Too cool for maintenance

[97tiger885]

I had to truck the '97 home from a Quisno's the other day.  I turned on the ignition, had power, hit the starter, got a bunch of clicking from various relays, and lost all power.   Turned it off.  Tried it again and got the same result.  Turned it off, turned it on and had no power.  I did notion one odd thing.  Turning the switch on, I lost power to the clock; turning off the switch, I got the clock back.   Checked the fuses: no problem there.  My guess (and I mean guess) was the ignition switch cutoff relay.  Got it home, put in the warehouse, tore off the front plastic and located what I took to be the correct relay.  I removed it, hit it a few times, put it back on and turned on the ignition.  Success.  Tried it a few more times.  Started right up.  Next morning, I took it out of the warehouse (this requires a ramp) intending to take it to the local shop and get another relay.  Turned on the switch, hit the starter: clicks and no power.  Turned it off, turned it on: no power.  Damnation and hellfire.  Tore off the plastic again, grabbed the relay, got on the BMW and rode to the shop for the relay.  Got home, put in the new relay: no success.  More damnation and hellfire.  Now the only idea I had left was the battery.  The connections were tight and the battery (AGM) was only a few months old.  Took the battery out of the BMW and hooked it up to the Tiger.  Lights and action.  Fired right up.  Hooked up the Tiger battery to the BMW.  Turned on the switch: lights.  Hit the starter: lost power.   The battery from the Tiger did have a little corrosion on the one of the terminals.  That had been there since the day I bought.  Being lazy, I naturally did not clean it and it has been working fine.   Not knowing what else to do, I cleaned the terminal and put it back in the tiger. Switch on, power. Starter button, ignition.  Another lesson in self-inflicted trouble.  I remain as always too cool for maintenance.

[Dr. Mordo]

I'm suprised that such a small amount of corrosion would be the problem, but nice job with the troubleshooting.  

If you were the Jetdoc you would have discovered a cracked fork or something equally disastrous while you had the plastic off, so it sounds like you got off easy.