While riding to work this morning, noticed thar the headlight started to flicker. Upon acceleration, it would go away, then come back. Also went away under deacceleration. Also noticed that every thing in the dash board was also flickering at the same time. Got home after work, and noticed thar if I leave the bike idle, no problem, but with reving it up in the garage, the same thing happens. Heated seats and grips work fine, and bike also seems to run fine. Alternator, voltage regulator, or simply a bad ground??? Bike is a 2000 LTC with 77k miles on it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Steve Miller
Flickering lights and turn signals
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It is a bad ground on the starter. There is a single 5mm allen head bolt at the rear of the starter that provides a good ground during operations other than starting. The load shed relay gets its ground through the starter and this bolt. When it gets loose you typically get the flickering dash and lights from the relay chattering at about 3,000 rpm. You have to pull the battery to get to it.
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John's comments on the loose 5mm bolt is valid as we discovered late on Friday evening a
few years back at the Spring Training Camp at the Ironhorse Lodge.
After spending a day running around 6,000 to 7,000 RPM over the Cherohala Skyway
(http://www.cherohala.com/) looks like I rattled a this bolt loose. After a few electrical
checks and referring to the proper wiring diagram - John had an ah ha moment. We went
right to the bolt and found it was loose. I was riding around for 1/2 a day flashing all the
lights everywhere - did not effect the starting or any other electronics.
Make no mistake this bolt is hard to get to and you will need to take the battery out and look
forward down towards the front of the bike with a flashlight. Then you will need a long
extension allen wrench with a rounded tip to get at the bolt - at an angle!!
BTW it pays to have a friend like John and fellow BMW rider / all around good solver of all
things mechanical - who else travels the highways and byways with a compete set of wiring
diagrams for the K1200LT!!!
few years back at the Spring Training Camp at the Ironhorse Lodge.
After spending a day running around 6,000 to 7,000 RPM over the Cherohala Skyway
(http://www.cherohala.com/) looks like I rattled a this bolt loose. After a few electrical
checks and referring to the proper wiring diagram - John had an ah ha moment. We went
right to the bolt and found it was loose. I was riding around for 1/2 a day flashing all the
lights everywhere - did not effect the starting or any other electronics.
Make no mistake this bolt is hard to get to and you will need to take the battery out and look
forward down towards the front of the bike with a flashlight. Then you will need a long
extension allen wrench with a rounded tip to get at the bolt - at an angle!!
BTW it pays to have a friend like John and fellow BMW rider / all around good solver of all
things mechanical - who else travels the highways and byways with a compete set of wiring
diagrams for the K1200LT!!!
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4,886 Posts
You are not so bad to have around either, Dan.
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