Weak ground or one that's on the verge of failing.
Like the title says, the speedo and odometer will intermittently stop working while I'm riding. I have a 2005 xb9r. It just started happening a couple weeks ago while I was riding in AR. My bike has had very little run time in the past 3 years, probably less than 1000 miles. I also noticed after pulling over to see what the issue was that when I tried to restart the bike it was like the kill switch was off. I then tapped the black wire connector (4 wires) under the fairing and suddenly the fuel pump kicked on and the gauges did their full sweep. It'd then run fine. I haven't been able to consistently repeat the wire connector jiggle fix, but I'm thinking it's that connector. I pulled that connector apart and cleaned the pins as best I could but it still happens intermittently.
I'm thinking of trying to replace the connector with weatherproof connector. Any other thoughts?
Weak ground or one that's on the verge of failing.
If the speedo stops working while the tach is still reading correctly, it's going to be a bad speed sensor (or wiring). The speed sensor is the black thing with an Allen bolt bolted to the top of the engine case right at the front belt pulley.
Last edited by Cooter; 09-17-2017 at 08:21 PM.
Ok thanks, gives me some options to look at. Yes the tach still works. I appreciate the help!
sean: re-remove the 4 wire ground cluster and check it closely again. sometimes the wires aren't crimped correctly in the attachment ring....or only held in the ring crimp by a thread or 2. what i do is snip off that factory crappy attachment ring and install a better one. just don't snip too far upstream or you'll have wires that are too short to make the return trip to the threaded hole where all attaches.
lunatic, exactly what ground are you referring to? The one at the steering neck? Or that 4 pin connector (black) under the fairing on the "passenger side" (hehe)
snrusnak: Lunatic is referring to the ground bolt with 4 (i think) wires with ring terminals on them that are bolted down. He's saying those ring terminals can be junk, check them for corrosion and connection.
Lunatic: snrusnak is talking about a 4-pin connector under the fairing on the right side. He could either be talking about the big one from the key switch, or the small one from the right handlebar controls (kill switch), but probably not the tiny white one for the headlights. Either way, cleaner is better.
You're welcome guys haha
If it was a electrical supply or ground issue to the cluster, the tach would fail at the same time the speedo does. Since the tach still works when the speedo quits, its a speed signal input issue. It could be internal in the cluster, or in the wiring from the sensor, but I'll bet a good beer it's the speed sensor itself. Maybe just dirty? It's magnetic, so take it out and wipe it off, put it back and see.
10-4 mr. translator
I haven't had time to mess with it, hopefully this weekend. That ground bolt at the steering neck on my bolt has 2 ring terminals, plus the additional headlight ground I added with the hella lights. I did strip the dang bolt head though as it was severely corroded, and ended up having to drill it out and retap it. I tapped it to a 1/4-20 bolt and stuck another corroded one in I had laying around. I need to replace with a good bolt. I suspect that MIGHT be the issue, but if it were I'd think my headlights would lose ground among the other things like you said Cooter (tach, etc).
I'll check the sensor. Why would the kill switch be part of this issue? The fuel pump will suddenly turn on if I just barely touch that little 4 pin black connector (not sure right now but I think it leads from the killswitch). It's not the white one to the headlights, I actually completely cut that one off with the hella headlight upgrade.
Ya the little 4 pin black one goes to the kill switch, so if it loses continuity, the ignition and fuel pump are shut off
You've got 2 problems, but I think we've found them both make sure that 4 pin connector is perfectly good, and replace the speed sensor and I think you'll be ok