Neutral Light not working

[Guest jerrylaco]

I just received my new bike - a beautiful Coppa Italia - last night, and on the ride home everything was fine, even great. Iwas stoked and excited and nervous too. When I got home I performed an inspection of the bike and the first thing I noticed was the kickstand switch will shut the engine off if the neutral light doesn't come on.

The light worked at the dealer's shop and my ride was only about 3 miles home.

 

I suspect a wiring problem with the neutral switch. I dropped by the dealer to give them the keys to my trade. He also believed it may be a loose wire.

 

Anyone here experience this problem with their new bike?

[dlaing]

The most likely bets are the neutral switch and the connection to it.

Next bet, the connection of the 10Amp ignition fuse...fourth fuse from one direction or another...but you cannot miss it as it is 10Amps.

Next bet, the ignition key switch, which have been suprisingly reliable, according to this forum's statistics...so the ignition switch is unlikely.

I would not suspect a relay as the neutral light is not controlled by a relay.

I believe others have had the same problem.

One had it after the recall on the gearbox...

[al_roethlisberger]

The neutral switch on these is notoriously flakey, from everything to the connector(behind the shift linkage) being loose to the switch itself just being difficult. It's just one of those things. It's a simple, but seemingly cheap switch.

 

I found that parking the bike in Neutral made it worse, and as soon as I started parking the bike in gear(any gear) the light behaved more reliably.

 

If you disconnect and short the sidestand switch safety, you can get around this, but there's a tradeoff of convenience/safety there

 

But as you ride and consequently shift the bike more, the switch should loosen up and behave. It does for most folks.

 

 

al

[jrt]

maybe I'm just reading this wrong, but you're describing normal behavior. The sidestand switch does kill the engine if the bike is in gear (neutral light off). You want the engine to run- in gear, with the sidestand down?

Congrats! Nice Bike!

J

[Guest jerrylaco]

maybe I'm just reading this wrong, but you're describing normal behavior.  The sidestand switch does kill the engine if the bike is in gear (neutral light off).  You want the engine to run- in gear, with the sidestand down?

Congrats!  Nice Bike!

J

50861[/snapback]

 

Sort of, but the point is the neutral light is not illuminating, regardless of the state of the tranny. So when I need to start the bike, I have to sit on it, retract the sidestand, then crank the motor over and let it idle in neutral while it warms up. The control unit thinks the bike is in gear because no neutral light, so yes. it would suit my immediate purpose of warming the bike up with the sidestand switch disabled.

 

I also have a HD which doesn't have a sidestand switch -I guess they say caveat emptor if you drive away with your kickstand down. I've never driven away with the sidestand down.

 

On a sidenote, I dropped by the dealer yesterday and asked a few questions. He said bring it in if it isn't a loose wire or something readily fixable. I pulled the cover off the wire, pulled the wire, reinserted the wire - nothing from the neutral light.

 

 

 

 

 

[DeBenGuzzi]

Sort of, but the point is the neutral light is not illuminating, regardless of the state of the tranny. So when I need to start the bike, I have to sit on it, retract the sidestand, then crank the motor over and let it idle in neutral while it warms up. The control unit thinks the bike is in gear because no neutral light, so yes. it would suit my immediate purpose of warming the bike up with the sidestand switch disabled.

 

I also have a HD which doesn't have a sidestand switch -I guess they say caveat emptor if you drive away with your kickstand down. I've never driven away with the sidestand down.

 

On a sidenote, I dropped by the dealer yesterday and asked a few questions. He said bring it in if it isn't a loose wire or something readily fixable. I pulled the cover off the wire, pulled the wire, reinserted the wire - nothing from the neutral light.

 

50894[/snapback]

Don't sweat it I'm sure the dealer could even put in a brand new switch from someone other than MGNA and it's work for the life of the bike. The coppa is such a stunning bike don't fret about the small stuff just yet I'm sure more things will rear its ugly head b4 10K but after that youre GOLDEN

[jrt]

Gotcha Jerry.

I've never had any trouble from my neutral switch (I know...others have). I'd look for a faulty connection. One possible location is the ground to instrument cluster

If you want to disable the sidestand switch, it's very easy- just short the (sensor) wires under the tank to make it tidier.

J