expand...

Should I report to Canada? Not sure whether they would care about a bike with a US VIN.

Why not? TC won't know and I don't know if you should mention it in the filing either. The problem exists on both sides of the border. Once it is out of the country they don't care.

Harald · Jun 20, 2012

RossKean said:
Another one to report. Mildly toasted S6. Symptoms included high beam indicator coming on and distinctly odd blinker behavior. I only has three fairly brief episodes but decided to dig into it before I was stranded somewhere. As a result, the socket was not badly burned. I'm sure it would get very quickly worse as heat buildup accelerates corrosion resulting in higher resistance and more heat...

I cut off the offending spider, twisted the wires together and soldered it. Hope this is the root cause of the issues I was seeing.

I don't know whether there is any point in me filing a report. I am a Canadian with a US bike. I seriously doubt that either Canadian or US authorities would pay much attention.

Ross

Thanks for reporting back, Ross. It's sure looking like S6 is gonna be the 2nd most common spider failure after the recalled S4. My failed S7 is just a runner up, but still a potentially very dangerous failure.

I'd go ahead and file safety defect reports. It can't hurt to file and can only help by track the continueing problems to see whether another recall is justified. Your few minutes of time might save someone's life down the road by avoiding their headlights failing on a dark twisty road.

Moosehead · Sep 11, 2012

I just had the grounding harness recall done about 2 weeks ago and now I have the EXACT symptoms described above:

no headlight(just drove home on the shoulder in the dark)

High beam indicator on

both dash signal lights on

etc etc.

I see no point in taking it back to the dealer because they have done the S4 recall and this new spider is not under recall.

I will take it apart and see what it looks like. I'll start with S6

bramfrank · Sep 12, 2012

Moosehead said:
I just had the grounding harness recall done about 2 weeks ago and now I have the EXACT symptoms described above:

no headlight(just drove home on the shoulder in the dark)

High beam indicator on

both dash signal lights on

etc etc.

I see no point in taking it back to the dealer because they have done the S4 recall and this new spider is not under recall.

I will take it apart and see what it looks like. I'll start with S6

PLEASE FILE A REPORT WITH THE NHTSA EXPLAINING THAT YOUR RECALL HAS BEEN DONE, THAT THIS IS A OMPLETELY DIFFERENT LOCATION AND THAT SPONTANEOUS LIGHTING FAILURE IS A SERIOUS LIFE SAFETY CONCERN.

Gurock · Sep 13, 2012

My 06 FJR AE was in Pensylvania 600 miles from home after I'd ridden it hard for 2,000 miles from Chicago through Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pensylvania with a lot of high RPM riding in mountains at high speeds in low numbered gears. Near the end of a day riding in the mountains near Lewisburg the group I was with stopped for gas and when I tried to start the bike I couldn't start it having the symptoms of classic ground spider. Both turn indicator dash lights were lit, gas gauge read full blinking although tank was half full, bright light indicator on no matter what position switch was in, power windscreen doesn't work, and of course no starter. I called in the local Yamaha dealer in Willamsburg, PA and they called Yamaha with my VIN and called me back. They said that Yamaha said this was the electrical harness recall issues and that I sould have the bike towed in and they would repair the harness recalls. They also told me that they didn't have the parts andthat the bike would be there for ten days. Thinking I was pretty screwed, but what could I do, I called my towing coverage. They sent a truck in an hour or so and the truck took my bike to the dealer. By this time the dealer was closed and it was dark. When the driver took my bike off the truck I tried to start it and everything worked fine. I rode to my hotel, got up early in the morning and hightailed it back to Chicago on I 80 the next day without issue.

I've been riding another bike for the las few days since and I need to call the local Yamaha dealer here to have the recalls done. I just wonder what wiser more experienced owners then myself think about this as I'm a mechanical fool. Any comments r help will be appreciated.

BTW the bike had 16,100 miles when I bought it about a month ago and has 21,500 miles now.

road runner · Sep 13, 2012

Check with dealer to see if you already have the update installed. Your failure sounds like the S6 spider, and the recall only addresses the S4. So the recall itself won't fix it. They will likely have to R&R the front harness as well.

Do you still have YES, and do you want the bike to be laid up for a while ? I don't have any of my overload harnesses now, and won't for a while (like Nov.) so if It was me I'd solder the wires together at the S6 if that's the issue, and have the recall put on the S4 if not done yet.

bramfrank · Sep 14, 2012

Nope, not S6 or S7, because the bike would start, but there'd be no lights and such.

What you can do is to solder a wire to the S4 cap and run it to the battery negative terminal - that's how my bike is wired and has been for 2 years now, since Yamaha can't seem to find the time to send my dealer a harness . . . . . which, if you think about it is a hoot. However they DID mail me a reminder letter.

Harald · Sep 19, 2012

Moosehead said:
I just had the grounding harness recall done about 2 weeks ago and now I have the EXACT symptoms described above:

no headlight(just drove home on the shoulder in the dark)

High beam indicator on

both dash signal lights on

etc etc.

I see no point in taking it back to the dealer because they have done the S4 recall and this new spider is not under recall.

I will take it apart and see what it looks like. I'll start with S6

Sorry to hear about your failure, but thanks for reporting here. Once you fix it, please make sure to report to the NHTSA also and make sure to note that the failure was not related to the recall "Fix". And please report back here so we know what you failure was.

Once you get access to check S6, you better check S7 while you have the nose assy off the bike. I recommend cleaning the contacts and slathering the connector with dielectric grease to stop corrosion on undamaged spiders. If the connector is already melted, I'd just solder all the wires together and shrink wrap them (unless you're still under warranty and want to wait for dealer repair).

Harald · Sep 19, 2012

Gurock said:
My 06 FJR AE was in Pensylvania 600 miles from home after I'd ridden it hard for 2,000 miles from Chicago through Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pensylvania with a lot of high RPM riding in mountains at high speeds in low numbered gears. Near the end of a day riding in the mountains near Lewisburg the group I was with stopped for gas and when I tried to start the bike I couldn't start it having the symptoms of classic ground spider. Both turn indicator dash lights were lit, gas gauge read full blinking although tank was half full, bright light indicator on no matter what position switch was in, power windscreen doesn't work, and of course no starter. I called in the local Yamaha dealer in Willamsburg, PA and they called Yamaha with my VIN and called me back. They said that Yamaha said this was the electrical harness recall issues and that I sould have the bike towed in and they would repair the harness recalls. They also told me that they didn't have the parts andthat the bike would be there for ten days. Thinking I was pretty screwed, but what could I do, I called my towing coverage. They sent a truck in an hour or so and the truck took my bike to the dealer. By this time the dealer was closed and it was dark. When the driver took my bike off the truck I tried to start it and everything worked fine. I rode to my hotel, got up early in the morning and hightailed it back to Chicago on I 80 the next day without issue.

I've been riding another bike for the las few days since and I need to call the local Yamaha dealer here to have the recalls done. I just wonder what wiser more experienced owners then myself think about this as I'm a mechanical fool. Any comments r help will be appreciated.

BTW the bike had 16,100 miles when I bought it about a month ago and has 21,500 miles now.

Sorry to hear about your failure, but thanks a lot for reporting it here. We really need these reports to track how common this failure is in hopes of helping future FJR owners from experiencing this failure.

I can't add anything to what Roadrunner already posted. Please report back here what you (or the dealer) find to be the cause of your problem. And it's very important to file a report at www.safercar.gov to ensure the govt gets an accurate indication of how many FJR's are affected by this failure.

Harald · Dec 12, 2012

In another troubleshooting thread, member Daddykevin reported a failure of S6 despite having had the recall completed on his bike. Click here to read more:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/149584-ok-now-the-horn-is-out/?p=1023084

bramfrank · May 19, 2013

On the Facebook group Dave Lindberg just reported a failure of S6 or S7 (incomplete details on exactly what, if anything beyond the headlights had failed) and it reminded me that as the riding season begins people will be experiencing more and more failures of this type - especially if the harness recalls have been done (mine still hasn't - Yamaha apparently can't seem to find the time to supply my dealer with the part, even though mine was one of the first machines in Canada to officially be reported as suffering the failures).

However - this post serves as a bump to remind people that IF THEIR MACHINE SUFFERS A SPIDER RELATED HEADLIGHT FAILURE IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT IT BE REPORTED TO INDUSTRY CANADA OR TO THE NHTSA - LINKS ARE HERE:

USA: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/index.xhtml

Canada: https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/7/PCDB-BDPP/fc2-cp2.aspx?lang=eng

NOTE THAT YOU NEED TO BE SPECIFIC IN REPORTING THAT THE FAILURE IS POTENTIALLY LIFE THREATENING AND OCCURED IN AN AREA NOT COVERED BY THE PREVIOUS RECALLS. (plural)

You can provide a link back to this thread in the report (can't hurt): https://www.fjrforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=139511

Here is an example of text you might use:

Defect: Headlights failed without warning. Potentially life threatening had this occurred while underway at night, not to mention hat the DRLs failed as well and motorcyclists are already at risk - DRLs provide needed daytime visibility for motorists. The defect occurred in what is known as the S6 (or S7 if that's the one that went on your bike) spider - a spider being a ground wire collector circuit on the vehicle. The vehicle has already been recalled for other spider failures, but the spider affected by this problem was not among the ones dealt with.

LAF · May 20, 2013

This is my 10 new with 0 miles on it.

I used dielectric grease, then covered the entire spider in many coats of liquid tape. I was floored to see this on a new bike. You can sand them a bit but it takes the coating off which may make things worse if not sealed. Yeah the 10 and above have the new super wire spider protection and is no need of a recall. BS

I do use Road Runners harness and have since new. I would never let them touch my wiring anyway I would run as Road Runner has suggested, ground your own with a huge gauge wire and dress and seal all spiders.

Harald · Mar 18, 2014

I'm updating this thread for tracking purposes.

In this thread:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/156720-sh-23-and-she-is-dead-in-the-water/?p=1130963

there was a failure of S4 after the recall was, kinda sorta, completed. The dealer that installed the S4 harness left the ground disconnected, effectively rendering the recall useless (instead of only partially helpful

).

Queensland Ken · Mar 18, 2014

Dielectric grease has its uses but for that particular application carbon grease would have been better.

ionbeam · Mar 18, 2014

Queensland Ken said:
Dielectric grease has its uses but for that particular application carbon grease would have been better.

Thank you young man, there aren't enough pluses for that reply. Keep up the good stuff!

rPGoatBoy · Mar 18, 2014

ionbeam said:
Queensland Ken said:

Dielectric grease has its uses but for that particular application carbon grease would have been better.

Click to expand...

Thank you young man, there aren't enough pluses for that reply. Keep up the good stuff!

Goddamnit I could've used that little tidbit before I went and greased up the 5 spiders visible to me last Saturday night!

I can still get to them easily, where can one find this carbon grease of which you speak?

rbentnail · Mar 18, 2014

rPGoatBoy said:
I can still get to them easily, where can one find this carbon grease of which you speak?

I use a product called NOALOX. Electrically conductive corrosion inhibitor. Available at Home Depot, Lowes Hardware, ebay, Amazon, etc.

I use it once per year on all 8 spiders and have never needed to have the harness recall done. Additionally, I've used it in my work for 20+ years and have never had a corrosion or overheat failure of any type of electrical joint where it's been used and maintained. We're talking everything from 120 volts AC to 12k volts AC. I swear by the stuff.

FJRF009.3 "Spider failures other than S4" Research

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