Just plain weirdness

[kmurphy165]

Good Morning, Ladies, Gentlemen and all the ships at sea.

I had a genu-whine weirdness going to work yesterday on my '02 K1200LTC. I noticed that my XM receiver, Delphi Sky FI started turning off by itself. I soon determined that touching the front brake lever was making a "click" I could hear in the intercom headset and simultaneously, the receiver would turn off. Then, the CD player did the same thing along with the XM. At the last light before the store, I applied the brakes (both front and rear) to stop and pulled in the clutch and the whole bike turned off! Lost brake boost and all the warning lights came up on the dash! Completely freaked me out. After coming to the stop, I released the brakes, turned the ignition key off and then back on and upon pressing the starter, the bike ran and all was well. Rode the last few hundred yards into my parking place using the brakes multiple times with no problems. Riding back home last night with initially great trepidation, there were absolutely no problems. How weird is all of that?

Is it just me? My negative mechanical karma? My last name?

Or is it just that the Germans still haven't got over World War II?????

Today's ride into work will be interesting to say the least.

Anyone ever had anything remotely like this, or have any ideas as to what's going on here? The LT has never done this before and the ride to work started out normally.

Karl

[Ajlelectronics]

I applied the brakes (both front and rear) to stop and pulled in the clutch and the whole bike turned off! Lost brake boost and all the warning lights came up on the dash! Completely freaked me out. After coming to the stop, I released the brakes, turned the ignition key off and then back on and upon pressing the starter, the bike ran and all was well. Rode the last few hundred yards into my parking place using the brakes multiple times with no problems. Riding back home last night with initially great trepidation, there were absolutely no problems.

Either your battery is going o/c (unlikely) or you have an earth floating loose somewhere. Check your battery terminals first.

[kmurphy165]

Either your battery is going o/c (unlikely) or you have an earth floating loose somewhere. Check your battery terminals first.Thanks for the tip. I just checked the battery terminals and they are tight and without corrosion.

Karl

[JPSpen]

Check your voltage. Then check it again while applying the brakes.


Something funny is going on for sure. Sounds like a bad battery..

Possibly alternator is not working right.

Good luck

John

[Ajlelectronics]

Thanks for the tip. I just checked the battery terminals and they are tight and without corrosion.

Karl

OK, I think you are still looking for a high impedance connection. Maybe the battery, the only way to tell is a drop test.

I am under the impression that there is a major cluster of earth connections in the headlamp area. Could be loose. Worth a look anyway. Another place to look would be in the heavy cable connections out from the battery. One will go to frame and the other maybe to the starter, without looking up the circuit diagram, I'm not certain.

[zaphod]

you have an earth floating loose somewhere.And here I thought it was gravitationally bound to the sun.:rotf:

[jzeiler]

Could be the load shed relay that gets its ground through the starter motor. Check for a loose wire on the starter(starter will work fine but not provide a good low resistance ground to the relay).

[DaleB]

Hey Karl,

Did you get the bike wet? Last weekend my bike got a bit wet during an overnight downpour and I had all kinds of little electrical weirdness on the ride home the next day. The clutch lever became electrically connected to the radio and the headlight (both would go off when clutch was disengaged) and after a fuel stop, I disarmed the alarm system and the engine spontaneously started (no starter button involved). By Monday she had dried out and was back to normal and the dealer looked the bike over yesterday and couldn't find anything wrong. My guess is the clutch and brake lever housings aren't quite weather-proof.

[kmurphy165]

Hi, Folks. Well, going to work yesterday and then back last night absolutely no problems what-so-ever. ????? The LT lives in the garage and was not rained on at work any time in the last week. This weekend I'll run down the electrical wiring I can get to and see if anything comes up. Oh, the battery is on a battery tender when the LT is parked in the garage. Since this appears to be a possibly one time event if not very much intermittent I'm some what inclined to not get too far into the internals unless the fault shows up again.

Given that after 20+ years of desktop computer troubleshooting I have come to accept the idea of demon possession of computers, I hadn't, until now, contemplated that German motorcycles could become possessed as well. If so, then there's a problem, shamen and witchdoctors are a bit thin on the ground in these parts. What to do, what to do.... No, that won't work, this is a college town, teenage virgins are even rarer.

BTW, thanks for all the great ideas. Keep 'em coming.

Karl

[Bob204bc]

You are suffering from a short. The problem is in locating it.

I had a similar problem 18 months ago. It started as an easy stall that I thought was caused by being inattentive. Then I noticed the trip computer would reset at odd times and my turn signals flashed erratically. I ignored it because I couldn't make sense of it. Then .... on a little 300 mile run to a rally it started to dead short in earnest. I mean a complete shutdown as if the battery was disconnected. No lights, no starter, nothing. Then a miracle would occur and it would come to life again for 60 - 70 miles. I managed to limp into a dealer where it promptly died again for the service technician. He found I had a wiring bundle that had come loose and was fouling the rear shock and I suppose exposing a bare wire and causing a dead short on the spring. Anyway he wrapped the bundle and refastened it to the frame. The problem went away and hasn't reoccurred for 27,000 miles so I guess it was fixed.

Take it to a good tech and hope for the best. I was lucky because it only cost me a hour of shop labor.

Good Luck!

[cfell]

I had similar problem.. the ABS was apparently pulling too much load... Hope that aint it..

[kmurphy165]

You are suffering from a short. The problem is in locating it.

I had a similar problem 18 months ago. It started as an easy stall that I thought was caused by being inattentive. Then I noticed the trip computer would reset at odd times and my turn signals flashed erratically. I ignored it because I couldn't make sense of it. Then .... on a little 300 mile run to a rally it started to dead short in earnest. I mean a complete shutdown as if the battery was disconnected. No lights, no starter, nothing. Then a miracle would occur and it would come to life again for 60 - 70 miles. I managed to limp into a dealer where it promptly died again for the service technician. He found I had a wiring bundle that had come loose and was fouling the rear shock and I suppose exposing a bare wire and causing a dead short on the spring. Anyway he wrapped the bundle and refastened it to the frame. The problem went away and hasn't reoccurred for 27,000 miles so I guess it was fixed.

Take it to a good tech and hope for the best. I was lucky because it only cost me a hour of shop labor.

Good Luck!Hi, Bob. Thanks for the advice. I'm going to see if I can see where a wiring bundle is chafing on something as in your situation. At this time I do not have the budget to take the bike into the shop, but there is arguably the best master BMW technician on the Front Range here in town so if necessary I'll take it in even if I do have to wait for next spring to do so.

I'm thinking about something in the ignition switch, perhaps a bit of corrosion or a foreign object temporarily in a contact as last's night's ride to and from work was completely normal. I'd expect a chafing short to show up again going back over the same road every day. Time will tell.

Thanks again, Bob.

Karl

[kmurphy165]

I had similar problem.. the ABS was apparently pulling too much load... Hope that aint it..Hi, Channing. No kidding. If it was to be that particular problem, I'd have to light a shuck for Texas, grab my carpet bag and move in with Grif -- depending upon the kindness of strangers and all and I do suspect from reading what goes on in those woods that there are few stranger than Grif ;)

Thanks, Channing.

Karl

[grifscoots]

I'd have to light a shuck for Texas, grab my carpet bag and move in with Grif -- depending upon the kindness of strangers and all and I do suspect from reading what goes on in those woods that there are few stranger than Grif ;)
Only my housepests get stranger, but aren't strangers, when staying at mi casa.