URGENT broken down on the road

[BuffaloR3]

Fixed: URGENT broken down on the road

On a road trip and broken down. Need to get running.

The story so far: Stopped to look up directions after a construction reroute. Everything was running fine, hot day (I'm in SE Florida just outside Ft Lauderdale). Went to start back up and nothing, no instrument sweep, nothing. I jiggled the key a few times and had a momentary sign of life a couple of times, the odometer would start to light up and go dead, only a split second and only once every ten tries or so. Putting ignition in park gives me headlights, in run position no lights. I swapped around the relays and fuses, no change. Jumpered the kill switch and no change. Pulled the battery and walked it over to Pep Boys (at least I broke down in a commercial area) and tested good. I rewired out the power commander and no change. Reseated ignition plug and nothing.

I'm thinking it's the ignition switch. I did the relocation kit so it's sitting near the motor, might have overheated it. Wiring inside switch doesn't looked toasted but the switch internals might be. I'm not sure what else to look for. Local dealer is closed today but there's another one about an hour away. I can rent a car to grab a new switch if that's what's wrong (providing they have one). Is there any way to test it roadside? If its not the switch then I may just tow the bike and wait until they open. Unless anyone here has some other thoughts. (anyone know how to Hotwire one of these? Not exactly a proper test but should work. I read a couple years ago one could jumper something in the fuse box to bypass the ignition switch).

Bike is a 2006 standard.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[tdragger]

Exact same symptoms when my ignition switch let go several years ago. Sorry to hear of your troubles. I was able to turn the handlebars into a position where the instruments would light up. With the help of a co-worker to hold the clutch in, I could start the machine and ride home. You might be able to do this and make it to the dealer.

When you get home, buy the Eastern Beaver headlight relay kit and install it right away. This will save you from having this happen again.

 

[CanberraR3]

I'm no expert in this area by any means but when my bike died roadside it was one of the wires in the joiner block under the tank at the front just below the ignition switch. The short term and now permanent fix was to bridge the offending connectors with a fused piece of wire (fused so it could be pulled apart).
I'd check inside that connector. One of the wires in mine was black and this is one I bridged. If you're lucky it will be that simple.

 

[tdragger]

This is what it will look like. The brown wire has broken off from its connection point.

 

[BuffaloR3]

No such luck, all the wires are intact

 

[BuffaloR3]

Dealer here doesn't have one in stock, 4-10 days to get it. All other dealers within three hours of here are closed mondays. Grrrr. I'll tow it to nearest dealer and hope to find something tomorrow when everyone opens.

 

[Ugarte]

When I hot wired my 05 after ig switch failure I just cut the wires off the end of the switch, stripped the ends and then just experimented putting two wires together until I got a sweep of the instruments. I would tell you which wires they were but I forgot the colors since it was years ago. But it is no big deal to experiment until you get the right combo. Once you find that combo you can temporarily attach the wires to a cheap hardware toggle switch and be back on the road until you get a new ig switch.

 

[Speedy]

According to the service manual, a jumper from fuse 2 output to fuses' 5 & 9 input will get you started and running as this bypasses the ignition switch. I don't know if you will have head and tail lights. The kill switch will still work but you will need to remove the jumper on longer stops.

Insert one end of each wire along side fuse 2 and the other end into one end of sockets 5 and 9 respectively with the fuses removed. Only one side of the socket will work so you will may need to try both ends in order to get the instrument panel to light up. Then put the jumper into the opposite end of the socket along with re-installing the fuse. This will keep the fuse in the circuit. Of course if you can identify which sides of fuse 5 & 9th are the input side based on where the wires go to and from, you could just insert the jumper into the input side. If you leave the fuses 5 & 9 in place and insert the jumper, you may bypass them if the jumper is inserted on the output side so your only protection would be fuse 2 which is much larger.

Good luck and proceed at your own discretion as I have not tried this on my bike.

Speedy

 

[Triple Trouble]

Hope this helps if it is the ignition switch

 

[BuffaloR3]

Hot ****! Worked! Hotwired and running fine. Now hope it holds together long enough to get to next stop. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!