Gear Position Indicator is telling me lies

[David Price]

Gents,

My 1150 gear position indicator has been going haywire over the last couple of days, reading either '0' or '1' irrespective of what gear I am in.

Some of the time it is fine, but it arses about for at least fifty percent of the time.

The only thing that I have done recently is I gave it a power wash, but I did try to avoid the electrics.

Any advice please, (a) where the sensor is, and (b) is it likely to be repairable.

Thanks in anticipation.

Dave

 

[Droopy Dick]

Almost certainly you got things wet.

The RID (in fact most of the dash-panel electrics) doesn't like getting wet.

It will usually sort itself out within a couple of days as the water evaporates.

Although I've yet to expereince the problem on my GS, my old K100RS was a sod for playing up after being washed.

 

[ELIMINATOR]

There is a sender? unit under the swingarm/catalyst area. Never seen it myself, but had it replaced under warrantee. It took them ledd than an hour to replace, I was told that when replacing it was packed with silicone grease.

 

[David Price]

Does anyone know how I access the switch to change/clean it?

 

[Neil W]

Happened to me last year in Germany, the switch on the back of the gearbox is u/s, secondhand mine was only £10 from Motorworks and they are about £30 new. The manual tells you to remove the swingingarm to replace it but the easiest way especially if you have a y piece fitted is to remove the silencer, remove the cat /y piece and then it is easily reached on the back of the g/box. Its held on by a spring clip. just make sure that when you replace it that the switch and clip click fully home. Using this method it is a 20 to 30 minute job to change

 

[Steptoe]

try cleaning the gear indicator plug connector, it plugs into the loom in the subframe area, before you start spending money -

Your bike maybe to new, but it happens a lot on older bikes, or bikes that are always being washed .

Worth a go .

 

[David Price]

Thanks for that. I'll have a look this weekend.

 

[shready]

Mine used to do it after a decent wash or after going through deep(ish) water. After a few days of dry/warm riding it started to sort itself out, slowly at first, you get some correct gears but some '1's and '0's too.

It's sealed (or meant to be) so it takes time to dry out. I had it replaced when my clutch needed replacing so the cost was minimal. If it went again I wouldn't bother getting it fixed, you don't really need to be told what gear you are in, surely.

 

[David Price]

I agree. I don't really need it but it really pisses me off when things like that don't work!

 

[Geeza]

Gents,

My 1150 gear position indicator has been going haywire over the last couple of days, reading either '0' or '1' irrespective of what gear I am in.

Some of the time it is fine, but it arses about for at least fifty percent of the time.

The only thing that I have done recently is I gave it a power wash, but I did try to avoid the electrics.

Any advice please, (a) where the sensor is, and (b) is it likely to be repairable.

Thanks in anticipation.

Dave

 

[Geeza]

Re: Re: Gear Position Indicator is telling me lies

I had the same problem with third gear. New gear indicator switch costs £120 plus half a days labour...thankfully the bike was still under warranty

 

[Twotter]

I'd give it a liberal squirt of WD40 under the dash first, before worrying about the switch.

2p.

 

[73octane]

try cleaning the gear indicator plug connector, it plugs into the loom in the subframe area, before you start spending money -

Your bike maybe to new, but it happens a lot on older bikes, or bikes that are always being washed .

Worth a go .

Advice please Mr Steptoe if you're about. With ref to above post, I would like to try and clean the connector you refer to in above post, but am having trouble finding it. My bike is an 1150GSA, could it be in a slightly different place ?

The fault by the way only happens at first start of day. Gear position indicator indicates 5th gear when 1st is engaged. Display works fine shortly afterwards and all other gear positions are displayed correctly all the time.

I know it's not a big problem and doesn't impede riding the bike, it's just that I like everything to be working correctly

 

[david vaughan-birch]

I changed mine recently-much to my surprise it was quite easy if a little fiddly (it can be done without taking the y-piece off). If you get under the bike, you can see a black circular thing about 3 cm in diameter sticking out of the back of the gearbox, in front of the swing arm? there's a cable from it that leads through a hole next to the gear selector, then past the starter motor and up under the tank. If you take the tank off, you'll find a plug connector at the other end, which on mine was hanging loose just to the left of the top of the front shock mount bolt. This unplugs with a bit of wiggling. If you need to replace it the tricky bit is to get the new one to clip in properly-Steptoe (I think) suggested the brilliantly simple solution of using a zip tie to hold the ends of the metal clip together until you can get it in place. Much to my surprise I now have a neutral light and a gear indicator for the first time in 4 years!

 

[Steptoe]

Advice please Mr Steptoe if you're about. With ref to above post, I would like to try and clean the connector you refer to in above post, but am having trouble finding it.

1150 plug doesn't really get any corrosion on it, i was referring more to the 1100 plug, which has separate neutral and gear switches.

Also the 1150 plug is on the L/H side at the front alongside the alternator.

 

[73octane]

1150 plug doesn't really get any corrosion on it, i was referring more to the 1100 plug, which has separate neutral and gear switches.

Also the 1150 plug is on the L/H side at the front alongside the alternator.

thanks for the info, still have the fault on startup, will post result when it gets sorted out.

 

[fatnfast]

Had the same problem with mine a month or two back. On the 1150 it will almost certainly be the gear postion sensor on the back of the gearbox. As said here already, if you are currently running with a y-piece, there is no need to remove the exhaust, but it is a get on your hands and knees (and belly) job. It is retained with a spring clip. Use a ziptie/tyrap to compress the clip and carefully pry out. You will also need to remove the starter motor cover and the tank. If you trace the wires you will see where it connects (as per steptoe) near the alternator/headstock on the LH Side.
I ordered a new one from Sherlocks (£30 odd pounds IIRC), although the sensor can be opened up cleaned and reused. Use another ziptie to compress the spring clip to make it easy to refit. Just take notes of the route the cable takes from connector to the back of the gearbox.

 

[david vaughan-birch]

It helps to use something like a big allen key against the swing-arm pivot to seat it home properly, otherwise its prone to falling out again and melting on the y-piece...