electrics gone haywire!!

hi all,

ive just rode home from work today, parked bike as normal and walked away.
when i turned round i noticed the rear lights were still lit.
i returned to the bike, put ignition on and the left indicator came on and refused to be switched off,
trying the right indicator made both sides flash together. taking key out of ignition the rear lights are still staying on.

i have disconnected the battery for now, but any ideas whats happened??
the bike started again, and with engine running it was still all haywire, so not sure if the battery is at fault.

thanks for any help.

fenj66 said:

hi all,

ive just rode home from work today, parked bike as normal and walked away.
when i turned round i noticed the rear lights were still lit.
i returned to the bike, put ignition on and the left indicator came on and refused to be switched off,
trying the right indicator made both sides flash together. taking key out of ignition the rear lights are still staying on.

i have disconnected the battery for now, but any ideas whats happened??
the bike started again, and with engine running it was still all haywire, so not sure if the battery is at fault.

thanks for any help.

Click to expand...

Could be a number of things ..

what year and how many miles would be helpfull

does the kombi go off as well?. can you start the bike with the key out?

sounds like the switch box at the bottom of the key housing has stuck in the on position...

you can take it off and remove the cover, clean the micro switches and reassemble and see if that helps things

Its a fiddly job t10 torx i think

Sorry, yes
Its a 2004 model with 50k miles.
Without the key in it does not start.
Ive put the battery on charge just in case.

dont panic most likely indicator switch if not above. you can try stripping the main plastic components of the cluster down and spraying contact cleaner and then followed by a bit of Di-Electric Grease you may be lucky but probably not.Next level under the latex type boot there will be the switch cap with a very small screwdriver or similar very carefully prize it off spray in there the two contacts are seperated by that small plastic bridge in the cylindrical bit if you get current across them that will cause the indicator (rear park light to come on). Last hope pull the cylindrical bit out clean the stupidly small delicate contacts up as carefully as possible whilst cursing Fritz at BMW design, to check these steps just plug the disassembled cluster into the loom ignition on and check. If any of those work from my experience it will only be short lived before the problems return sticking on/or no indi, best /cheapest solution solder in a replacement switch.Done all of the above 3 times now one last Monday. I curse Fritz more each time.Toptip Check your cluster(s) you may be lucky depending on spec you may have an unused switch inside the cluster. Apparently the switchs can be bought new not done so myself. Good luck.

thanks , im beginning to think it must be the left hand switch too.
the battery and alternator both check out fine. its all ok again at the moment apart from the left indicator is hard to turn on, takes a a few stabs at the switch!
i will strip it down when its drier and check.

thanks bikenav,
i stripped the switch down to the bare bones and cleaned all the contacts on each microswitch with a slip of fine wet and dry and switch cleaner. thoroughly dried out and reassembled.
all appears working fine again.... for now! lol