Good morning AHeads
I was riding last night and took a tight Left turn at 75mph on my 88 r100GS 47K miles on the clock. and the engine cut out. When I tried to restart My battery very quickly died (Just replaced this summer) thought it might be water in the line as well. Drained /replaced fuel and bout 30 min later started right up. Rode to work this morning and stopped for coffee at the local cafe. Came out started ignition and went click click click. had my friend Jump start without issue. left the parking lot and the engine died when I reached 3K rpm followed my white smoke from under the tank. Disconnected Battery but couldn't see where exactly the smoke was coming from. By the time I lifted the tank it was no longer smoking. Any ideas what might be going on? Do any of you have a good system to walk through electrical issues like this? any input is appreciated. Cheers TK
Sounds as if the harness was suffering intermittent connection or minor short circuit issues, which the German system of fuses was not protecting.
1988 models had all the main electrical connections and relays under the tank, so your problem could have been focused on any number of pieces of the system (turn signals, head lights, horns, etc). However, smoke is never a good sign and is generally indicative of a really BAD short circuit. Bad enough in fact to burn the insulation off several of the wires. If you'll pull off the forward section of the main electrical harness, I think you'll find several wires fused together. That will mean replacement of the entire main harness.
Before applying power to the replacement harness, since the fault will not have been fixed (a smoked harness is merely the symptom of the issue, not THE issue) may I suggest you insert a ~25A fuse between the battery and the 14GA RED wire taking power into that section of the motorcycle. If you don't do this, then you may smoke the new harness within minutes. These harnesses are about $300 a pop. (Please don't ask me how I know this.) A 25A fuse is a good bit cheaper.
Also check the condition of the 2 fuses in the fuse box and make sure someone hasn't wrapped them in foil as a work around. They should each be 8A.
Let us know what you find.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
Thanks. Thats a yes on the Grips. I’m usually one of the first bikes on the road and the last to hang up the helmet here in AK. Thise grips get a lot of use. I like the aerostich solution will check it out
Just started digging. No sign on the main harnes. So Either I’m really lucky or Its all withing the sealed harness. I’m also suspicioud of the heated grips will go back our and liok for where the relay was placed. Thanks for all the tips I will for sure take you sudgestion and place an inline fuse. I do not care for this to happen again. Never looks good when a Fire fogjters equipment catches on fire. You never live that one down ; )
you replaced the battery......
are connection tight?
Did you use one of those stupid Springs to hold the side covers on ?
have you tightened ALL and i mean ALL wire connections because a LOOSE connection creates Heat !! !!
intermittent opens cause failures of ALL kinds
I'm very familiar with heated grips, but I don't believe I've ever seen the OEM BMW heated grip kit, only the aftermarket heater kits. So take this next comment as a helpful suggestion, that may, or may not, already be in place...
If you're very lucky, your issues may be confined to the heated grip wiring. Usually the grips pull enough current that not only is a relay required, but also a separate fuse. On the grip systems I've seen, some of them went so far as to run a separate wire directly to the battery, to gain that current source.
Whatever the power source for your heated grips, the tap supplying "main power" to the heated grip system also needs a fuse.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
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