FJRF003.0: Ignition Failures on FJRs

[palerider]

1) 2006

2) 8,000 miles

3) Total failure moments after pulling into traffic from a stop light

4) Walked bike into gas-station driveway and jiggled the switch; bike started.

5) Will go to shop Tuesday

6) n/a yet

7) Covered under YES warranty.

8) n/a yet

9) just the once, so far

 

[paste007]

Update.

My dealer (Delano, CA.), received and installed the ignition that they'd originally been told wouldn't arrive until mid-August. They also covered the rekeying by a local locksmith. All costs covered under YES. The wiring fix keep me on the road in the meantime.

 

[Silverbullet]

You can toss me onto the failed ignition switch scrap heap. In Arizona a few weeks back, Jenny and I stopped for some road construction on our way to Monument Valley. I got back on the bike, turned the key, got a momentary flicker of lights, and then nothing. After last years trip where we had the melted down main wiring harness that ended our trip, the look in Jennys eyes was one of true panic. We were in the middle of absolutely no-where, and there were some ominous looking thunderheads coming gour way. Fortunately, a couple of flips of the key and we were good to go. The problem continued on an intermittent basis for the remaining 4,000 miles of the trip. Jenny felt better when I showed her I had made up two bypass switches per the instructions here on the board, and I assured her the bike would not leave us stranded. Not for the ignition switch anyways.

Later that afternoon from our hotel, I called Mike at Desert Powersports and when he heard my voice telling him I was in New Mexico, he knew it wasn't a social call. I kidded him about the good natured ribbing he had given me a few weeks before when I told him I was taking a hotwiring kit with me just in case. He put a switch on order, (backorder of course) and I told him I was not going to worry about it since if the switch bailed out, I'd just do the workaround and enjoy my trip.

Currently I'm still running on the switch awaiting my new one. Sometimes it works great, sometimes it works in a spot somewhere between on and off, sometimes I have to gently jiggle the wires, and sometimes when I have to use the position in between on and off, I get lights and the starter cranks, but no fire. (Something to do with the fuel injection not being powered up I'm sure)

Either way, once again the forum was an ass saver. It would have been the pits to have not had the knowledge I had about this when I left town. That is why whenever I meet another FJR owner on the road, and they aren't familiar with the forum, I tell them to do themselves a favor and get on it. Several thousand heads are truely better than one.

 

[Brodie]

Currently I'm still running on the switch awaiting my new one. Sometimes it works great, sometimes it works in a spot somewhere between on and off, sometimes I have to gently jiggle the wires, and sometimes when I have to use the position in between on and off, I get lights and the starter cranks, but no fire. (Something to do with the fuel injection not being powered up I'm sure)

Mark

You described the way my ignition switch misbehaved to a tee. I just lived with it for several months until it was getting close to my 3 week vacation. Two weeks before departure I decided it would be a good idea to look into the switch. Trust me - it isn't all that hard to remove the switch yourself and make repairs. The connectors resides under the fuel tank. It's just 4 bolts and a big nut holding the top fork bridge in place, and the security screws are soft enough that a small drill and easy out takes them right out. I used a cordless drill to do the dirty work on the screws.

See my post a while back, you can fix it easily.

Ignition Failures on FJRs - Post #101

The neat thing is if you also add the relay the problem of an overheating switch will never re occur.

Brodie

 

[mr.paul]

B) Well, I have to add the latest. Finally got my 2006 back. Just one day shy of 5 weeks at the dealer. Brand new switch in place, fresh off the boat from Japan.

Dealer said the switch had been bad but they didn't dig into it. In fact, Yamaha sent them a return mailer and directions to send the original switch back to them. I guess they actually want to see it and what went wrong. better late than never...

As far as the key goes, my service department took a different path. They took a key blank and made me new keys in this fashion. It turns out that the locks only use one side of the key. So they cut the old profile on one side, and the new profile on the other. Now I need to be mindful of how I insert the key, but it works great! In fact, if I take the key out of the ignition and leave it in the orientation it is in, it works in the fuel cap. I guess their respective cylinders are direct opposite. Anyway, it works great and Yamaha paid for making the keys. Thanks Adam (service manager)!

I got the ECU recall done at the same time. Don't know if that was it or the bike just got scared because guys with wrenches were haunting it for a number of weeks, but my Feejer is running better than ever. Sooo nice to have it back!

paul from Minnesota

 

[Silverbullet]

Thanks Brodie. I had read your original post with your fix with great interest. I'm very tempted, (after I complete the repairs to my 68 Camaro that blew a gasket returning from a car show yesterday) to go ahead and dive into the FJR switch. At this point, I have no confidence the new switch will do anything more than give me another 20,000 miles or so before failing again.

 

[Brodie]

Thanks Brodie. I had read your original post with your fix with great interest. I'm very tempted, (after I complete the repairs to my 68 Camaro that blew a gasket returning from a car show yesterday) to go ahead and dive into the FJR switch. At this point, I have no confidence the new switch will do anything more than give me another 20,000 miles or so before failing again.

Mark

If you are about to dissect your ignition switch with the intent to repair it, look back at post #1 of this thread. Barabus did a fine job compiling and linking to various posts concerning this subject.

Ignition Failures on FJRs - Post #1

Do your homework before picking up the wrench. Many have gone this way before and lived to tell about it.

 

[palerider]

In the US, reports of safety related problems should go to the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board). I don't know the similar agencies in other countries. But these failures should certainly be reported to the appropriate agency in each country. In the US it is the NTSB that will mandate a recall if the manufacturer doesn't address the problem voluntarily.

 

[Barabus]

Wow, four pages in just two months!! Holy S**t, Yamaha should take notice of this and issue a recall soon. Someone with contacts at Yamaha should sent this link for them to this study, it will help them in the long run. Otherwise it will come back to bite them- it is just a matter of time. I will update the list soon, as I have been otherwise preoccupied with starting a new job.

Kudos to all of you that have struggled thru this design problem with the bike and included all your information on this thread. Please keep up the good work.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

2006FJRA

Mileage: 19200 on 7/28/08

Stopped for gas. No prior indication of problems, though the little metal "flaps" in the keyhole have not closed over for a year (I have covered with a piece of duct tape when not in use). Ignition failed to start bike on restart with no prior warning. No front lights. Needles swept but then LCD screen went blank. Fuses all good. Eventually found that turning the key between 'off' and 'on' gave me ignition SOMETIMES, at other times the check engine light came on and ignition impossible. All wires appear in good contact. My Diagnosis: failed contacts for some reason within the ignition switch.

Bike to be brought to a dealer for confirmation of problem and (I assume) replacement of the ignition switch. Repair as of now is still temporary.

Added Honda electric heated grips tapped into the harness 8 months ago.

I will try to get one key replacement.

Terribly inconvenienced. I was on Nevada Rte. 447 in Empire. Not much around. No cell phone service. No store for 92 miles, let alone a mechanic or shop. I cut my vacation short by 5 days and rode straight home to Roseburg Oregon without turning the ignition switch for 430 miles, for fear of an inability to keep the bike running. This was two weeks into a three week vacation I had planned over a year. Because of info gained on this forum I was able to diagnose the problem and get home. I knew it would take days at least to get a replacement switch and decided to spend the time at home: not my original plan.

I will update the post after gaining confirmation from my local dealer and repairs are made.

EDIT:$255 for ignition switch and labor (I paid)

Two keys.

Two weeks for the switch and another week to get it repaired (three total).

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

Currently I'm still running on the switch awaiting my new one. Sometimes it works great, sometimes it works in a spot somewhere between on and off, sometimes I have to gently jiggle the wires, and sometimes when I have to use the position in between on and off, I get lights and the starter cranks, but no fire. (Something to do with the fuel injection not being powered up I'm sure)

Mark

You described the way my ignition switch misbehaved to a tee. I just lived with it for several months until it was getting close to my 3 week vacation. Two weeks before departure I decided it would be a good idea to look into the switch. Trust me - it isn't all that hard to remove the switch yourself and make repairs. The connectors resides under the fuel tank. It's just 4 bolts and a big nut holding the top fork bridge in place, and the security screws are soft enough that a small drill and easy out takes them right out. I used a cordless drill to do the dirty work on the screws.

See my post a while back, you can fix it easily.

Ignition Failures on FJRs - Post #101

The neat thing is if you also add the relay the problem of an overheating switch will never re occur.

Brodie

Happened to me too. See my post.

 

[Change]

1. 2007

2. About 8,600 miles.

3. Failed on attempting to start bike in morning. Had been acting up intermittently over the previous two weeks. Switch would close only at certain very touchy points in between normal off and on positions. Finally, it gave up entirely and I had to have the bike towed.

4. A spring-loaded contact on the white plastic, cross-shaped assembly at the bottom of the switch (see Barabus's pix) was not springing back into position when the key was turned and so no contact was being made.

5. I disassembled switch after dealer failed to identify problem and freed the stuck contact, though I cannot explain what caused the assembly to distort so that on of the contacts was binding in the first place.

6. Bike was at dealer for 2 weeks while they could not diagnose the problem, although they did perform the ECM recall replacement.

7. Fix accomplished by me.

8. Did not change any locks.

9. Was deprived of the bike for two weeks during great riding weather and paid for towing the bike to the dealer.

 

[JHMZ71]

1. 2007

2. 15K

3. Failed running in traffic in Dallas on Friday evening

4. Switch Failure

5. New switch / metric tech (warranty out in Feb.)

6. 2 weeks for part

7. paid by me

8. no extra accessories

9. two keys

10. 2 weeks driving the truck with $150.00 dollars gas @ 16 mpg

Called Yamaha customer service and they say there is no record of any failures of this type on the FJR.

 

[palerider]

Called Yamaha customer service and they say there is no record of any failures of this type on the FJR.

Perhaps we need to harness the power of the forum and the telephone to change that perception.

 

[kulwen]

Called Yamaha customer service and they say there is no record of any failures of this type on the FJR.

Perhaps we need to harness the power of the forum and the telephone to change that perception.

This is more then likely a legal thing. Most companies will not admit to a issue, even if they know it is a issue.

 

[palerider]

Called Yamaha customer service and they say there is no record of any failures of this type on the FJR.

Perhaps we need to harness the power of the forum and the telephone to change that perception.

This is more then likely a legal thing. Most companies will not admit to a issue, even if they know it is a issue.

It seems to me that this is widespread enough and dangerous enough that a recall is in order. Eventually someone's going to die when the ignition cuts out going around a curve at speed. I don't know exactly how to goose the recall process, but it's a process that should be goosed, at least until we know that Yamaha is actively addressing it.

In the US it's the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) that orders recalls in the absence of a vehicle manufacturer's failure to order a recall voluntarily.

I have a good deal of respect for Yamha. They seem right-minded generally. I don't want to see Yamaha have to go to the expense of replacing a faultily-designed switch with the same part. That wouldn't solve the problem. But they do need to get busy analyzing the problem to get at its root and fix it, and until we hear that they've recognized and are working on the issue, I think it's justified that we discuss how we can help push the process along.

 

[kulwen]

Get this, after reading the last couple failures I went to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website to see if complaints were made. When looking for the 2007 year the FJR was NOT listed. What the heck!!! So, I went to go look at my complaint on my 2006. FJR is missing also!!!!

Remember my post about some guy from the NHTSA calling in regards to a email I sent them? It appears they are making changes right now. Thank you ed29 for seeing the issue.

When I look up the 2003, 2004, and 2005 only FJR1300 is listed now. :clapping:

It looks like each year will only have a single listing for the FJR1300, in stead of FJR1300, FJ13S, FJR13AS, FRJ1300A, FJR1300AE, and so on.

Once they get the FJR1300 added for the 06, 07, 08 please go file complaints if you have not already. Now that failures will all be linked to "FJR1300" it may jump out as a issue.

 

[palerider]

Once they get the FJR1300 added for the 06, 07, 08 please go file complaints if you have not already. Now that failures will all be linked to "FJR1300" it may jump out as a issue.

Great work! Is this something you keep an eye on? Could you post when you think it's time for people to file complaints?

 

[kulwen]

Once they get the FJR1300 added for the 06, 07, 08 please go file complaints if you have not already. Now that failures will all be linked to "FJR1300" it may jump out as a issue.

Great work! Is this something you keep an eye on? Could you post when you think it's time for people to file complaints?

I will check daily and let everyone know when they are done.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

Get this, after reading the last couple failures I went to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website to see if complaints were made. When looking for the 2007 year the FJR was NOT listed. What the heck!!! So, I went to go look at my complaint on my 2006. FJR is missing also!!!!
Remember my post about some guy from the NHTSA calling in regards to a email I sent them? It appears they are making changes right now. Thank you ed29 for seeing the issue.

When I look up the 2003, 2004, and 2005 only FJR1300 is listed now. :clapping:

It looks like each year will only have a single listing for the FJR1300, in stead of FJR1300, FJ13S, FJR13AS, FRJ1300A, FJR1300AE, and so on.

Once they get the FJR1300 added for the 06, 07, 08 please go file complaints if you have not already. Now that failures will all be linked to "FJR1300" it may jump out as a issue.

I submitted an online complaint for my 2006 this week. It allowed me to put the year in and then a blank space took my FJR1300A as the model.

EDIT: I checked the NHTSA site and 15 complaints on the 2006 model FJR are listed. Eleven refer to the ignition switch problem. 39 reports for 2007 "FJR13" models, and three are regarding ignition switch failures. 2008 model FJR not listed. I did not check GEN I model years. I would assume there would be more 2006 failure reports than 2007 because of mileage/use, but I hope all are filing the relatively simple online complaint to NHTSA. All you need from the bike is your VIN and the mileage.