A strange scenario playing out on my 1150.

Beebop

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Hi guys.
Greetings from a wet and windy South Africa
Thought I'd draw on the collective wisdom here to help with a strange set of symptoms.
'04 1150 Adv, 186000km, mostly problem free.
On Saturday I replaced front and rear tyres and gave the bike a much needed wash.
Parked it on the centre stand and left it till I needed to start it for work today.

I got on fired it up and started moving, only to notice the triangle warning light was on.
I figured it may be something to do with the ABS sensors and the tyre change, so I ignored
it for tonight when I get home.

Then I noticed that the indicators are not working. I played around a bit with the switches and
noticed that when I switch on the heated grips, the ABS light comes on and the indicators work.
As soon as I switch them off, the ABS goes off and indicators stop working.
Obviously something to do with the right side switch cluster. Could this be water ingress?
What is common on these which I could look at without trawling over the wireing diagram, at
which I'm pretty useless.
All assistance would be appreciated.
 
The ABS triangular warning light on it’s own is a usual indicator of rear brake/tail light failure.

One or other of the filaments has broken and the ABS is using the other filament for tail and brake light function.

It’s a good place to start.

The rest of your faults could well be attributed to water, corrosion, or I don’t know what.
 
I'd be wondering about water ingress, either in the switch cluster or at any connector block shared by those functions you mention.
 
Water in the main instrument loom, there’s a whole bunch of unprotected earths crimped together in the loom, you’ll find they’ve turned to a green mush if you slice open the loom outer covering. The loom covering isn’t sealed at the end and it fills up with water. Crap bmw quality….. clean the earths, you may have to cut them back and redo. Cover and waterproof the earths, recover the loom, and seal the end up by the instruments to stop water entering in the future.
 
Ian J Hartley said:
The ABS triangular warning light on it’s own is a usual indicator of rear brake/tail light failure.

One or other of the filaments has broken and the ABS is using the other filament for tail and brake light function.
Click to expand...

This was my expectation as I had the same thing on my R11S, sadly it was not the case today
 
Steptoe said:
Water in the main instrument loom, there’s a whole bunch of unprotected earths crimped together in the loom, you’ll find they’ve turned to a green mush if you slice open the loom outer covering. The loom covering isn’t sealed at the end and it fills up with water. Crap bmw quality….. clean the earths, you may have to cut them back and redo. Cover and waterproof the earths, recover the loom, and seal the end up by the instruments to stop water entering in the future.
Click to expand...

I did actually attend to the earth point issue a few years ago when I put a relay in my ignition cct to eliminate voltage drops across the corrosion.
After checking the tail light bulb, I parked in the garage overnight, and today the symptoms have changed, the ABS light no longer comes on
when I switch on the heated grips, which is the only way I can get the indicators to work. If it hasnt dried out by the weekend I'll tackle it with
a compressor and silicone.
 
Beebop said:
I did actually attend to the earth point issue a few years ago when I put a relay in my ignition cct to eliminate voltage drops across the corrosion.
After checking the tail light bulb, I parked in the garage overnight, and today the symptoms have changed, the ABS light no longer comes on
when I switch on the heated grips, which is the only way I can get the indicators to work. If it hasnt dried out by the weekend I'll tackle it with
a compressor and silicone.
Click to expand...

If it is the crimped earths then forget about it drying out, if it’s affecting the instrument lights the earth is turning to a verdigris mush.
 
Well the problem is resolved.
Last night I started by stripping the right switch cluster and found.....nothing. Dry as the proverbial bone.
Took off the tank(yes I filled it the day before..clever me) No sign of anything wet or out of place.
Unplugged the right cluster harness, brake switch and heated grips. Nothing, nada.
Checked the crimped earths, all good and dry, no verdigris. Put the cables back, re-assembled the
switch cluster and it all works...hhmmm.
Put the tank back on, test it all and boom, back to square one, indicators only work with the heated grips on
and the warning triangle stays on. Pulled the tank again, it gets heavier each time. Then I took a glance at the
fuses. Not expecting anything there as the symptoms dont point there. Anyway , fuse number 7 is blown. Heated grips.
Replace the fuse,, test again and it pops. So then I unplug both heated grips, replaced the fuse and would you believe it, everything works.
I pulled the heated grips off and checked the wiring. No obvious fault found, but the left side gives me no reading
on the multimeter and the right side 9,3 Ohms. I leave them unplugged and put everything back.
I dont use the heated grips anyway, so they can wait for another day. Everything else works as it
should so I'm happy.
Dont you just hate electrics, and this is still a simple 1150, cant imagine what fault finding would be like on the can bus.
 
Beebop said:
Well the problem is resolved.
Last night I started by stripping the right switch cluster and found.....nothing. Dry as the proverbial bone.
Took off the tank(yes I filled it the day before..clever me) No sign of anything wet or out of place.
Unplugged the right cluster harness, brake switch and heated grips. Nothing, nada.
Checked the crimped earths, all good and dry, no verdigris. Put the cables back, re-assembled the
switch cluster and it all works...hhmmm.
Put the tank back on, test it all and boom, back to square one, indicators only work with the heated grips on
and the warning triangle stays on. Pulled the tank again, it gets heavier each time. Then I took a glance at the
fuses. Not expecting anything there as the symptoms dont point there. Anyway , fuse number 7 is blown. Heated grips.
Replace the fuse,, test again and it pops. So then I unplug both heated grips, replaced the fuse and would you believe it, everything works.
I pulled the heated grips off and checked the wiring. No obvious fault found, but the left side gives me no reading
on the multimeter and the right side 9,3 Ohms. I leave them unplugged and put everything back.
I dont use the heated grips anyway, so they can wait for another day. Everything else works as it
should so I'm happy.
Dont you just hate electrics, and this is still a simple 1150, cant imagine what fault finding would be like on the can bus.
Click to expand...

Kry vir jou...sommer alles in n dag regemaak. Vat hom Fluffie as ons op n slag gese het!
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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