[GaryV]

33k miles. Been working great. Have added nothing to bike in quite some time. Rode to work Tues. Thursday went to start it. FI light did the usual on for a few seconds, and then out. Pushed the starter button and nothing. Checked the kill switch location, side stand, neutral light, etc. All looked normal. I did notice the trunk was ajar display when the key was on. Turned the key off and on. This time the FI light didn't come one and no fuel pump noise. Eventually discovered the ST. KILL fuse was toast. Replaced and and same scenario happened.

I'm not sure what could have happened. No changes, been working great. Any suggestions on where to start looking for the short or problem?
Thanks in advance.
GaryV

 

[techdude2000]

I would start by looking at the white wire running up the right handlebar to the kill switch and the black/white wire running back down the same area to the fuel injection/ignition relay. If you don't find either pinched, check the right side grip housing with the kill switch to see if it might be pinched inside the housing.

 

[GaryV]

Thanks for the quick reply techdude. re: the white and b/w wires up the handlebar, are you implying up/down the handle bar path w/o removing any body work?
GaryV

 

[techdude2000]

Yea, only thing you need to pull off is the cover on the underside of the handlebar. Do you have any spare fuses to use for testing? If so, then you could turn the kill switch to the kill position and try another fuse. If it still blows then you know the short is in the white wire circuit to either the bank angle sensor or the kill switch itself. If it doesn't blow, then you'll know the short is somewhere after the kill switch and in the black/white wire circuit. The problem is in that schematic above, I say that because there's nothing else to the circuit except the starter button switch. The black/white wire below the kill switch in the diagram is going to the starter button switch right beside the kill switch in the handlebar pod. The rest of the starter circuit isn't connected until you push that switch to start the motor, so it's not part of your problem.

 

[Waldo]

The rest of the starter circuit isn't connected until you push that switch to start the motor, so it's not part of your problem.

OP seems to state that it's OK until trying to start and repeats after the start switch is pushed ("same scenario"). Could be after toward the start relays by the battery or the relay is just pulling too many amps if defective.

 

[GaryV]

Waldo, yep you're correct. It didn't blow the fuse until I hit the starter button. Would a bad relay cause this? Where is it?
Thanks for the help guys.

 

[techdude2000]

Sorry, misunderstood you. So it blows the fuse when you hit the button to start. Yes, a bad relay could do it, but you don't see that very often out of these relays but there is always a chance. The starter relays are to the rear of the battery under the left side cover. These might help.

 

[GaryV]

Techdude, yep when I've replaced the fuse and the FI light comes on, and I can hear the fuel pump. As soon as I hit the starter, it's gone. Thanks for the diagram and picture guys. If it isn't one of the relays, any other ideas? From the looks of the diagram, I'll start with relay A since that's the one that goes to the fuse in question. It's a little hard to tell from the arrow's you've drawn and I haven't been to look at the bike since starting the thread, is the relay beneath the connector? It looks like the red connector is to relay A? Hope that turns out to be it. Thanks!

 

[GaryV]

Darn, it looks like the saddle bag needs to be removed? That seems like it might be some significant effort. I haven't pulled the battery. Maybe I can get to them w/o removing the saddlebag.

 

[GaryV]

Any guesses on if this would be covered under my extended warranty?

 

[USNRider]

Darn, it looks like the saddle bag needs to be removed? That seems like it might be some significant effort. I haven't pulled the battery. Maybe I can get to them w/o removing the saddlebag.

Thats the easiest way I've found to get to them. Looking in the color picture above, the relays are just to the right of the connectors with the blue cover over the wire connector. To take off the saddlebag you gotta first take off the lower section of the trunk, disconnect the cable for the latch (inside the trunk under the center piece all the way aft), disconnect the wire harness between the two bags under the license plate piece, and then remove the four bolts holding the bag on. Once you've done it once it can be easily done in about 15 minutes. The trickiest part is getting the bumper part off the trunk gently so it doesn't break.

 

[techdude2000]

Yes, the saddlebag has to be pulled out at the front to reach the "B" relay. It is the one with the big blue connectors in the picture. The "A" relay is buried underneath the smaller connectors in the picture and yes, this is covered under your extended warranty.

 

[jimwinger]

While a dealer's opinion might vary, I would certainly expect that this would be covered under the extended warranty.

(Just for reference, I had the main wiring harness on my '02 replaced under the extended warranty (to the tune of more than $2K) after it developed a power to ground short in the wiring for the fuel injection system).

 

[31261]

Does the starter turn at all? Make any noise.

Can you hear the start relay click at all??

Or does the fuse blow before you can hear any of that?

Where I am going with this is a shorted starter motor.

Of course you have to check the relays, but normally they just fail. Not blow fuses. But a shorted starter will blow them.

 

[techdude2000]

Kit, the starter motor shorting couldn't blow that fuse. The starter motor power doesn't come thru that circuit, it comes directly from the battery thru the large contacts on the relays, not the relay's control circuit.

 

[GaryV]

Does the starter turn at all? Make any noise.

Can you hear the start relay click at all??

Or does the fuse blow before you can hear any of that?

Where I am going with this is a shorted starter motor.

Of course you have to check the relays, but normally they just fail. Not blow fuses. But a shorted starter will blow them.

Starter doesn't turn at all, or make any noise.
Can't hear any click.
I believe the fuse is blowing before any of it.

The dealer isn't open until Tues.

 

[techdude2000]

Gary, you can ohm out the yellow/red wire that's plugged into the "A" relay. It's the one in the small red connector. If you read a short to ground, then the wire could be pinched coming from the starter button switch. This wire also goes to the audio unit and the cruise control/reverse module. Test this with the key off.

 

[GaryV]

But to get to the r/y wire, I'd need to pull the L saddlebag still don't I?

 

[techdude2000]

If you take out the front bolts and loosen the others, you can move it out just enough to reach that connector. It's not easy, but possible.

 

[GaryV]

Any chance this would be considered a wear item?