| Author | Message | ||
     Screamineanie |
I have an 2004 XB12R Firebolt that will not start. It started fine, stalled(cold) and will not start back up. When I turn the key switch on, I get no lights, no gauge sweep and no instrument lights and my key switch relay buzzes. I have 12.83V at battery and have disconnected cables and cleaned posts thoroughly. I have replaced the key switch relay and still get a buzzing sound with no lights,etc. when key is turned on. I have checked and double checked all fuses... all are good (visual and continuity). This is so frustrating...anybody have any ideas? Could it possibly be time to replace my key ignition switch? Any thoughts would be a big help...besides, who wants to be driving a car in the summer? | ||
| Rays |
The ignition switch has two separate sets of contacts so it is unlikely (but not impossible) for both sets of contacts to foul up at the same time. On my '06 Uly the second set of contacts supplies the flasher relay, the tail light and the small running light in the headlight. So if your blinkers work while all else is dead I would be really suspicious of the ignition switch. The buzzing could certainly be a relay struggling with low supply voltage. From what you mentioned about cleaning I assume you had a good look at the relay socket - there was another post about those in the XB section recently as well. It is pretty straight-forward to check for resistive connections and to pull apart and clean - I recently posted some links for someone else in the XB section: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/585007.html?1282089533 | ||
| Screamineanie |
I have checked all connectors and connections on the relay socket block and still no luck...the key ignition switch simply felt sloppy as well, so I replaced this with a brand new one. Plugged it in, and to no avail, still the same problem and I agree that it does sound like the relay is getting a low voltage signal. Does the ECM have anything to do with control voltage to the relay? Could the ECM be bad? AAARRRRRGGGGHHHH! It's getting real close to just loading it up and going to the shop, I just wish it could be a simpler fix... | ||
| Rays |
The low voltage thing could also be caused by a resistive ground on the Key switch relay. It could also be low voltage / poor connection from the battery so measuring what you have would give you a better idea. When you look at the relay socket the power and ground is provided to the outer two pins in the row of three smaller pins (if that makes sense). You should be able to measure +12volts on one of these pins (I'm not familiar with your model so I'm not sure of the orientation of the relays sockets) using the battery negative as a reference and the ignition switched ON. The other outer pin will be the ground connection so you need to measure the resistance from this pin to the battery negative terminal. I have no idea of where the grounding points are on a Firebolt but the circuit diagram shows this particular ground going to the same point as the negative lead of the battery. It wouldn't hurt to clean these (and the battery terminals) anyway. You could also measure the +12 volts with reference to the other outer pin but unless you have a really bad connection the very low current draw of the multimeter won't show up much voltage drop. If this is all double talk let me know and I can put together a more detailed step by step thing if you like. Do you have access to a multimeter? | ||
| Fahren |
+1 on cleaning up the ground points. I would even go as far as filing/sanding off the paint to get down to bare metal, then using copper anti-seize or dielectric grease on the connection. 12.83Volts is not super-high charge for a 12V battery, just sitting. It could normally be as high as between 13 and 14V, so it would not hurt to get it bench-tested at an auto parts place. I'm going from Lightning setup, not Firebolt, but arent't there 2 identical relays in the fuse box, which can be swapped to test if one is bad? |
