'10 Uly grips, horn, headlight, accessorie plug failure

[Justaerin]

Currently my stock heated grips are intermittent, my headlights are on as much as they're off, my accessory plug in the dash won't deliver power and my horn doesn't work. I checked the grounding point under the headlights and there is a single broken ground, and when I wiggle it my headlights flicker. I think I need to remove this ground point, clean it, reterminate the four wires there and give it another go.

My question is: Can anyone tell me what ALL goes to this ground point? In the wire diagrams I believe it's GRD 2, but based on the diagrams if the ground point were the cause of say my horn issue, I should also have an ignition relay issue and a fuel pump issue. From what I can tell it is at leased the ground point for my headlights and horn, but the diagram I was checking at the top of the page didn't have the heated grips or accessorie plug (that I could see, correct me if I'm wrong)

Also, is there a *better* way to reterminate these grounds? Should I change out the ring terminal with something more recommended? Crimp terminal with heat shrink? Should I RTV it to seal against environment? I can do most of the electrical work, just don't know what gauges of wire, or other hardware I should use or the method recommended by people that've had this issue. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Rays]

I'm guessing the '10 is similar to the '09 in this area as I have an '09 and the lower headstock has 4 wires connected via two terminals. These are identified on the schematics as Ground 4 and Ground 5.

Ground 4 has the ground for the flasher and the front AUX connector ( that also supplies the ground for the heated grips).
Ground 5 has the ground for the headlights and the horn.
That list of grounds looks like a list of your issues so I would suspect all 4 wires. :(

On my '06 Uly I have had all four of these break at some point ( some multiple times) and re-terminated with a little extra wire and a careful re-route to prevent any snagging and that has been good so far. I have planned to re-wire this but haven't done that yet.
When I was using the '06 to commute the bars would be put into the steering lock position every 40 miles so in 60,000 miles there was a lot of stress put on the front loom.
On my '09 XT I have yet to have any issues but it appears to be the same set-up as the '06 so it is probably only a question of time. In contrast to the '06 most of the '09 miles have been doing longer trips so way less stress on the front loom.

When you inspect these look really carefully - it is quite common to have the wire break internally and leave the insulation intact giving you a false sense of security on a casual inspection. Tug gently on each wire just back from the ground point and any wires with an internal break will be slightly 'stretchy'.

I don't see any need to use RTV - I have not had any corrosion issues. I used normal automotive style crimp terminals and added and inch and a half or so of wire - I soldered those joins and covered with heat-shrink. I can't remember how many strands are in the existing ground wires but I just used some scrap wire that was the same (don't go less as that will be less capable of handling the flexing).

[Justaerin]

Rays I really appreciate the time you took for that response, I think that helps a lot. I'm going to do a good inspection tonight and will try to pick up some stock to do the repairs.

I ride this bike almost exclusively, so I'm at steering lock every 15 miles or so with some big trips in between.

Did you have to remove any hardware to make access easier?

Thanks again!

[Rays]

Yes,
- remove the bit the screen attaches to.
- disconnect the horn and headlight electrical connectors.
- remove the headlight assembly and 'beak' as a unit by removing the two Torx screws on the lower triple and the two Torx that hold the headlight assembly in place. (this leaves the headlight adjustment untouched).
- it will take all of 2 or 3 minutes and you now have really clear access to the grounds and loom guide etc - anything less will be an exercise in scratched knuckles and swearing. ;)

[Justaerin]

Awesome, thanks very much. I pulled the screen and headlight assembly, I definitely need to do some maintenance in there. The two grounds on one of the ring terminals pulled right off, so I stripped the wire and will try to pick up some more wire and splices today, plus a new ring terminal. Hopefully this will solve my ills.