Rode it all last week. It has the Sasquatch mod and a new regulator and stator. The voltmeter shows the bike charging at around 14.6 volts when running at good rpms, and 12-13 at a stoplight. Fires up no problem...
...or used to. Went down to run an errand last night, key in the ignition, turned it, and nothing. No lights, no EFI whine, nothing. Voltmeter shows 12.5. All fuses, including the massive 30 amp in the Sasquatch fix, are good. WTF?
As always, any assistance greatly appreciated lads. Thanks!
search in here for Kick stand safety switch... also if I recall right a clutch safety switch? is your manual kill switch set correctly?
Ehm...I'll have a look around; but if memory serves, the bike will still turn on when the kickstand is down. It just won't go. The kill switch I toggled off and on a few times. The clutch switch is new to me though, unless it has some function other than not letting the bike start if the clutch lever isn't pulled in? But we're not even making it to that point. No dash lights come on, no headlights, there is no power to anything.
I wa going to suggest neutral switch but it sounds a bit deeper than that, time to get the meter out. How about the handle bar kill switch, I see you've toggle it but does the kill switch normally shut off everything or just the FI on the Girly?
Sorry not being much help not having a Girly myself, Bixxer Bob should be up in a few hrs and he's bound to have more helpfull suggestions.
Been a while since I have been into mine, but I recall a big fuse clipped to the left outside of the battery box. It is kind of hidden so you have to look for it. I believe it is a main fuse for the ignition. Don't know if the Sasquach fix moves or removes it. Worth a look, good luck.
Buffalo is right, if you've lost all electrics, pretty sure you'll find you've blown the main fuse attached to the left side of the battery box, it's the only one that takes everything down.
Once you've checked it, you need to have a think about what happened prior to it blowing, you'll have a serious short somewhere to take it down.
Good luck and let us know how you get on!
Just a thought - are your battery terminals tight? I had this happen once outside my local dealer after working on the old girl. I'd done the battery bolts up finger tight but was in a hurry and forgot to tighten them before putting the seat back on. :oops:
Main fuse is fine, all fuses fine. I guess it's something in the ignition.
I'm totally demoralized about this. After all the work I've done on the bike over the past year, being in these stupid DC apartments with no room and no tools. I just don't want to face taking the tank off and tearing up the front end, again, and the whole buying of tools to take out the shear bolts etc. I just don't have the time and the brain energy to come home at night and mess with it. I'm sort of exhausted of working on the thing and wish I could just ride it. I wish things would stop going wrong for about two months in a row sometime. If someone wants it they can have it [edited--bike now for sale in proper forum].
sounds like a kill switch problem......
Geof,
Kill switch takes out ign, fuel pump and dash lights, but not the head and tail lights, they stay on. At least they do on mine!!!
RG, does the park light come on when you turn the ign key all the way off? That'd prove you have volts at the switch and the problem is in the switch somewhere.
I'd give the ign switch a good squirt of contact cleaner and work it in a with a few throws (might be an idea to disconnect the battery to save shocking your ECU etc) then have another try. Don't lose heart, you're probably just over tired.
If nothing comes of that, check the ign switch loom plug. You should have power at the brown lead with the ign off; power on the blue/yellow and green with ign on.
Could it possibly be the battery??,
i know you say its showing 12.5 volts under load it will be less,maybe you can try and jump start it from a car,or maybe you have pulled a plug somewhere,i hope its somthing simple and gets sorted asap
chin up mate
12.5 volts is enough to light the dash lights etc so probably have to disagree there CH, although - as I said earlier - I once forgot to do up my battery terminals and that had the same "all out" effect.
RG sounds so down about it I wish I was close enough to help. :roll:
Quote from: "Bixxer Bob"Kill switch takes out ign, fuel pump and dash lights, but not the head and tail lights, they stay on. At least they do on mine!!!
Of course, you're right ... doh :oops: :roll:
Quote from: "Bixxer Bob"RG sounds so down about it I wish I was close enough to help. :roll:
Me too :(
RG
you have done some electrical mods over the winter months ,?
go back and check them all for a short
check your HID light install check the regulator you moved and used stainless zip ties on you have a dead short somewhere , even though the battery shows good on a voltmeter .
Last week on my brothers truck , we came home from the gun shop to my house and all was fine .
when he went to leave the truck had nothing no lights no click no nothing
no blown fuses or anything
we pawed around and found that the battery isolator the rv place put on a few years back had fallen out of its mount and was dead shorted to the chassis
fixed that and all was good
MY point is go back and check your electrical mods you have done
somewhere you will find a short
Or an Open circuit.
Based on what you've said... it was all running fine one day and dead the next?
Sounds like a wire has come loose or disconnected, maybe from a crimp fitting. Loosing the neg will kill everything.
You have to start from the battery and work away from there. Sounds like you fitted a voltmeter so the numbers you read are on that? And it's still reading but power ain't going anywhere else?
Take the seat off and connect your multimeter to the battery, leave it connected and see if the voltage changes when turn on the ignition or operate the kill switch, headlight... anything.
Did you check the main fuse with the multimeter or just a visual check?
Leave the neg lead of meter connected to the battery and see if you can find +12volts anywhere at the front end of the bike? If you can then try leaving the +ve lead on the battery to see if you can find -ve at the sharp end.
If it was running on day and wouldn't turn over the next after simply parking her up... it should be a findable fixable fault.....
If it was a short you'd know about it - the wiring would get hot and fuse(s) would definitely blow.
As Oxnsox says, the only way is to be systematic and trace the system through. As you seem to have no power anywhere, check that you have a voltage arriving at the fuse box from the main fuse. If so, you need to trace further, checking for a voltage at each connection. Sooner or later you'll find it. You do have a wiring diagram don't you?
At least it's completely dead which paradoxically makes it easier. The worst electrical problems to find are the intermittent ones which "fix" themselves when you're at home in the garage then reappear when it's raining and dark, and you're tired and cold and have 100 miles to go.....
Quote from: "iansoady"If it was a short you'd know about it - the wiring would get hot and fuse(s) would definitely blow.
not always true
if the short is on the unfused side I have seen batterys just take the abuse and there is sometimes no indication of anything wrong other than the bike won't start
I worked on a thunderbird one time that would intermittently quit electrically
turn the key nothing
after many hours of tracing all the circuits the problem turned out to be the 30 amp main fuse that looked fine and check fine with ohm meter it was sometimes losing continuity
replaced the fuse and that bike never had another electrical issue
machine electrickery sometimes is weird
Thanks so much everyone. I was out yesterday on a date and then this morning started going through all your helpful suggestions.
It's something with the kill switch.
I started at the battery and tested my Sasquatch work. Then went to the front of the bike to try to find some power there per oxnsox's idea. Nothing...until wrestling the steering head around to try to get at a batch of wires...and presto, the headlights turn themselves on! I checked and the taillight was on too. A bit more jiggling and the Tiger was able to start.
The bad news is the next step, which I believe to be disassembling the front fairing etc. to get at the kill switch wiring. I started on this before realizing I didn't have the right size hex wrench to take off the windscreen; it was upstairs in my larger toolbox.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interlude ~
In college I majored in Japanese Studies, including a pretty epic year spent touring Japan by motorcycle, and at some point over the years acquired a very nice Japanese sword, a katana, from the Edo period (made sometime 1603 - 1868). It was trim and beautiful, with a lovely cloud pattern to the temper of the blade. I trucked it around over the years as I moved about the country, but over the years it also became apparent that the sword needed a good polishing. To have this done correctly can cost hundreds of dollars per inch. I realized that the sword needed something I wasn't able to provide, and I wound up selling it to a collector in Germany. I choose to believe he has seen to it properly over the years.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~
It's not fun anymore. Each fix should be like solving a puzzle, not winning a fight (while waiting for the next shoe to drop). I need a garage with good light and a power outlet where my tools are handy, not three floors up and down, and where I can leave the bike disassembled without worrying about strangers walking past and seeing all my tools laid out. This isn't what's best for me or for the Tiger. It's not fun and good anymore--I mean, it's good when I'm riding, it always is, but here in DC and with this job and limited facilities, I'm just not in the place where I need to be in order to take care of it. Time to pass it on to someone else.
I'm going to write as honest a description as I can and post the bike for sale over in the appropriate forum. This Tiger really does have a lot going for it, some neat mods and expensive extras, and the challenges I've faced can definitely be overcome by a patient and savvy wrencher with the right workshop. It'll go to the highest offer. You guys are terrific. Thank you.
RG... I understand where you're at. Making the best choices for you is important.... well done.
If you do get to take the fairing off, take the time to check all the connectors. It maybe that one has simply come loose and is not making good reliable contact. Hopefully you'll find that as your 'simple' fix to keep the Girly going till she finds her new home.
My mate had something like this on his speed triple, every time he turned the bars to the right (slow speed manouvres) the whole bike would die.
have a look where the ingition wires go down by the headstock and see if you have a wire worn through.
Mark
the problem may well be that the tiger has an alarm out let fitted to the bike it is in under the duck tail in front of the tail light. it has a connector that fits into it and some loop wires in the connector as there is no alarm. a mate had it come apart on him(never done up held together with electrical grease) and it came unclipped he clipped it up and bobs your uncle.
apparently it happen a bit in the past.
Mark
06 silver tiger