Another F***ing ignition failure on an '06

Another great vacation screwed up by an ignition failure on an '06 just as DCARVER, COTA, and some others. Life was good yesterday riding up through NH, Kancamangus Highway, Mount Washington etc.....I stopped briefly for food in Rangeley Maine, cut the wheel sharply to the left to get around a car in the parking lot, took off and made it about 1/2 mile up the road when everything went dead. Since I knew others had the ignition problem I wiggled the wiring going into the switch and immediately got power (briefly). I was able to pull the bike across the street into QuickSled Snowmobile Rental and Repair where Joe the owner allowed me to keep the bike overnight, drove me to a hotel, and called innumerable Yamaha dealers, the closest being 60 miles away in order to try and get the problem solved. I sliced the wires as CARVER suggested and hotwired the bike but couldn't get it to start. I found a dealer who contacted Yamaha directly and they told him to "go pick up the bike and rider". Nick from a dealership in Waterville drove 60 miles to pick me and the bike up. They have the bike ripped down right now, have gotten it started, are having a new ignition overnighted and promised to have me back on the road by Thursday.

Gotta get off the hotel computer now because others are looking to use it but the moral of the story is.....Even if you have clipped the cable tie securing the wiring on your '06, be prepared to get stranded someplace you would rather not be. The upside to this is that I have met some great people and found a fantastic dealership.....400 miles away from home but a great dealership nevertheless. I'll explain more when I can.

That absolutely SUCKS!!!! But look at the bright side buddy: it could have been in the middle of a curve, and you wouldn't be typing this. Honestly, that's a big time safety issue IMO, and worthy of a recall. I'd take the time to report that to the NHTSB.

I hope the surging is the only issue we have with our '07s.

Hey, how many miles on your bike?? And at how many miles did you 'relax' the harness?? Wonder if '07s need that done as well. Will search for pics.

Try to get some compensation from Yamaha. I can tolerate problems, even the annoying as hell surging, but getting stranded? No way. Best of luck man.

JC

Sorry to hear that but it sounds like it's working out.

To paraphrase a quote that I came across.... Adventures often suck while you're having them.

ELP_JC said:

... Will search for pics.

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dcarver's post: Clicky complete with pics

Happy to hear you found good people to help out. Mine crapped out while I was riding an instate saddlesore. When Yamaha told the dealer it would take at least three weeks to get the part from Japan, called Yamaha customer service and kinda unloaded on them, hope that helped. Got my bike back in 10 days, and it looks like they have the part warehoused in the US now.

Looks like they do listen.

Rickster said:

dcarver's post: Clicky complete with pics

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Thanks a lot for your help brother. Will check mine right now. Take care.

JC

Axe

did you clip one or both ties?

Ouch, that sucks... I just double checked mine, I cut the initial wire tie, that's at the bottom of the switch. I didn't feel as thought it was super tight, and I cannot find any way it would be pulled on, so I put that wire tie back... I think that whole tie is there as a relief, so the wires don't get pulled out the switch like what has happened in prior photos.

If mine comes out I'll be more shocked than upset, cause I just don't see that happening.

Did your switch fail? or was it the actual wiring leading to the switch because that's two separate things in my book.

I had the same problem happen to me a couple of weeks ago. I was on my way back from Ocean City, MD on a Saturday afternoon and stopped in Easton, MD to get gas. When I tried to start the bike again, NOTHING. The lcd display would flash momentarily, the tach and speedo needles would sweep back and forth as normal, but no start. I was able to wiggle the switch a little and finally got it started and got home without further incident. Once home it would not respond at all.

Had it towed to the dealer the following Monday morning and they replaced the ignition switch. It took about a week for the new ignition switch to arrive. The repair was covered under Y.E.S. Bike has 24K miles.

Mine crapped out last week as well, 06 turned 18K miles just recently. Taking a right turn in the next town over and it just died. I copied what dcarver had written and faxed it to the dealer and he is trying to get it fixed under warranty. New switch being installed tomorrow. Just got back from a 300 mile ride the weekend before, it could have been worse, if it had happened then, in the rain, in the twisties.... the more I think about it the more I think I was lucky that it happened so close to home and that I was going slow.

Are the new switches different from the old ones?

Calabash said:

Mine crapped out last week as well, 06 turned 18K miles just recently. Taking a right turn in the next town over and it just died. I copied what dcarver had written and faxed it to the dealer and he is trying to get it fixed under warranty. New switch being installed tomorrow. Just got back from a 300 mile ride the weekend before, it could have been worse, if it had happened then, in the rain, in the twisties.... the more I think about it the more I think I was lucky that it happened so close to home and that I was going slow.

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So did your switch itself fail or did a wire come out of it like dcarvers?

Renegade said:

Calabash said:

Mine crapped out last week as well, 06 turned 18K miles just recently. Taking a right turn in the next town over and it just died. I copied what dcarver had written and faxed it to the dealer and he is trying to get it fixed under warranty. New switch being installed tomorrow. Just got back from a 300 mile ride the weekend before, it could have been worse, if it had happened then, in the rain, in the twisties.... the more I think about it the more I think I was lucky that it happened so close to home and that I was going slow.

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So did your switch itself fail or did a wire come out of it like dcarvers?

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When I talked to the dealer he said the red wire was loose from the switch but he also said he didn't think it was the same as what dcarver wrote, I don't know the distinction between the two. I will ask more questions tomorrow when I pick the bike up.

I don't know guys? I just spoke with a Yamaha Rep today about my FJR AE that has suffered a short near the front end and is currently torn apart. While speaking to him I found he had quite a few years with Yamaha as a Tech, when I asked him about my theory as to what I thought the problem on my bike may be? He responded saying most of the wiring shorts he's seen have been caused by the main wiring bundle being zip-tied too tight during the build process. And most of these electrical problems were located toward the front of the bike near the steering head.

I know this doesn't help the people who have already had ignition switch failure, but it may help a few if they check these zip-ties installed at the factory to see if they are too tight. From what I'm reading this isn't happening when the front end is faced forward, The AxeMan feels this started or happened when he turned the handlebars hard left to get around a car. I'm going to recheck mine again (when it comes back home from the shop) just look at these ties when the front-end is hard to the left and hard to the right. I've made this same mistake myself, and I could be paying the price for it right now, just because I didn't swing the front end from side to side when checking the ties.

Something to think about? Be Safe, C1

I would like to see someone with Yammy connections get a recall going...

Calabash said:

Renegade said:

Calabash said:

Mine crapped out last week as well, 06 turned 18K miles just recently. Taking a right turn in the next town over and it just died. I copied what dcarver had written and faxed it to the dealer and he is trying to get it fixed under warranty. New switch being installed tomorrow. Just got back from a 300 mile ride the weekend before, it could have been worse, if it had happened then, in the rain, in the twisties.... the more I think about it the more I think I was lucky that it happened so close to home and that I was going slow.

Click to expand...

So did your switch itself fail or did a wire come out of it like dcarvers?

Click to expand...

When I talked to the dealer he said the red wire was loose from the switch but he also said he didn't think it was the same as what dcarver wrote, I don't know the distinction between the two. I will ask more questions tomorrow when I pick the bike up.

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It was the red wire on mine that pulled out from the circuit board. I reported the failure to the DOT and received this letter. You may wish to contact the DOT too.

--Start Letter--

"Hi Don,

Thanks for reporting to the National Highway traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on the ignition switch problem with your Yamaha motorcycle.

Can you take a picture or two of the ignition switch and the wires going into it? If possible, show how the wires are stretched or could be stretched. If you know of any internet postings on this exact issue, please forward me the links.

If you have posted there, please let me know your alias.

If you have a copy of the repair invoice, please scan and email me a copy. Please provide the vehicle identification number (VIN).

Thanks very much!

Steve Chan

Safety Defects Engineer Office of Defects Investigation/NHTSA [SIZE=10pt](202) 366-8537[/SIZE]

--End Letter--

If the wire is being pulled out of the switch, the wire is to short, a production error and QC did not catch it and also an engineering error. cutting the ty only lenghtens the wire harness an easy fix or lenghen the wire problem solved.

I would like to know if whom ever had a switch fail how many after market farkles use the hot lead for their power source, from or going to the ignition switch? Is the switch being burnt electrically with a wire to or from the switch or drounding out internally and burning the switch. Might be a good idea to carry an extra one at all times

On my 06 it looked as Don said, the bend was too tight on the loom wire going up into the switch. After cutting the tie-wrap I loosened the severe bend in the wire loom then re-tie-wrapped the loom but now eleminating the stress on the loom and now seems ok. I don't think it is an issue of the wires being too short, just pulled down too tight then tie-wrapped causing too much tension on the loom at the factory thus putting too much pull on the wires going into the switch. Just my .02 peso's worth. PM. <><

weekend rider said:

I would like to know if whom ever had a switch fail how many after market farkles use the hot lead for their power source, from or going to the ignition switch? Is the switch being burnt electrically with a wire to or from the switch or drounding out internally and burning the switch. Might be a good idea to carry an extra one at all times

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No after-market farkles at all on my bike.