It Died and Stranded Me

[Dan Filetti]

Putting the key in and getting only a dash light, sound to me like you may want to be looking at the starter button.  I have read where sometimes it gets stuck part way in.  Take it apart, clean it lube it.  Either way, it can't hurt.   Now, I have not heard where driving with it stuck part way in can cause stalling etc. as you experienced, but do not rule out multiple issues.

Just a thought.

Dan

[fj1289]

As Dan says - if it is a headlight problem too then go to the starter switch.  The FJ's have a cutout circuit for the headlight when the starter button is depressed - the idea being to use that power for the starter. 

I got pulled over one afternoon for not having my headlight on.  The starter button had fouled just enough to kill the headlight, but not engage the starter.  Took a little while to figure that one out!

[FJ1100mjk]

Well I think that I may have found the problem. After cleaning the starter button, and kill switch with some cleaner called Deoxit, which by the way is pretty good stuff, I was greeted with the neutral light coming on and the bike would crank and start. However, it didn't take long for that to stop and I was back to having nothing, then an occasional intermittent neurtal light on, and a little cranking. If it fired, it quickly died, and then no juice whatsoever. I took the starter relay off of my '87 and put it on, and no luck there. Plenty of voltage (12.5V) in the battery, that was at least making it through the main 30A fuse. I thought, well, I'll pull the front fairing off, which I did.

I started getting ready to verify voltage at various junction points, when I noticed that the four-pin connector that goes to the fuse panel was disconnected. I connected it back together, turned the ignition key on, but without the gauges on the bike couldn't see if the neutral light, or for that matter the headlight was on, but when I thumbed the starter button, it cranked! It now runs, and after shutting it down and starting it up a number of times, I'm feeling confident that the connector was the problem. Seems as though the retainer (spear-shaped thingy) that is supposed to hold the connector together and keep it from coming apart, has lost its springyness, and hardly holds it together. I'm thinking that I may have partially dislodged it when I put the front fairing on last when I had the whole bike pretty much apart. And became pretty much disconnected on my last ride when I was stranded. With some judicious usage of cable ties, I'm pretty sure the connector is not going to part itself again.

For the record, I checked the charging system, and it's cranking out 14.5V at from my best guess of 5,000 RPM by sound, because the gauges are still off the bike.
Never goes above 14.5V though.

Thanks to all who contributed.

[Yamifj1200]

" With some judicious usage of cable ties, I'm pretty sure the connector is not going to part itself again."

Good find, hope it cures the problem...

Eric M

[FJ1100mjk]

Rode it twenty-some miles today, and it didn't miss a beat. More miles to come!