I think I've buggered my VFR

Last year the LCD on my 2001 Fi1 went out. After a bit of research - on here if I remember right - I found that the PCB on the rear of the dash is prone to corrosion, especially given the Scottish weather. Thankfully I used to deal with stuff like that in TVs so I borrowed my uncle's soldering iron, bought a few wee bits, and got it sorted.

A couple of weeks ago it went out again. So back to my uncle, sort everything out yesterday. LCD works fine, I can see my mileage and petrol gauge, excellent. Except today I go to work and when I switch on the indicators the lights on the dash are blinking rapidly, which I know from experience means there's a fault somewhere. I lean over as I ride and can see the front indicators aren't working, but the rear ones are (checked when I hit work) albeit they're having a rave to themselves.

Get home, strip the front of the bike, as obviously I've done something or soldered a short or something on the PCB. But I can't find anything anywhere. Tested all the connections I made, and anything else that could possibly have shorted or broken, all is good. Had a look around the wiring loom and couldn't see anything there either.

Does anyone have any ideas on this? I will call my local garage tomorrow if needed, but I'd like to at least try and sort it myself if possible.

 

Front not working and rear are , probably blown globes, connector not plugged in properly, broken or bad earth wire, I doubt it is anything to with the PCB. Disconnect the flasher can and if everything else works correctly it is only related to the indicators

 

Everything else is working fine, checked all that first. I wasn't near anything else in the bike tho, and it was definitely working no problem before.

 

It is blinker related, just a matter of tracing it out

 

I'm with Norm on this. Either both front blinker bulbs have died, or there is an electrical gremlin in their circuit. Given both have stopped, I think the earth is more likely, but you could check voltage at their sockets to be sure. The flasher unit sits right on the front of the instrument binnacle. If you need a circuit diagram there is one in the back of the service manual here: http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/...onda-vfr-service-manual-optimized-bookmarked/.

 

Gremlin, no doubt.


Enviado desde... Un telégrafo.

 

I was texting a mate back and forth about this today. Put the blinker bulbs in the tail to test, and they're working fine, so it's not those. Work/family commitments (not to mention I have to do this outdoors and its bloody cold just now) means I won't have time to strip it down myself and do the proper checks, so it's booked into the garage in a couple of days. Killing me to do it, but I reckon once I explain to him what I've been up to, he'll should be able to fix it quite quickly.

 

I have a similar, ongoing gremlin in my '72 Datsun 240z. Bring one bit of the electrics back to life, some other bit (or half of it, like in your case) stops working. Old machines with weathered electrics can get infuriatingly squirrely, believe me I know.


As mentioned already, first check that you have volts at each connector. The meter won't read steadily, of course, as the relay clicks on and off you'll see volts/OL/volts/OL and so on.


If that's ok, check for dirty and/or corroded connections, including screwed-in grounds. Maybe try using a fine-bristle brass brush to clean the bulb sockets and connectors.


If you still haven't found anything, maybe try running a couple test grounds (take a piece of wire and ground the connector's ground straight to the frame with your wire instead of using the wiring harness ground). It's time consuming, but it's a sure way to root out grounding issues.


As a final note, sometimes when hunting gremlins, a rain dance, standing on one foot while pointing toward a specific star while checking for volts, or sacrificing a rodent to said gremlin can help draw him out.

 

both front turn indicators share a common ground wire. Im guessing a bullet and sleeve connector. if the connection isnt corroded then i would look further down the wire to be pinched or broken even if it DOESNT look like it. or it simply isnt connected. do the marker lights work when not indicating a turn? if ground is bad they wont be functioning either.

 

Should have come back on this sooner, turned out it was a dodgy connection on the right indicator socket breaking the circuit, simple as! Feel like a right idiot, but all good now.

 

Glad it's all sorted.