Do I have an impending spider problem?

[dcatwater]

Hey all, noob here,

2006 A, 13,500 mi, only farkles are man horns and a Garmin Zumo 550, both are running off of a Blue Sea fuse block that is wired directly to the battery. Horns are going through a relay.

On to the issue...a few weeks ago the GPS starts acting up, wont turn on at start up, after I power off the bike it turns on. A few days ago the ABS light starts flashing signaling low voltage. The ABS light problem has been intermittent - battery voltage measured at the terminals with no load is 13.5. Then the signal fuse blows (windshield control, neutral ind. light, tail lights) with no reason that I can find. I replace the fuse and can't get it to blow again.

Reading up on the spider issue I look at S4 and it shows minor corrosion on the top of the metal insert (not shiny) but no signs of meltdown. I did smell a burning smell coming home on a warm day in traffic, thought it was the car in front of me - maybe it was me?

In your opinion is this a impending spider issue? And how can I get some of Brodie's grounding harnesses? And I understand that there are 8 spiders, I have found two, both under the tank, one on the left and one on the right - where are the other 6?

TIA, Dave

 

[scubatech]

Hey all, noob here,
2006 A, 13,500 mi, only farkles are man horns and a Garmin Zumo 550, both are running off of a Blue Sea fuse block that is wired directly to the battery. Horns are going through a relay.

On to the issue...a few weeks ago the GPS starts acting up, wont turn on at start up, after I power off the bike it turns on. A few days ago the ABS light starts flashing signaling low voltage. The ABS light problem has been intermittent - battery voltage measured at the terminals with no load is 13.5. Then the signal fuse blows (windshield control, neutral ind. light, tail lights) with no reason that I can find. I replace the fuse and can't get it to blow again.

Reading up on the spider issue I look at S4 and it shows minor corrosion on the top of the metal insert (not shiny) but no signs of meltdown. I did smell a burning smell coming home on a warm day in traffic, thought it was the car in front of me - maybe it was me?

In your opinion is this a impending spider issue? And how can I get some of Brodie's grounding harnesses? And I understand that there are 8 spiders, I have found two, both under the tank, one on the left and one on the right - where are the other 6?

TIA, Dave

DC,

Look under group/self buys column in Roadrunners post. The thread explains & shows location of spiders and his methods for repair. He sells a nice harness kit for a fix. The spiders are spread out through the factory harness. There are several choices on how to repair the spiders.

 

[kaitsdad]

Dave,

Based upon RZ350's excellent spreadsheets, I would suggest that you start looking at #6, located under the glove box.

Look at it here

 

[dcatwater]

Scuba and Kaitsdad, thanks for the reply.

I have found and checked all the spiders, visually they appear ok - there is no catastrophic melting. Was kind of hoping for a big glob of goo so I could be sure of the problem. :glare:

I have a Brodie harness on the way, so if nothing else I'll get installed while the bike is apart to act prophalactically.

Any other guesses as to why the fuse would blow with no apparent reason?

 

[madmike2]

Any other guesses as to why the fuse would blow with no apparent reason?

WFO is coming in 1 1/2 weeks and the bike doesn't want to go?

 

[Harald]

I have found and checked all the spiders, visually they appear ok - there is no catastrophic melting. Was kind of hoping for a big glob of goo so I could be sure of the problem. :glare:

It doesn't require catastrophic melting for spiders to cause problems. My spider that failed was the one above the left headlight and it was not melted like I've seen in some pictures. It did cause the bike to stop running and the headlights to fail. No blown fuses though.

 

[tesla]

I have found and checked all the spiders, visually they appear ok - there is no catastrophic melting. Was kind of hoping for a big glob of goo so I could be sure of the problem. :glare:

It doesn't require catastrophic melting for spiders to cause problems. My spider that failed was the one above the left headlight and it was not melted like I've seen in some pictures. It did cause the bike to stop running and the headlights to fail. No blown fuses though.

How many miles did you have on the bike when this occurred?

 

[dcatwater]

How many miles did you have on the bike when this occurred?

13,500 miles

 

[Harald]

I have found and checked all the spiders, visually they appear ok - there is no catastrophic melting. Was kind of hoping for a big glob of goo so I could be sure of the problem. :glare:

It doesn't require catastrophic melting for spiders to cause problems. My spider that failed was the one above the left headlight and it was not melted like I've seen in some pictures. It did cause the bike to stop running and the headlights to fail. No blown fuses though.

How many miles did you have on the bike when this occurred?

I don't remember exactly, but it was around 32,000 miles on a bike that I bought new a little over 2 years ago (at the time).

 

[S76]

Unfortunately the spider failures are not related to mileage. It is more a function of time, or maybe not even that. They act up at will. My S4 acted up at 3 years and 30K, but that means nothing. It can happen any time.

We will continue to see posts about these failures until everyone gets some type of fix in place. In the end, I suspect it will be the rare bike that doesn't have this problem sooner or later. Do the Brodie mod. Great mod and easy to do. Very clean installation.

Mine died before that was available so I just soldered all my splices together and added additional grounds. Same effect, not as clean.

If you don't do this mod you are forever at risk of ruining an otherwise good vacation.

Just my $.02, I've been wrong before.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Somebody say Spiders??? Surely hope this isn't your problem..

https://news.travel.aol.com/2010/07/20/spid...away-from-guam/

:jester:

 

[dcatwater]

Yup, will install a Brodie, along with dielectric grease, and wrap with rigging tape. Don't want to tear the bke down again chasing the next buss to fail....

Sincerely, Dave