That pesky ignition switch

[Pressureangle]

So the Spine Raiders will remember this year's Ghost in the Machine- shut my key off, then some time between 5 minutes and infinity, the instrument lamps and tail lamp would come on...
Eventually, the wiggle test pointed to the ignition switch or wires, and the following morning after the ride home I simply unplugged the switch at the connector and all went dark. 
SO. 
I'm not certain I'm happy about it, but sort of, that I could remove the switch with 2 phillips screws without touching anything else like the fairing. 
The bottom of the switch housing has 3 small snaps to carefully push in and pry loose, easy enough. The switch itself was a little more challenging, also with 3 snap retaining lips. The trouble is, the switch with the ramp retainers is not compressible, so one must use a thin pick to wiggle in between the switch contact plate and outer housing, and raise the flexible housing enough to get the retainer past it. It seems this would be the part where the housing usually gets broken, but not so today. Fortunately the switch contacts, springs, and detent balls are all captive so no church dancing or expletives. 
Nothing obvious presented itself but a small defect in the insulation of the green wire, rubbed through by the plastic post of the rotating switch plate which protrudes through the contact plate. The copper switch contacts on the rotating plate had a little green on them, in whatever sort of grease the Italians used, very sparingly, on the switchgear. This green was also spread around the contacts of the stationary plate; the money shot here is that I think the green stuff is oxidized copper from the contact shoes and may have some capacitance, though I could not discover any circuit faults with a multimeter.
One notable point is that 2 of the switch shoes have detent balls below them and share the spring with the detent balls; if the housing itself with the detent ramps is contaminated with something conductive (like grease, brake dust, road grime, contact corrosion etc) it could conceivably create a circuit and cause these symptoms, but I could detect no circuit at all with the meter.
So the only thing left to do, is route the rubbed wire away from contact with the moving part, clean everything up and reassemble. I use laundry soap and nail brush for this sort of degreasing, and balsamic vinegar with table salt to clean any oxidation and corrosion. Squeaky clean with dielectric grease and hopefully it will be back in normal service. 

[audiomick]

42 minutes ago, Pressureangle said:

 so one must use a thin pick to wiggle in between the switch contact plate and outer housing, and raise the flexible housing enough to get the retainer past it. It seems this would be the part where the housing usually gets broken,

Yes.

I read the solution here somewhere: don't try to pry out all three retainers. Get the one that is visually obvious free, and then rotate the switch plate upwards. And it just falls out.

I can't remember what was "visually obvious", but it was obvious just by looking at it which of the three retainers is the one to be working on.

 

I broke the first one. Success only after the failure, and thinking about what I did wrong.

The second attempt was successful.

[Pressureangle]

2 minutes ago, audiomick said:

Yes.

I read the solution here somewhere: don't try to pry out all three retainers. Get the one that is visually obvious free, and then rotate the switch plate upwards. And it just falls out.

I can't remember what was "visually obvious", but it was obvious just by looking at it which of the three retainers is the one to be working on.

 

I broke the first one. Success only after the failure, and thinking about what I did wrong.

The second attempt was successful.

Yes! I should have made mention. The first came easily, then the whole thing rotated out easily while I was working on the second retainer. 

Still to note, the pick must be thin, and pointed enough to penetrate your finger when you slip.  No blood, no glory

[audiomick]

5 minutes ago, Pressureangle said:

the pick must be thin, and pointed enough to penetrate your finger when you slip.

Yes, that is, of course, absolutely imperative.

[docc]

If the Ghost Fault doesn't clear with the Ignition Switch service, I wonder about whatever mechanical mechanism locks the steering in the Park position that, then, turns those lights on . . .

[Pressureangle]

19 minutes ago, docc said:

If the Ghost Fault doesn't clear with the Ignition Switch service, I wonder about whatever mechanical mechanism locks the steering in the Park position that, then, turns those lights on . . .

I don't know that the V11 is the same, but the fork lock is an entirely separate housing riveted to the top fork clamp, to which the switch screws into the bottom of. I did not explore how the key cylinder itself comes out. 

[audiomick]

Yes, the mechanical part of the parking lock is in the bit that the key-lock is in, on to the bottom of which the switch is screwed.

 

Incidentally, I swapped those two Phillips screw for Allen head screws. On my Le Mans it is close to impossible to get a decent Phillips screwdriver on to them. The short end of an Allen key is much easier.

 

Anyway, the switch for the parking lights is in the ignitiion switch, so cleaning out and servicing the switch will have cleaned up the switch for the parking lights.

The mechanical parking lock has no connection with the parking light switch (other than the mechanical connention that makes them both rotate together...)

 

Edit: I've got one lying around in the garage. I'll try and remember to take a photo next time I'm in there...

[Pressureangle]

14 hours ago, docc said:

If the Ghost Fault doesn't clear with the Ignition Switch service, I wonder about whatever mechanical mechanism locks the steering in the Park position that, then, turns those lights on . . .

I wish now that we'd made a test of the parking state; I never turned it to the 'lock' position to discover whether that would turn the lights off, or prevent them coming on. Oh well, we'll know soon enough.

[docc]

The "lock" or "Park" ignition position turns those lights (tail, instrument, "city" light) on, yes?

Yours did in the SSR garage, @Pressureangle . . .

[Pressureangle]

45 minutes ago, docc said:

The "lock" or "Park" ignition position turns those lights (tail, instrument, "city" light) on, yes?

Yours did in the SSR garage, @Pressureangle . . .

The 'park' position does, but not 'lock'. Is my scheme, or switch, the same as your V11? from L bottom clockwise, park-lock-push-off-run 
I mean to say, I never tried turning the key from 'off' to 'lock' while the offending lights were illuminated to see if they went out.

[audiomick]

14 minutes ago, Pressureangle said:

... L bottom clockwise, park-lock-push-off-run ..

That matches my  2002 V11 Le Mans

 

Edit: @docc does "Park" really turn on the instrument lights?

Doesn't make sense, really. Not that I'm questioning the fact, I just can't see why one would fire up the instrument lights to park the bike.

[Pressureangle]

36 minutes ago, audiomick said:

That matches my  2002 V11 Le Mans

 

Edit: @docc does "Park" really turn on the instrument lights?

Doesn't make sense, really. Not that I'm questioning the fact, I just can't see why one would fire up the instrument lights to park the bike.

Verified, the instrument lamps light as well as the taillight. 

[audiomick]

Ok, just had a look a the circuit diagram and verified what I suspected: the instrument lights, parking light, tail light and number plate light seem to be all on the same 12V feed. So there is no way to turn on the parking lights without the instrument lights.

[docc]

3 hours ago, audiomick said:

That matches my  2002 V11 Le Mans

 

Edit: @docc does "Park" really turn on the instrument lights?

Doesn't make sense, really. Not that I'm questioning the fact, I just can't see why one would fire up the instrument lights to park the bike.

That "park" function is an interesting circuit. With no relay involved, it is like a backup system if the main headlight circuit goes out. We are left with tail light, instrument lighting, and a 4 watt "headlight."

Enough for a "limp home" . . .

[Pressureangle]

1 hour ago, docc said:

That "park" function is an interesting circuit. With no relay involved, it is like a backup system if the main headlight circuit goes out. We are left with tail light, instrument lighting, and a 4 watt "headlight."

Enough for a "limp home" . . .

But the 'park' is below the 'lock' position, available only after the fork lock is activated. So, stuck in place.

Talked with Nic about the lights- he's humble about it but he's the youngest Certified Naval Nuclear Powerplant Operator the Navy ever graduated, so knows electronics to the atomic level. He suggested that the debris in the ignition switch actually created a capacitor, which I'd considered but don't have the depth of knowledge to more than imagine. He says capacitors are nothing more than basically dielectric grease with some current-carrying stuff mixed in it, which is precisely what was in the switch. <shrug> We'll know soon enough, I guess.