lights issues thread II

[Guest gooddog]

Both the oil light and the neutral have been blinking out on me recently. as of today neither will light or stay lit when the key is set to run. Because the Neutral light won't turn on I have to raise the kickstand in order to start the bike. If i come to a stop and put gear it into neutral( in between first and second) the bike will cut out when the kickstand is lowered. i spent some time looking at the v11 sport wiring diagram trying to make some sense out of it, but to tell you the truth it made my brain hurt. can anyone troubleshoot? i replaced the remainder of the siemens relays with bosc today, so i'm sure its not that simple. i would imagine that the switches for the oil and neutral light must share a wire in there somewhere to both be acting up.

 

ray

[emry]

Check the bulb sockets in the gauge cluster, they are very suseptible to corrosion or breakage. Also make sure you have a good ground for the bulbs and the rest of the cluster.

[Kiwi Dave]

Is your neutral light coming on when it is in neutral? The switch is known to fail, and will cause the symptoms you describle. Mine has failed in both senses, i.e. same as your situation and also failing to kill the engine when I left the stand down and slipped it into gear.

 

You can confirm the switch is faulty if the light doesn't come on in neutral by removing the wire on the switch, and shorting it to the frame to confirm the bulb circuitry is O.K.

 

I'm waiting (and waiting) for a replacement switch.

[docc]

The circuits for the two lights don't mix. The blinkingout could be caused by faulty connectors alongside the front of the spine. It's worth separating them , contact cleaner and dielectric grease.

 

As K'Dave says, the switch could be bad ( always park in gear). His suggestion to ground the switch is a good one.

 

The relay is the center one. It, too could give you the run failure. But not the blinking out thing. That sounds like a separate condition.

 

Best of luck and let us know!

[Steve G.]

My bike is doing exactly the same thing.

It is already confirmed that the switches are pretty low quality stuff, in Moto Guzzi tradition. Also, the wire plug in to the gearbox sender is out in the elements, and has to deal with vibration, so loosens up causing electrical inacuracies. Try carefully crimping it tight again, with it unplugged, with some small needlenose plyers.

I have one more for you. My low fuel sensor has never worked, and am not really sure how far you can go on a full tank.

Ciao, Steve G.

[docc]

Ah -HAH! !! The electrical commonality is the ground.

 

With an appropriate (alright : liberal) dose of cognac I've spent the night ( whadya say? slept with) Carl's wiring diagram and seen the light!

 

Further , I found all my junction connections had loosened as well as the battery connectors.

 

On the wiring diagram there are 23 (!) grounding points. Physically , I can only find the ground strap to the gearcase and the stack of terminals on the battery. Again, the terminal stack on my battery loosened and needed snugging .

 

Be sure your battery connections are all clean and tight. And the ground strap to the gear box as well!

[Guest gooddog]

I went in to Moto I today and conferred with Jason and Micha. They agreed that the Neutral switch was dead and or dying, and ordered out for a new one. They did'nt get inside to check it out, so i'm not sure if it died from the vibes or fried for some reason or another. The oil light issue, is a succeptability to the rain and the wet, and is acting up it probably do to the excessive moisture of this beautiful city's(Seattle that is) weather patterns. I've seen some serious moisture in the last two weeks so well see what happens when i can dry the bike out a little. looks like cleaning and greasing the connections is probably the most valuable and intelligent answer to most of the electrical gremlins out there. someone actually told me not to ride in the rain the other day, but if you've got to ride, I say ride it.

[docc]

I once spent a couple years refitting a Merkur XR4Ti which had an abysmmal reputation for electrics. I encountered some valuable advice from some euros who had fitted Sierras for competition.

 

Their basic assertion was that components fail rarely while connections are , by far, the most likely culprits.

 

I found this wisdom invaluable with the'Merkur' (Sierra) and also a 1975 Gold Wing which came with the admonition of the seller, " What makes you think the bike has an electrical problem??"