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Serious electrical problem

1K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  rogsvr 
#1 ·
Hello y'all,

I am writing here to call upon your knowledge.

Today, I was riding my '02 SV650 on highway 1 along the Pacific Coast. In the middle of my trip, the computer display started acting funny. It would show, all of a sudden, a speed of 186mph while I really was going around 75mph. I slowed down and the speedo went down to around 150mph.

Then for some reason I pulled the clutch, hoping that something would happen. Something happened: the engine just stopped, the display went off. I released the clutch slowly and the engine went back on, I rode for another half mile until I found a safe place to stop on the side of the road. I turned the bike off.

Now, nothing happens when the ignition key is switched from "off" to "on". The display won't turn on, no power seems to be coming from the battery.

A friend was riding with me, hopefully. Our first idea was to check the battery: we connected his battery to my bike but nothing changed.

Then as it seemed like the problem is not something we can figure out quickly, we worried about getting the bike home, which took us about two hours. A very nice owner of a Ford F-150 accepted to go out of his way to bring the bike back to Palo Alto.

Now it's dark and there is almost no light at the dump where I live so I decided to wait until tomorrow before looking more into the problem. I thought it might be a good idea to describe the problem to you guys. Maybe those symptoms are familiar to one of you. In such a case, please feel free to share your experience with me.


As for me, my next idea is that a fuse may be blown. That would explain why the computer/display stays off when turning the ignition on. But, if it is indeed a blown fuse, it means that there is a serious underlying electrical problem (regulator/rectifier maybe?); a replacement fuse may well melt if that problem is not fixed.

Anyway, thanks a lot in advance for your help. I hope my english was clear enough and apologize for any mistakes I may have made - I am french, and unlike my fellow contrymen, I do not want to surrender that quickly to my motorcycle problem.

Best,

--
David.
 
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#3 ·
I had quite the same symptoms once when the battery contact was loose - but you already ruled that out, obviously.

The (older) SV has a weak point for getting electrical shortcuts: The cables under the front seat often get rubbed through (it´s near the end of the seat on the left side where the cables cross the rear frame).

> As for me, my next idea is that a fuse may be blown

You didn´t check already?

Regarding the regulator: One hears sometimes of dying regulators (in the german forum: about 5-10 people), but it´s not a very typical problem.

Ciao
Jan
 
#4 ·
I'd look for that potential cable rub through, or a bad ground connection, as well as the fuse.

Do you lose all power? i.e no dash or headlights either?

What's the german SV forum Jan? I wouldn't mind reading that too.
Always good to get new perspectives.

tia
Roger
 
#5 ·
Hi everybody,

Thanks very much for everybody's propositions.

I checked for a blown fuse this morning but there was nothing wrong. So I rented a truck and brought it to the dealer. The latter scared me, saying it could be the ECC or the computer brain, that I'd have to wait days before they get the part from the East Coast.

Finally, they called me an hour later saying that a connector to the main computer was defective. The computer was getting no power and therefore nothing worked at all (to answer to rogsvr who asked if anything worked at all). All is good now.

Again, thanks for your suggestions. All of you ride safely,

--
David.
 
#7 ·
Thanks.

Yes, I started studying German at the Volkshochschule (Abendkurse) while in the Army
many years ago near Wiesbaden. Eventually made it part of my double-major in college,
along with electrical engineering. Spent and exchange year on the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, and studied, among other things, 3 semesters of automotive engineering for my
minor, including a semester of Motorcycle Engineering (genau, Zweispurfahrzeuge).
Coolest thing I was ever awarded college credit for. :) Much fun. Don't practice it much
anymore, but at least my increasingly thick and degenerating american accent doesn't show
through as much on the keyboard. :)

I'll check the site out. I still read the R1100S site over there quite a bit for practice (I myself moderate the main english R1100S site)

Thanks again Jan.
Mach's gut!
Roger
 
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