Here is my latest electrical gremlin. Previously, turn signals would not work and ignition nail would not always stay engaged. I seemed to fix that by spraying contact cleaner on the switch connections and ignition contact point in the headlight. I also bent the connection plate slightly upward, which seemed to have solved the problem.
Now, I push the key in and everything works as it should. Bike starts right up and off I go. After riding about 20-30 minutes, when I take a turn, red light comes on and electrical goes out (It sometimes occurs when using left turn signal, but not always). I pull over, push down on the ignition nail and everything comes back on. I hit the starter and bike fires back up. After the last two rides, I get home to find the headlight remains illuminated even when I pull up on the nail (The nail spins without me feeling the position clicks when in the down and the up position). I have to push down extra hard and everything comes back to life and I can switch nail to center position, pull up on it and everything shuts down as it should.
My initial thought was to replace the starter/Signal switch assembly; however, this new issue seems to combine the switch issue with something having to do with the ignition.
Thoughts and/or advice?
Maybe you have a problem similar to one I had on my '70 R60/5. Sometimes the headlight would stay on after the key was pulled out. It turned out that the slot on the lock (across the hole where the key goes in) had worn so badly that the key could be turned to the off position and removed without the lock itself turning far enough to switch off the lights.
The solution was to replace the entire ignition/light switch (part 61 32 8 048 100). Once back together, everything worked well and the detents on the light switch "clicked" with more snap. The old parts were so worn that you could hardly feel the detents.
The connection plate is held tightly against the bottom of the inside of the light shell by four small metal tabs that go through tiny slots on the corners of the plate and are bent up enough to hold the plate in position. You said you bent the plate up slightly. On my bike, when the tabs are all in their slots and bent, even just enough to hold the plate in position, you can't move it at all. It's very rigid. Maybe the plate on your bike has worked loose.
I must say, putting it back together was a bit of a pain because of the spring that has to be held compressed as you fiddle around trying to get the tabs back in their slots and bent.
Oops! I just looked and the tabs I mentioned are not on the corners of the board, but are closer to the center of the board. They are a bit hard to see.
@clark-thurmond Thanks, that makes sense. I think I will start there instead of replacing the right hand combination switch assembly (which is on backorder with no ETA). The ignition/light switch assembly is currently available through Max BMW and may simply be worn out and through turning/vibrating/etc simply disengage.
Thanks again.
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