2003 Dakar Weird Electrical Gremlin

[pgrange]

OK so I tested the earth leakage again and it still reads around 50ma. Following the heads up from ribblerouser who kindly pointed out ratcliffe's recent posts I disconnected the instruments wiring connector and lo and behold the reading dropped to zero. Does this mean that my dash is nackered

[TonyR]

Originally Posted by pgrange

OK so I tested the earth leakage again and it still reads around 50ma. Following the heads up from ribblerouser who kindly pointed out ratcliffe's recent posts I disconnected the instruments wiring connector and lo and behold the reading dropped to zero. Does this mean that my dash is nackered

No neccesarily... could just be a minor fault, I would start by spraying a little WD40 on the terminals and wires as far as you can get... see if this reduces the problem, if not try dismantling.. there will be other connectors I expect in there and see if the same procedure solves it...

hope it helps.

Tony.

[driftershooter]

Spraying oil on electrics? thought that was generally not recommended, like on the steering lock posts for instance? Confused

[TonyR]

Originally Posted by driftershooter

Spraying oil on electrics? thought that was generally not recommended, like on the steering lock posts for instance? Confused

Well... I used to do it to Distributors on old cars all the time, something to do with WD40 being light and therefore dispersing any water....

Is that why I killed all those cars... (joking)

Tony.

[driftershooter]

Originally Posted by TonyR

Well... I used to do it to Distributors on old cars all the time, something to do with WD40 being light and therefore dispersing any water....

Is that why I killed all those cars... (joking)

Tony.

So it was you, hahahahahahaha!

[pgrange]

Spent all day stripping the wiring down and testing every connector. All cleaned & checked for shorts and continuity. No issues to report. Put the bike back together and I still have this problem.

It would appear that something is wrong inside the cluster. Although the problem is a little one and something that I can live with I suspect having to push the trip reset button for 3 seconds before the clocks start to work is a MOT failure which is due next month.

I guess I have 2 options.

Option 1

Push something into the trip reset hole to make sure that when the key's turned the clocks operate as they should which is OK but the odometer only displays for a second before it reverts to the trip meter and I am unable to toggle between the two.

Option 2

Replace the unit. A new one costs £250 or used £150 odd. Or maybe just change the whole thing and put in a Vapor.

Does anyone know if the cluster can be repaired?

TIA

Peter

[ribblerouser]

You can only repair it if you know what the problem is, which is still elusive unfortunately. It may not necessarily fail the MOT as the speedo still functions, and thus technically is not defective. Neither the tacho nor the odometer are required for the test. Have you had a look at the Chain Gang FAQs accessible here, because I have read of similar problems with the instrument panel. My guess would be a problem with the clock, have you tried disconnecting it to see if the fault still shows


Regards

[pgrange]

Originally Posted by ribblerouser

You can only repair it if you know what the problem is, which is still elusive unfortunately. It may not necessarily fail the MOT as the speedo still functions, and thus technically is not defective. Neither the tacho nor the odometer are required for the test. Have you had a look at the Chain Gang FAQs accessible here, because I have read of similar problems with the instrument panel. My guess would be a problem with the clock, have you tried disconnecting it to see if the fault still shows


Regards

Unfortunately the speedo doesn't work either until the trip is pressed.

I haven't tried just disconnecting the clock. I'll give that a go tomorrow.

Thanks