2022 Himalayan - Fuse F4 - Signalling - 15 Amp - Blowing

Wapping

Wapping

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On my run down to the Chunnel on the M20, I noticed that all the instrument cluster was dead, along with the horn, fuel gauge, time, speed, rev counter and turn indicators. In short, nothing was working or displayed. The bike though was running normally.

The 15 amp fuse F4 ‘signalling’ had blown.

I can restart the bike sometimes with the fuse blown, with the bike in neutral but only with the clutch lever pulled in. I guess this is because the starter is not receiving a ‘neutral’ signal as the instrument cluster is dead?

I changed the F4 fuse, the instrument cluster lit up as normal. I rode about 10 yards and the instrument cluster failed again, due to the F4 fuse blowing again.

I changed the fuse again, with the same result. Within 10 yards it blew again.

I did though notice that over the 10 yards before the fuse blew, the orange engine warning light stayed on.

I have checked as much of the wiring as I can see up at the headstock end. I cannot see any chafed wires.

Something is shorting, the fuse blowing as a consequence. I cannot understand what though. Nor can I understand why the orange engine warning light seems to stay on. I am guessing that this might be linked or not? What in the engine management system might cause the instrument / horn / turn indicator fuse to blow?

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Bollox . How annoying .
Can’t help you but hope some bright spark can .


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First answer from the group is a bit generic, but worth checking

"You could have a bad Earth problem causing a high current load. Check the main Earth points including the two under right hand side oh the tank".

I also found another link where the headlamp was causing an issue (blowing the fuse when putting on main beam).
 
How annoying this must be? At least you can carry on riding, but still it is unnerving not knowing how much fuel you have left with.

If you using your Garmin XT on the trip, then you can do fuel tank range reset on it to a value of approximate milage that the bike does, before fuel warning light comes on, as well as a speed readout as a backup system.

Best of luck Richard with finding a solution for this nonsense.
 
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Wapping said:
On my run down to the Chunnel on the M20, I noticed that all the instrument cluster was dead, along with the horn, fuel gauge, time, speed, rev counter and turn indicators. In short, nothing was working or displayed. The bike though was running normally.

The 15 amp fuse F4 ‘signalling’ had blown.

I can restart the bike sometimes with the fuse blown, with the bike in neutral but only with the clutch lever pulled in. I guess this is because the starter is not receiving a ‘neutral’ signal as the instrument cluster is dead?

I changed the F4 fuse, the instrument cluster lit up as normal. I rode about 10 yards and the instrument cluster failed again, due to the F4 fuse blowing again.

I changed the fuse again, with the same result. Within 10 yards it blew again.

I did though notice that over the 10 yards before the fuse blew, the orange engine warning light stayed on.

I have checked as much of the wiring as I can see up at the headstock end. I cannot see any chafed wires.

Something is shorting, the fuse blowing as a consequence. I cannot understand what though. Nor can I understand why the orange engine warning light seems to stay on. I am guessing that this might be linked or not? What in the engine management system might cause the instrument / horn / turn indicator fuse to blow?

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Hello Richard
I had Quick Look at the diagram on internet and without an insulation tester the only way is to if possible remove each item in the circuit .That is until the fuse stays good .
 

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Jokes aside of retro bikes really taking you back to the ‘good ol’ days’ this really is a bitch on your first jolly since the ‘snap.’ I would have thought that your engine warning light would come on at startup too, so don’t fret about it if not. Good luck.
 
Wapping said:
On my run down to the Chunnel on the M20, I noticed that all the instrument cluster was dead, along with the horn, fuel gauge, time, speed, rev counter and turn indicators. In short, nothing was working or displayed. The bike though was running normally.

The 15 amp fuse F4 ‘signalling’ had blown.

I can restart the bike sometimes with the fuse blown, with the bike in neutral but only with the clutch lever pulled in. I guess this is because the starter is not receiving a ‘neutral’ signal as the instrument cluster is dead?

I changed the F4 fuse, the instrument cluster lit up as normal. I rode about 10 yards and the instrument cluster failed again, due to the F4 fuse blowing again.

I changed the fuse again, with the same result. Within 10 yards it blew again.

I did though notice that over the 10 yards before the fuse blew, the orange engine warning light stayed on.

I have checked as much of the wiring as I can see up at the headstock end. I cannot see any chafed wires.

Something is shorting, the fuse blowing as a consequence. I cannot understand what though. Nor can I understand why the orange engine warning light seems to stay on. I am guessing that this might be linked or not? What in the engine management system might cause the instrument / horn / turn indicator fuse to blow?

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Looking at the cct diagram the front and rear stop lamp switches and the actual stop lamp itself are on this fuse that would be my first port of investigation
Wapping said:
On my run down to the Chunnel on the M20, I noticed that all the instrument cluster was dead, along with the horn, fuel gauge, time, speed, rev counter and turn indicators. In short, nothing was working or displayed. The bike though was running normally.

The 15 amp fuse F4 ‘signalling’ had blown.

I can restart the bike sometimes with the fuse blown, with the bike in neutral but only with the clutch lever pulled in. I guess this is because the starter is not receiving a ‘neutral’ signal as the instrument cluster is dead?

I changed the F4 fuse, the instrument cluster lit up as normal. I rode about 10 yards and the instrument cluster failed again, due to the F4 fuse blowing again.

I changed the fuse again, with the same result. Within 10 yards it blew again.

I did though notice that over the 10 yards before the fuse blew, the orange engine warning light stayed on.

I have checked as much of the wiring as I can see up at the headstock end. I cannot see any chafed wires.

Something is shorting, the fuse blowing as a consequence. I cannot understand what though. Nor can I understand why the orange engine warning light seems to stay on. I am guessing that this might be linked or not? What in the engine management system might cause the instrument / horn / turn indicator fuse to blow?

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on F4 fuse you have the wheels speed sensor and rear stop lamp and switches front and rear.
I would first look at the rear stop lamp and associated switches.
Temporary isolation of each and see how you go?
 
From a (long) thread about Himalayan's, one person's issue/resolution. Not F4, but a ground/earth issue.

Saturday I owed myself a blat up the mountains as Friday had been a tinkering day, so … Bike fine, little rear skid on heavy braking confirmed ABS not working, ABS light still on. Then noticed dipped beam not working…mmm…main beam neither…mmm…tail lights neither. Home, checked lights fuse F6, 15A, blown, changed, ignition on, blown again. Thinks “must be something I’ve just done…”

Monday morning, tank off, measured doohickey twin GND eyelet to a good chassis/GND connection. 8.6 ohms. Not good. Replaced the not so shiny M6 bolt that I’d fitted (after losing the original somewhere) with a shiny one. The one that holds the “Item 18: Bracket Assy Solenoid Valve “ onto the chassis under the tank. Now reads a nice low 0.2 ohms, as low as my DVM goes. New fuse in F6. All good except for MIL light which irritatingly stayed on for a few start/stops till I’d forgotten about it, now ok.

Dunno which particular ground eyelets these are but just a point to be careful of. I thought I was ok screwing that little bracket on with that not new and shiny screw, but it didn’t make a good enough electrical contact. So a pair of bad grounds can blow a fuse! I’ll work out why one day when i suss where those two ground connections go.
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Thanks for the replies. The problem is mended.

We noticed that the horn had vibrated loose on its mounting, swinging down to just touch the exhaust header pipe, sufficient to slightly melt the plastic covering of its connector and cause a short.

From most angles, it all looked normal. This accounted for why, when the bike was stationary with the ignition on and the engine running, the F4 fuse wouldn’t blow. Riding just a few yards, was sufficient to move it slightly and earth, with the inevitable blowing of the fuse.

That just left the orange engine warning light, which wouldn’t clear. I knew that there was nothing wrong with the bike per-se, so I just rode with it on. After about 90 minutes, we stopped for fuel. On restart, the orange light cured itself and switched off. It has not appeared since.
 
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I realise now that this was self inflicted.

When I fitted the new down pipe, I slackened off the horn, to move it out of the way. Having fitted the exhaust, I moved the horn back but just nipped it up, while I had a quick test ride, intending to tighten it up, when I came back. Intention was one thing, actually doing it was quite another.

Hey ho, lesson learned.

Note to self….. replace the spare fuses you have used and chuck a couple more in the tool kit. Put some small, needle nose pliers in the tool kit, as the fuses are tricky little buggers to pull out on the roadside. Worse still if your hands are wet or cold.
 
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Regarding the engine warning light - which cleared after a refuel - I gather the new ‘BSA’ singles are prone to having this happen. Local (Suzuki, RE & BSA) dealer reckons his might be caused by switching between E5 & E10 fuel. Whatever, they are sensitive, and it might be this that’s causing a spurious warning.
Brgds
 
Wapping said:
I realise now that this was self inflicted.

When I fitted the new down pipe, I slackened off the horn, to move it out of the way. Having fitted the exhaust, I moved the horn back but just nipped it up, while I had a quick test ride, intending to tighten it up, when I came back. Intention was one thing, actually doing it was quite another.

Hey ho, lesson learned.
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Step away from your tool box!
 
Wapping said:
Note to self….. replace the spare fuses you have used and chuck a couple more in the tool kit. Put some small, needle nose pliers in the tool kit, as the fuses are tricky little buggers to pull out on the roadside. Worse still if your hands are wet or cold.
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Whilst you're buying fuses get one of these for those hard to grip blade fuses, if you're lucky it might fit under the fuse box cover.
 
Thank you, it is.

It had to be something that was on the 15 amp fused circuit. What I coukdn’t work out was why the fuse was fine with the bike standing still but always blew within 10 yards of moving. That could only mean something was shorting when the bike moved. Tricky, if the short is where you can’t see it, say up under the fuel tank. It was just by chance that we spotted the horn at a funny angle. The burn into the cable of the horn is tiny but it only takes a tiny contact to cause a short. Shift the horn back (were it not for my stupidity) to where it should be and Bingo! One fully functioning motorcycle again. A tiny bit of repair to the insulation when I got home, should see it good for years to come.
 
LOLGEOFF said:
Whilst you're buying fuses get one of these for those hard to grip blade fuses, if you're lucky it might fit under the fuse box cover.
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Thanks for this, didn't know they existed, but worth having tucked away with the spare fuses (y)
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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