2007 FJR Ground Spider #4 BAD..What are my options

[Slardy]

OK Folks,

I finally got into my 2007 FJR (55K mi) and found spider S4 to be melted on at least one contact (in the photo, look at the upper right of the connector) I have not had the recall done yet, mainly because I don’t trust a dealer with my FJR. However, I don’t know how I am going to repair this spider. You would need 10 inch fingers to work on removing the connector, and soldering all the wires together. I assume that the thermal stress that caused the plastic to melt also annealed the contact or contacts, so just cleaning the connector will not work in the long run.

So I am thinking that I may be better off having the dealer do the recall and because of the inaccessibility of this spider, a new wiring harness would be needed. I assume the harness will also be to Yamaha’s account.

PS: I started this saga with this post thread: https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/153034-has-anyone-had-a-main-relay-go-bad/

May I have your suggestions?

Slardy

 

[escapefjrtist]

Other than crimping / soldering all the grounds together, options are limited to repair this.

IMO take the bike to a dealer, have them install a new harness and complete the recall. BTW -- I feel the same way you do about dealer mechanics, but in this case it's your best bet.

Good luck!

--G

 

[yamafitter]

Agreed, at this point it would be best to have a new harness installed under the recall. I would also consider adding one of the aftermarket grounding harnesses supplied by one of the folks here on the forum. I have a Brodie harness on mine but unfortunately that option is no longer available.

 

[Fred W]

If it were my bike I'd cut and crimp / solder a splice and be done with it in a matter of few minutes. That connector has no functional purpose other than to join those ground wires together, and that can be done quite easily, with a better electrical connection, using with a good butt splice and some adhesive type shrink tubing. If you are uncomfortable with this kind of electrical repair, get an electrician / electronic technician type friend to help.

I would not want the shop monkeys removing and reinstalling an entire wiring harness on my bike. It is pretty unlikely they would get it done without causing any additional problems. All for what? Your bike is long past warranty status. What do you gain by letting them change the harness?

Advance apologies to any pro mechanics on this forum. I'm sure that you are better than the average guy in the dealership's back room.

 

[road runner]

You could do a "back door" approach. I suspect the one melted connector is the one that goes to ground. Ohm it and see if it is. If so then you can tap into each fan ground and run them to ground. This will not only take the fans direct to ground but will also turn the 2 fan wires in the S4 to grounds, so you wont really need the one that melted. So you can just clean and put the S4 together, then and ground wires to the fans and call it a day.

I agree a new harness would be nice if you trust the dealer tearing the bike apart to do it, and the time of lost use. Maybe do the fan ground for now then bring it in over the winter for the harness.

I agree with Fred. Only thing is The S4 is a real ***** to get too.

 

[Slardy]

I really want to remove the connector, remove some insulation, twist the wires together and then solder them all together. However, I am not sure I can do that with the limited space available. Has anyone successfully done that? If I could do this, I would be in clover.

Slardy

 

[Slardy]

Roadrunner, that is also a possiblility, BUT, the overheated branch is not the main grounding wire! Nevertheless, I am considering that approach.

I still want to know if anyone successfully removed that connector and managed to group the wires together for a good solder joint.

Slardy

 

[Donal]

Just had a look at the spreadsheet prepared by RZ350 with details of all the spiders. The six connections go to:

1. Radiator fan (2) left

2. Radiator fan (1) right

3. Ground to battery

4. Ground from S3

5. Ground from S6

6. Grip warmer control unit.

If you can't reach S4 to carry out the necessary 'surgery' then Roadrunner's suggestion is the way to go. Just make sure you also ground S3 & S6 plus the grip warmer (if you have one fitted).

 

[Chuck35]

If it were my bike I'd cut and crimp / solder a splice and be done with it in a matter of few minutes. That connector has no functional purpose other than to join those ground wires together, and that can be done quite easily, with a better electrical connection, using with a good butt splice and some adhesive type shrink tubing. If you are uncomfortable with this kind of electrical repair, get an electrician / electronic technician type friend to help.
I would not want the shop monkeys removing and reinstalling an entire wiring harness on my bike. It is pretty unlikely they would get it done without causing any additional problems. All for what? Your bike is long past warranty status. What do you gain by letting them change the harness?

Advance apologies to any pro mechanics on this forum. I'm sure that you are better than the average guy in the dealership's back room.

As a 30 + year Automotive Technician, I just HAD to reply here.....

I couldn't agree more!

 

[Slardy]

I just tried to move the wiring harness around a bit and I believe that I can unfasten some of the connectors on the far side of the frame and some harness hold-downs on this side of the frame to give me another inch or so of room to work with removing the connector. If I can do that, my next post will be "mission accomplished".

Slardy

 

[Gurock]

I had my wiring harness go bad at the end of last season on an 06 AE which had never had the recall done. Yamaha paid for everything involved and the mechanic said that they replaced the entire harness with lots of other wiring. Since then the bike has "Knock on Wood" run fine. I was left with the impression that the new replacement harness was not identical to the burnt out one that come with the bike. I don't know if that's true. If it is true then just repairing the one spot that went bad seems like waiting for the next spot to go bad. Also once you repair the bad harness yourself Yamaha may refuse to help you if you need them later for harness issues.

Maybe I'm just taking this position because I'm mechanically inept, but it's worth thinking about.

 

[BkerChuck]

If it were my bike, I'd speak to the service manager at your dealership and find out what their stand would be on potential future repairs that may be needed after having dealership do the recalls. Sometimes they will offer at least some form of warranty on their work. Even though your bike is out of warranty period, future trouble that may be caused by their work should at least carry some type of guaranty. Never hurts to ask.

 

[SLK50]

Recalls are done outside of any warranties and will be done regardless of any modifications.

The manufacturer is on the hook until the recall is completed.

 

[LCB]

The manufacturer is on the hook until the recall is completed.

Correct - I bought my '07 in 2011 with 40K miles on it. After experiencing altitude sickness in the Rockies last year, I had a dealer run the VIN to see if all the recall work had been completed. Only 1 of the 5 recalls had been done. They ordered all the parts, I dropped off the bike and they had everything done in less than 2 days. So far, so good...

As Gurock mentioned, I'm also mechanically inept and as much as I don't like dealerships working on my bikes, I felt it was my best option as far as the recall work was concerned.

 

[Harald]

I'm in the "cut the connector off and solder the wires together" camp also. My 07 had the S7 spider fail back in Dec 09 as reported in this thread:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=124616&st=0

This spider is above the left headlight and is also a ***** to get to and work on. I had the whole nose assembly off the bike and laying on the bench in order to cut the connector off and solder all the wires together.

My bike was still under the YES warranty, but I didn't want the dealer screwing up all my farkle wiring or blaming the problem on that same wiring (even though my wiring has no effect on spiders smoking). I would have preferred putting a crimp on the wires before soldering, but there simply wasn't enough room to work in there. I stripped all the wires, soldered them together, heat shrink sleeved them and carefully tied the repair to the bundle to eliminate vibration that could cause solder joint failure. Knock on wood, but my repair is still working fine with almost 75k on the bike now (approximately 50k miles since repair).