Power Failure

[Neil W]

Odd one the other day , went out for a run on the r1150gs (260 miles in total ) and the bike ran fine for the first 240 miles (charging at 13.4 volts) until I got 20 miles from home . Pulled up at a set of lights , put the bike in neutral and it stopped with all of the electrics going dead .
No neutral light , no gear indicator, RID, clock display, nothing. Turned the key on and off a few times ....still nothing , waggled the wires around the back of the ignition switch and headstock ( the wiring loom was stripped of its outer , fully checked and rewrapped over a year ago and has been fine).... nothing everything was still dead .
Took off the seats to check the battery connections and fuses which were fine , so tried it again still nothing .
Turned it off at the ignition switch and then gave it one last go , as soon as I turned on the ignition everything powered up straight away , although the clock had reset to zero .
Tried it a couple of times since and bike appears fine .
Any ideas from the collective ?

 

[Deise]

similar happened to me within last two weeks. ( see thread K75 died today )

In my case it seems to have been some short behind the kill-switch. Opened and spray electrical cleaner - fine since.

I know may be completely different

P.S. my headlight worked when everything else on dash was dead

 

[GORILA]

I had a a similar power failure on my R1100GS. In my case I believe the problem was with the ignition switch. The one below the ignition barrel.
There is a small grub screw on the right side. You need a tiny flat head screwdriver to loosen it. Then you can pull the switch connector down.
In my case the wiring was ok at both ends. I gave the switch a clean and spread out the contacts. This appears to have solved my issue.

 

[Neil W]

Looks like a job for tomorrow ,sick of p*ssing about with cars this last week

 

[Neil W]

Got a look today and the red paint sealing the grub screw was already gone so somebody has been in before , with the tank off disconnected the wiring , took out the grub screw and pulled the switch.
Somebody has been into it before looking at the plastic tabs that hold it together, continuity fine on all the wiring so split the switch expecting corrosion but it was spotless inside albeit completely dry.
All back together with some dielectric grease and working , we will see what happens !

 

[Neil W]

Thinking that the three small springs in the switch might be the cause as the outer two definitely seemed compressed with less tension than the centre ones .
May just buy a new switch anyway over the winter

 

[Neil W]

Found an old mk2 vw golf ignition switch in the garage ( the white plastic electrical part at the back of the switch), pulled it apart and it is has as near as matters the same internals as the BMW R1150GS one including the three springs .