Electrical Gremlins: windsceen stuck, no neutral light, glove box won't open

[El Cajone]

When heading home from doing some errands last week, I found that the windscreen was locked in the retracted position, I had no neutral light and the glove box wouldn't open ( I have an '07 FJR 1300A). All the other electricals were working fine as far as I could tell including the instrument gauges. The problem has since gone away but I'm worried that it will be back, probably with a vengeance.

What I've done so far:

1. Checked the fuses; they are all OK.

2. Searched the forum. The comment I found that seems closest to the mark suggests the problem may be in the Coupler No. 5

which I think is a 6-wire connector at the windshield motor operator.

The only other clue I have is that a few days before this happened, I did some long rides over 2 days in 33-38 deg. C. temperatures

and my buddy noticed then that one of my auxiliary brakes lights was flickering strangely.

Before I dive into this, I'm hoping that some of the electrical gurus on the Forum can weigh in with some advice to get me focussed

on the most likely cause.

 

[ionbeam]

Have you had the grounding system recall done? In Forum speak you will see it as grounding Spider Recall.

 

[El Cajone]

Yes, the grounding system recall was done and I installed Roadrunner's harness before that.

 

[ionbeam]

Okie Dokie. I asked because your list of inops seems to cover more than one coupler.

You are right, coupler 5 is high on the list of suspects. Coupler 5 has 10 pins in two rows of 5 with one pin open.

The other suspect is coupler 2, an 8 pin coupler with 2 rows of 4 and all locations are populated.

Both couplers are 'front wiring', which means they are located under the gas tank up by the steering stem. Almost all the couplers are unique in shape, pin count and wire population, there should be no other couplers that match the description given here.

 

[El Cajone]

OK, I'm looking under the gas tank and there are 2 white-jacketed couplers between the cylinder top cover and the steering stem; one is a 6 pin and the other is a 2 pin. Neither look like coupler #2 or #5.

Are couplers 2 and 5 really in this compartment under the gas tank or are they farther up front in the nose or maybe under the left or right side fairings?

 

[mcatrophy]

Not sure of the numbering, but this post shows where most of them are.