electrical smoke

[tomfromhull]

I have a '05 FJR with 41,000 miles. A couple of times I started it I could smell something burning. The other night I started it up and it did it again but I also saw smoke coming up from under the fairing by the headlight. The only other issues are one time the starter seemed to skip like it had a bad connection and when the bike fired up the clock reset like it lost power . Yesterday morning I hit the start button and the bike would crank but not fire up. I thought maybe I didn't have the key on enough so I turned it off and then on again and the bike fired right up. Now I'm reading about the grounding spider/wiring harness issues. Any ideas? And I don't think the previus owner had any trouble with it because he gave me a pretty detailed description of everything he had done to the bike. Thanks for the help

 

[Ignacio]

Loose battery connection? The battery is just behind the right side headlight.

The known wiring harness/spider issue does NOT relate to '05s.

 

[CAJW]

Yup, what Iggy said, I'd start with the battery connection.

 

[Khunajawdge]

I have a '05 FJR with 41,000 miles. {Snip] Any ideas?

And I don't think the previus owner had any trouble with it because he gave me a pretty detailed description of everything he had done to the bike. Thanks for the help

How had it been stored? 41,000 miles is less than 7,000 miles per year of rideable mileage. If the bike has been stored over winters (like six of them and in a less than dry environment), then I would expect moisture to be the culprit. Might(?)even be some gremlins about in the groundings.

 

[oldgun]

Smoke is frequently observed to come out of electronic components when overheated, often through exposure to an extreme electrical current usually caused by a low-resistance failure or the application of excess voltage through some cascading failure of the circuit. Manufacturers put a portion of magic smoke into every electronic component, and the device functions normally so long as the smoke does not escape. Once the magic smoke has been released, the device lacks one or more key components and no longer functions correctly. The smoke thus can be thought of as an essential part in the device's function. It is also noted that once let out, the magic smoke cannot be put back in.

It is alleged that the major microchip production companies (especially the large microprocessor manufacturers) are involved in a conspiracy to keep the true nature of their products under wraps.

Hope this helps,

OG

 

[Bustanut joker]

Poor gasoline on it a hit a match.... the smoke will rise above the fire then..

Jus bein' helpful.

 

[Fontanaman]

Poor gasoline on it a hit a match.... the smoke will rise above the fire then..

Jus bein' helpful.

Yeah what Bustanut said. I if you choose to ignore Bustanut's advice then be content with the Plogistics Theory of Electronic. It stipulates when all the smoke leaks out of the wires the electronic quit working. When you consider most things British leak this explains why Lucas Electrics rarely work work.

 

[Brodie]

Sounds like an ignition switch going out to me.

Brodie

 

[Brodie]

There are no ground spiders on a gen 1 bike. However, there is a major connector in that area that has been known to corrode from the elements. I don't have a gen 1 bike and don't know exactly where this connector is, perhaps a gen 1 owner can chime in here.

Brodie

 

[kaitsdad]

This may be a bit of a long shot - but I remember at the WORD event a certain 04 belonging to a certain forum admin, that actually had flames out of the harness. It was caused by a hose clamp that had been rotated during maintenance, and rubbed through wiring insulation. The resulting short BBQue'd some copper.

Just another spot to check - has the bike had any cooling system maintenance done on it?

Although the symptoms point to a loose battery connection or a loose connector in the ignition switch. Don't forget to check the neg battery cable connection to the engine case. (bottom right side of lower case) Lot's of corrosion and/or possible lefty loosey issues there.

 

[ionbeam]

...Although the symptoms point to a loose battery connection or a loose connector in the ignition switch. Don't forget to check the neg battery cable connection to the engine case. (bottom right side of lower case)...

+1 on this advice, eliminate these first. The ignition switch can be taken apart but accessing it entails removing the triple clamp and drilling out two sets of security screws.

I do have a source for a Magic Smoke refilling kit. It is specified to refill 20 Integrated Circuits, so as long as you only saw a little smoke the kit should be big enough.

 

[TheZsdad]

If you still can contact the the orgininal owner ask if any farkles were removed. Lights, horn etc. Maybe a bare wire touching some where.

 

[PhilJet09]

The long and short of it is, you're going to have to remove some plastic and look around for signs of overheated wires/connectors. Start with the simple things like the battery connectors and main ground. Move the handle bars back and forth and pay attention to areas where wire bundles rub on things. Seems to me that there was an ignition switch recall on some bikes (too lazy to look it up right now), so you may look into the recall status on your bike.

 

[ionbeam]

...Seems to me that there was an ignition switch recal...

The ground spider recall and the ignition switch recall were only for Gen II bikes. Gen I bikes don't leak smoke unless something is damaged, broken or fiddled with.

 

[kaitsdad]

A quick troubleshooting tip - use your nose. Burnt insulation is quite pungent. Odds are the burn site will be quite evident once the plastic is off, but if hidden, you might be able to sniff it out.

Seriously.

 

[wfooshee]

Here is the thread about the harness connector referred to above.

If you have to tear into the front part of the bike, here's a thread on how to get the plastic off correctly.

 

[Powerman]

Years ago I took a class for a FCC license.

In an otherwise good textbook, "look for white/gray wisps of smoke" was in the troubleshooting section.

Back in the 70's in the Air Force I put a meter probe with 115v 400 cycle into a ovdc test point.

Glass resistors and circuit board epoxy made a nice smoke cloud.

Next day my buddies ran tubing behind my bench and blew smoke into a piece of equipment.

I shot off the stool and was slamming circuit breakers open.

This started the super glue wars.

 

[tomfromhull]

Thanks for the help and thankfully the '05's don't have a spider in the wiring harness. I hate spiders. I'll start with battery and then check for any chaffing. I'm not to sure how to check to see if all the smoke is out of the wires or how much is left. But I can get more electric smoke from Lucas.Here's the site if you guys need any- https://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm. I'm sure English smoke is pretty close to Japaneses smoke. But I should find the leak first so I don't go broke buying more and more smoke.

 

[tomfromhull]

Well I started it today and as I figured - no smoke. I smelled around and nothing. Battery connections are tight. So I tried the gasoline and matches thing but all that did was melt stuff. Now I can't get the key out because the wind screen melted onto the ignition. So I'll replace that and I won't have to worry about it being a problem(the ignition. I can wait on a new windscreen. can probably pick up a used one on the cheap.). But now my ignition key and my saddlebag keys won't match so that's a pain. I don't know if the coolant was serviced but i don't need to worry about that now. The fire must've melted a coolant line because that's what helped put out the flames. Funny thing was the more coolant that leaked onto the fire, the more smoke I got. So I'm wondering if maybe the previous owner put magic smoke into the radiator and forgot to tell me. I don't know why he would do that. That's pretty stupid. So now the bike won't start, I can't adjust the wind screen, and the whole damn thing smells like smoke but there isn't any. Oh, I had plenty of smoke this morning but know it's all gone. And if any wires were chaffing together I can't tell now. Nothing has insulation on it. I guess I'll look at the owners manual and see what it says in the problem-solution section. Ya never know.....