Was I Spider Bit?

[Jeffs]

Yesterday on my way down to AR my ABS light starts flashing as I am driving down the road. I pull into a gas station and check the bulbs and other items I Googled. Everything seems in order. With no brake lights I abort my weekend ride and head home.

On the way home I notice my wind shield will not retract. I stop at a gas station to charge my cell and now the glove box wont open. This AM I check and my horn does not work either. All classic signs I have a harness issue.

This AM I research the issue and everything leads to the ground fault problem. Search the forum and find a How-to to check all eight connectors. I check all of them, but find nothing melted.

So my question is. Can I still have a ground fault issue? The symptoms would suggest yes.

The person who I bought the bike from took the bike to the dealer for the recall, but I can't tell if they really did anything.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Jeff

Spider Bit......I think

 

[ionbeam]

Grasshopper, how can you not have a spider bite?

Based on the systems that aren't working the #1 suspect are the grounding clips. The ground couplers don't have to be burned to have contact issues with the pins in the connector. If the couplers aren't burned, then wiggling the 'spider', the 6 pin bridge and it should restore function. If it does, it means that you can immediately ride your FJR to a dealer for the recall rework. Umm, you do or don't know if the recall rework has been done? A lot hinges on that answer.

 

[Queensland Ken]

Could be a bite.

It only takes high resistance on one of the connector sockets / pins.

Easy to see if the recall harness has been installed, it's on the S4 spider.

The symptoms could be a cook S6 spider or a crook wire / connector #5 on the S4 spider

 

[Powerman]

I went to a STN ride in NC, rained all day Saturday. The sun came out when we got to the motel, the other FJR guy went back out.

He made it to the street, and was pushing it back. i think I blew a fuse, no I think you burnt a spider. We took off the tank and cleaned it out.

I laughed at him when he tied dental floss on the six prong metal thingy, I aint losing that thing. Went home and cleaned/checked my spiders.

Put on some slippery contact conditioner on the metal contacts and shot it off the needle nose pliers into the unknown, off came the plastic.

 

[Jeffs]

*******Problem Solved*********

Thanks for the suggestions and all the prior posts I used to resolve this issue.

Chasing this issue taught me a few thing.

1. I now know more about Spiders than I want to. All the Spiders have been checked and treated with dielectric grease.

2. The previous owner had the Yamaha S4 harness added and is installed correctly.

3. I removed my brake shaft and lubed it....had never done that before.

4. I learned now to check all my fuses....do the easy stuff first.

The problem was a blown 15A Signal fuse. I replaced it and the ABS light quit blinking, the brake lights work, the horn works,my glove box opens and the windshield goes up/down. All symptoms of a harness issue.

I was out in the garage and my wife mentioned that maybe I need to throw in the towel and have a dealer look at it. This motivated me more than ever to resolve this issue. Sure glad I did.

Thanks again to all members of this forum.

Jeff

 

[RossKean]

I don't know whether I would recommend dielectric grease. It will keep moisture out (or in) but doesn't do anything to promote good conduction. In this case, where all of the connections are grounds, a conductive grease is a better choice. (wouldn't use a conductive grease in any connector that has multiple wires from different sources powering stuff on the bike)

 

[rbentnail]

I don't know whether I would recommend dielectric grease. It will keep moisture out (or in) but doesn't do anything to promote cood conduction. In this case, where all of the connections are grounds, a conductive grease is a better choice. (wouldn't use a conductive grease in any connector that has multiple wires from different sources powering stuff on the bike)

+1. Dielectric grease is an electrical insulator. By using it you've attempted to reduce the conduction between the spider prong and the socket it slides into.

I've been using Noalox for decades at work and at home. Good stuff.

 

[Fred W]

One more caveat: You'll probably want to try to figure out why the signal fuse blew. Fuses don't just blow because they are feeling frisky. Have you added any farkles to that circuit that may have overloaded the fuse? As I recall the horn(s) are in that circuit and people often change those out with louder ones. You may need to wire any added accessories with a 12V (separately fused) power switching relay.

OTOH, if you don't want to figure it out now, it will probably give you another chance later on...

But at least now you know the symptoms right away.

 

[ionbeam]

One more caveat: You'll probably want to try to figure out why the signal fuse blew. Fuses don't just blow because they are feeling frisky. Have you added any farkles to that circuit that may have overloaded the fuse?...

Just put in a 50A fuse, then watch for the location of the smoke, that's where the problem lies

+1 with Fred saying to look for something that the mechanic has done, and it doesn't always have to have been done to the signaling system. Ever see a guy hanging a picture with a hammer & nail only to discover that inside the wall was a Romex wire run or a water pipe...

I've been using Noalox for decades at work and at home. Good stuff.

Just a note that this product is formulated and intended for aluminum wiring. This compound contains aluminum anti-oxidants, the FJR wiring is primarily tin, copper and gold. Noalox does have an advantage of being readily available. If you can find them, ACF50, Corrosion X and other polar bonding anti-corrosion products are more compatible choices.

 

[GL4435]

One more caveat: You'll probably want to try to figure out why the signal fuse blew. Fuses don't just blow because they are feeling frisky. Have you added any farkles to that circuit that may have overloaded the fuse? As I recall the horn(s) are in that circuit and people often change those out with louder ones. You may need to wire any added accessories with a 12V (separately fused) power switching relay.
OTOH, if you don't want to figure it out now, it will probably give you another chance later on...

But at least now you know the symptoms right away.

Have to agree with Fred. I had that exact problem on my 07 a few years ago, and found out I had a bad relay on my aftermarket horns ... the problem didn't show up every time I hit the horn ... just once in a while after hitting the horn. It took a little while to figure out, and I changed the fuse a few times in the process. Do you have any horn or tail light mods?

 

[Jeffs]

I do have Hyper Lights. I noticed that the rear seat was on the wires when I pulled it off. Possible I may have pinched the wires.

I also have the upgraded Yamaha horns that don't require an additional relay...but I will keep an eye on that as well. I have had those on the bike for two years now.

Great suggestions I will keep in mind.

 

[weekend rider]

check your battery may be bad

 

[HotRodZilla]

Upgraded Yamaha horns? What are those?

 

[Jeffs]

Check this out. These are what I have https://www.fjrowners.com/forums/10-fjr-farkling-ii/35946-dual-horns-solution-2013-2014-fjr1300.html

 

[Fred W]

Those horns are OK to run without a power relay to control them. They draw about the same (or I seem to recall, just a little less) than the stock horns. It is possible that one of them is screwed up and intermittently drawing too much current, but that would be rare, so I'd rule out other things first.

FYI... The horns are fed a continuous (key switched) 12V power from the signal fuse, and the horn button supplies the switched ground to sound the horns. This is a common way of wiring horns, which makes it a convenient place to pick up a key switched 12V signal for wiring accessory power relays (for farkles and such) on many brands of bikes without even removing any tupperware.

The wiring to the Hyperlights is probably more suspect, especially if some of that wiring is exposed to being pinched by something under the seat as you suggest. I'd closely inspect that added wiring and the connections that you made to the brake circuit wiring for the hyperlights.

You may already know this from your experience (stuff that didn't work when the fuse was blown), but the signal fuse feeds all of these items:

to the rear brake lights (switched by the brake light relay)

to the OEM heated grips (if you have them)

to the windshield drive mechanism

Horns

Accessory box solenoid

Both brake switches and the control side of the brake relay.

As an aside, that brake light circuit is a unique one in that the 12V from the signal fuse continuously supplies current through the two brake normally closed switches and the brake relay's coil to keep the relay energized and the brake lights off. When you actuate either the brake lever or pedal that opens the circuit, de-energizes the relay, and the makes the contacts that light the brake lights themselves (which are also fed by the signal fuse.

The rear brake switch is on the ground side of the relay, so a short circuit there would not blow the fuse. But if you tapped into the circuit just about anywhere else and created a short circuit to ground that would be capable of blowing the signal fuse.

Good luck in your troubleshooting.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Thanks for the Link Jeffs. Those are the PIAA Slimline Sports Horns. Your statement about "Upgraded Yamaha" horns threw me. I actually have that horn installed and it has been trouble free.