Electrical question

[africajim]

Hi all,
As the Mighty Varadero is due its 12,000 mile service I thought I'd slum it yesterday on Fiona's F650GS, it's an 06 bike with low miles. While in town I booked the Vara service for Monday then stopped at the supermarket for a bottle of wine to go with tea. When I came out the bike refused to start! There were no dashlights present so I'm assuming an electrical connection at fault. Two or three attempts of switching on and off the kill button and the ignition and it finaly came back to life. Just wondering if anyone had come across this sort of problem before? A new battery was fitted in April so shouldn't be a problem there.
My money's on a bad connection at the ignition switch but until it fails I can't really prove it. (Nightmare waiting to happen!)

[paulc]

good morning, I have heard somwhere 'to early' that do'es happen.
turn key to off ,wait ten seconds and it should re-boot

[lowflyer]

Sorry Jim,
Can't really help
But these intermittent faults are a right pain in the but Guess the only way you can source it is for when it happens again, hopefully outside your house.
Good luck

[Cabby]

I used a CS650 for my DAS and there was definitely some little time ritual involved as paulc says...can't remember what it was though....

Got the handbook Jim?

[j]

Hi Jim, On several GS's there seams to be problems with the kill switch sticking and failing usually caused by helmets placed on the mirror. I presume a dry joint or something. I never use the dammed switch but occasional flick it on and off to clean the connections.

[StumpyFingers]

Yuo could also take a look at the F650 forum in case they have a known fault /fix for the problem.

[africajim]

Hi Jason!

Em, no handbook, but I'll look into the ritual stuff, thanks Cabby.

Sounds good to me folks, it's not happened again so far, it's happened twice now, once with Fiona while driving along the road the bike just died after around 3 miles, then with me in a car park.
I might take the switch apart if it happens again. Thanks for the replies.

[Boris]

Hi Jason!

Em, no handbook, but I'll look into the ritual stuff, thanks Cabby.

Sounds good to me folks, it's not happened again so far, it's happened twice now, once with Fiona while driving along the road the bike just died after around 3 miles, then with me in a car park.
I might take the switch apart if it happens again. Thanks for the replies.

I'm not convinced the engine kill switch blanks the dash when operated. Try it and see. If it doesn't then you need to be looking elsewhere.

Without knowing or seeing the bike I would be looking at the ignition switch or main fuse as all the major stuff goes through them. Do any of the other electrical bits and bobs work while the fault is present. Next time it goes gather as much info as you can before you go pulling / waggling things. That way it will be easier to diagnose.

[africajim]

Boris mate, I didn't pull or waggle anything! I merely tried the ignition on and off, flicked the kill switch in case it was it then turned on the ignition again and the lights were back. The bike started straight away once the lights came back on. I know it's not the battery terminals as I cleaned them when I fitted the battery in April, possibly the main fuse but haven't checked yet. Ignition seems favourite as the kill switch doesn't kill the lights only the engine management and starter. Also possibly a relay as there's a short pause from turning the key until the lights come on, but it's always been like that.
I was more interested in getting home as I was on call and didn't need the inconvenience of being stuck city centre with a piece of German junk. Mental note; gather more information next time. Aye, right.

[Boris]

Boris mate, I didn't pull or waggle anything! I merely tried the ignition on and off, flicked the kill switch in case it was it then turned on the ignition again and the lights were back. The bike started straight away once the lights came back on. I know it's not the battery terminals as I cleaned them when I fitted the battery in April, possibly the main fuse but haven't checked yet. Ignition seems favourite as the kill switch doesn't kill the lights only the engine management and starter. Also possibly a relay as there's a short pause from turning the key until the lights come on, but it's always been like that.

Just remembered something. Is this the "old" f650 single? If so Ben had one and his did a similar thing and we traced it to a broken wire to the ignition switch around the headstock. Worth a look but I'm sure he will be along in a moment to provide more details.