Washed the bike... now it's dead.

Hello wise WRR forum wizards. I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I seek your advice, and thus shall be in your debt. I am new to these bikes.

Here's a strange one. I bought a low-ish mileage 2008 WRR with a bit of a starting issue, sounded like a starter motor was on the way out, but the bike did start off the button after a few tries. It would start easily enough bump started whilst pushed along the road.

All good.

So I took the bike apart, gave it a good scrub and clean. Relubed and refitted everything, had it looking real nice. I did not remove the spark plug, but I did have the tank off. I removed the AIS and EXUP whilst I was in there (and used the EXUP 8k resistor trick). I done nothing else to electronics. Exhaust came off.. and went right back on again.

Put the bike back together again, only to discover.... Nothing.

The display wont even light up when the key is turned. Button start does nothing.

Tried jumping the relay with a screwdriver and the engine will turn but wont fire.

What the hell? I did use a pressure washer but was veeery careful to keep it only to the wheels and underside. Is there any common problematic electronics or sensors I should know about that could cause this? No display and dead button start.

The headlight will flicker on if I push the bike in gear.

I'm usually fine at this kind of diagnostic..but i'm lost on this one.

Any ideas?

Thanks guys n' gals

Check for a bad ground or that you did not blow the main fuse, check your battery connections etc. Simple things first.

I think the most important hint here is that the dash doesn't power on. With all other issues (like dirty/bad connection in the kill switch, fuel pump problems, etc) the dash will still turn on. Seems like the bike is not getting any power. So check all the fuses, battery, is the ecu still plugged in properly?

CRFan1 wrote:

Check for a bad ground or that you did not blow the main fuse, check your battery connections etc.  Simple things first.

I ran over the obvious. Battery charged, starter solenoid bridged, loose wires etc. The problem is the fact that display wont light up.

bigg wrote:

I think the most important hint here is that the dash doesn't power on. With all other issues (like dirty/bad connection in the kill switch, fuel pump problems, etc) the dash will still turn on. Seems like the bike is not getting any power. So check all the fuses, battery, is the ecu still plugged in properly?

That's where I am at now. Fuses appear intact, have even replaced a few. Unplugged and replugged the ECU and about every other plug I can find.

I have heard about a connection behind the radiator that leads from the kill switch. Does such a thing exist?

Super Sonic Rocketship wrote:

CRFan1 wrote:

Check for a bad ground or that you did not blow the main fuse, check your battery connections etc.  Simple things first.

I ran over the obvious. Battery charged, starter solenoid bridged, loose wires etc. The problem is the fact that display wont light up.

bigg wrote:

I think the most important hint here is that the dash doesn't power on. With all other issues (like dirty/bad connection in the kill switch, fuel pump problems, etc) the dash will still turn on. Seems like the bike is not getting any power. So check all the fuses, battery, is the ecu still plugged in properly?

That's where I am at now. Fuses appear intact, have even replaced a few. Unplugged and replugged the ECU and about every other plug I can find.

I have heard about a connection behind the radiator that leads from the kill switch. Does such a thing exist?

Yes, I have heard about a connector that is in behind the radiator that was not fully seated from the factory on some bikes....at the very least it's worth checking. If you are saying the main fuse is not blown (That is one thing that would cause nothing to light up), than it has be be a connector or a ground.....

CRFan1 wrote:

Super Sonic Rocketship wrote:

CRFan1 wrote:

Check for a bad ground or that you did not blow the main fuse, check your battery connections etc.  Simple things first.

I ran over the obvious. Battery charged, starter solenoid bridged, loose wires etc. The problem is the fact that display wont light up.

bigg wrote:

I think the most important hint here is that the dash doesn't power on. With all other issues (like dirty/bad connection in the kill switch, fuel pump problems, etc) the dash will still turn on. Seems like the bike is not getting any power. So check all the fuses, battery, is the ecu still plugged in properly?

That's where I am at now. Fuses appear intact, have even replaced a few. Unplugged and replugged the ECU and about every other plug I can find.

I have heard about a connection behind the radiator that leads from the kill switch. Does such a thing exist?

Yes, I have heard about a connector that is in behind the radiator that was not fully seated from the factory on some bikes....at the very least it's worth checking.  If you are saying the main fuse is not blown (That is one thing that would cause nothing to light up), than it has be be a connector or a ground.....

Yeh it's surreal, the Main fuse is intact, even swapped it out for the spare just to be sure. Still no display.

When I get home this evening I will check the connection behind the radiator, though I feel it wont be that. *Sigh*. I've looked over every connection I can see. Will look into how to check for grounds.

Trying to think where water could have seeped into to possibly cause this.

Hope I can get to the bottom of this!

I hate to even suggest it, but did you disconnect the ground wire from the battery at any point?

Follow the killswitchwires down the the connectors on the rightside of the frame. Have a look at the connectors down there.

Oh my word. The plot thickens...

Ok so I have narrowed it down to a very surreal problem. The left hand side clutch lever assembly that houses the signal and horn switches is not stock, it's some kind of aftermarket part. I'm guessing the bike was dumped on the left side at some point and the previous owner replaced it with a non standard part.

I have a stray wire coming from the signal switch... and I have no idea where it goes.

But here's where it gets really weird.

This stray wire is causing the Signal Fuse to blow in the fuse box (I must have missed that one first time) Right now the bike have NO FUSE in the 10A signal slot. But the signals still work...

No headlight, no dash, no ignition, nothing... but I have signals with no signal fuse in place. I have checked that perhaps my fuses have been mislabeled somehow at the factory (very unlikely) but nope. It all matches.

Is it black magic at work?

I need to figure out where this stray wire leads to! Where do the signal wires end up?

***EDIT***

I need to locate the Turn Signal Relay... Anyone got any idea where this is located on a stock bike? This non-standard wiring is throwing me well of course!

UPDATE:

Discovered the bike is now blowing the 10A signal switch every time and I don't know why :/

Not a clue.

Super Sonic Rocketship wrote:

UPDATE:

Discovered the bike is now blowing the 10A signal switch every time and I don't know why :/

Not a clue.

You are going to have to take a hard look at the bikes wiring schematic and see how that switch is supposed to be wired.  I would take the switch apart and see whats up as well.....if you are blowing a fuse immediately, something is directly shorted to ground or wired incorrectly. Also, check all wiring harnesses where they rub against something (like the frame, etc.) and make sure nothing is rubbed through.....

I've been pouring over this thing. I have never been good with schematics :(

Guess it's time to get good

just stumbled on this post, reminded me of something that happened to my bike...just some input, may not be related (maybe u solved it already)...

when I had to replace a rear turn signal, I made one wrong connection between the wires (left, right, positive, left right ground, common?...) anyway, when I turned the key the fuse blew every time and no dash light or anything...

i thought of it when you mentioned left hand switch box...where the signals are...