Edit: Ground Connector?

[justacrossthehill]

I have two of these up high in the frame near the left rear of the valve cover. Is this the "spider connection I keep reading about? Are both of these ground connectors?

 

[Gitbox]

That's a couple of them. There are more.

 

[justacrossthehill]

Thanks, I can't find anything about the ground system in the prints.

 

[mcatrophy]

Thanks, I can't find anything about the ground system in the prints.

Not shown in the wiring diagram.

The one that seems to give most trouble is under the tank, front left. These pictures are of a 2006, it may be a bit different in your 2008.

(Click on any image for larger view)



There are several more, one front right:



Two more left side:



Then three behind the front fairing (sorry, no arrows):

 

[RossKean]

Spider map by Queensland Ken (RIP).

 

[12tinker]

check VIN for recall or look for the S4 harness

Cut and solder the rest

 

[justacrossthehill]

Great info guys!

 

[infrared]

Not shown in the wiring diagram.
Then three behind the front fairing (sorry, no arrows):

 

mcatrophy,

Man, I can find two spiders in there, but not three.  Can you add arrows (or circles) for these three spiders?  Thanks.

.

 

[mcatrophy]

Man, I can find two spiders in there, but not three.  Can you add arrows (or circles) for these three spiders?  Thanks.

Found that I already had a picture with the arrows:

(Click on image for larger view)



All these pictures are part of a series taken during repairing after the bike was blown over in the wind (no, I wasn't on it at the time). If you click on the posted thumbnail to get the larger image, then click on the "more" link bottom left, you will be able to navigate the whole sequence.

Click on any of the larger images, you will get the original full-size picture, some of them have a lot of detail, though this may take a few seconds to download - my internet access is not the fastest!

 

[Brodie]

One note about two of the “spiders” pictured above…

The one in the forward right, next to the frame in front of the cylinder head – and one of the two on the left side near where the fuel line clips into the fuel rail, belong to the electronics. They handle low voltage signals from the bike’s various “black boxes”.  I don’t know of any failures involving these. These have black with blue stripe wires, and black with white stripe wires. I strongly suggest you just service them (contact cleaner spray, compressed air, then silicone dielectric tune up grease), and then re-assembly. The rest of the spiders (6 of them, with all black wires) are part of the regular 12volt system, and could stand updating. 
 

Hope this helps. 
 

Brodie

 

[infrared]

Mcatrophy, Brodie,

Thanks, guys.  One day, if ever a spider bites, maybe I will be able to deal with it now.

B)

 

[MartyA]

Be sure you get them 'fixed'. Mine died in Yellowstone, a long way from PA....

Roadrunner (used to live in NY state) had offered a fix before the recall, worked great!

 

[rbentnail]

I made pdf's of my original S4 ground spider repair and saved them on dropbox, mostly to make sure the pics got saved.  If anyone's interested feel free to download to review, ask questions, etc.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lp9tr6zyoplge99/Ground Spider Thread FJRFORUM pg 1.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rg91hx829rpvd9q/Ground Spider Thread pg 2.pdf?dl=0

 

[RZ350]

Wow, this subject takes me back 10 years!  I'll share my calc files from back then in case anyone is interested.  I analyzed a spare 2008 harness assembly I had and compiled this spreadsheet looking at the estimated amp flow through each spider in a worst case scenario.  It should match the Spider map by Queensland Ken above (its quite possible he used these charts for connectivity unless he analyzed a harness wire by wire too like I did).  In the "Estimated Current" column, it shows the cumulative current flowing through each individual pin in each spider connector.  It proved Yamaha pushed those ground spiders way too far and Yamaha finally released a recall to deal with it.

What I ended up doing doing before the recall came out and it is still working fine on my 2007 FJR today is this simple mod to direct the headlight and fan current (the heavy hitters) directly to the frame via some new grounds.  It also lets any grounding current from S4, S7, and S8 to flow this way too if the resistance is less than through the OEM harness path ("path of least resistance").

 

[rbentnail]

....... and Yamaha finally released a recall to deal with it.

Don't fool yourself.  The recall was a joke and just moved the problem from S4 to S6.  When I did my repair as documented above I soldered both while I was in there.  No problems since.

 

[RossKean]

The recall was a joke and just moved the problem from S4 to S6.

Pretty much.  I had the S4 done under the recall on my 2007.  After that, I had to deal with a cooked S6 and then a non-spider grounding issue in a connector on the left side. No other issues before I sold it a couple of years ago with 165,000 miles.

No issues (so far) with my 2011 and I have not done anything in terms of spider maintenance.  Next season, I am going to lower wattage LED replacements and I might consider a headlight relay to remove even that load.  Don't have to deal with much stop-and-go riding in traffic on hot days so the fan circuitry doesn't get much of a workout. 

 

[RZ350]

Don't fool yourself.  The recall was a joke and just moved the problem from S4 to S6.  When I did my repair as documented above I soldered both while I was in there.  No problems since.

That's funny.  I really never know what Yamaha's final fix was...  all I remember was people complaining it wasn't enough and I passed on the OEM recall mods.  By the time they came out with it, I had my own fix and I had moved on.  I had proven to myself in the following updated charts it wasn't going to be an issue on my bike anymore.  No spider was carrying more than 10 amps at peak conditions.

 

[RZ350]

Pretty much.  I had the S4 done under the recall on my 2007.  After that, I had to deal with a cooked S6 and then a non-spider grounding issue in a connector on the left side. No other issues before I sold it a couple of years ago with 165,000 miles.

No issues (so far) with my 2011 and I have not done anything in terms of spider maintenance.  Next season, I am going to lower wattage LED replacements and I might consider a headlight relay to remove even that load.  Don't have to deal with much stop-and-go riding in traffic on hot days so the fan circuitry doesn't get much of a workout. 

That stands to reason because even if S4 was grounded directly to the frame or battery, the original chart shows S6 still would be flowing over 22 amps (too much!!).  The current needed to be diverted at or upstream of S6 too.