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Electrical problems with an 03 GT

1K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  BAK04GT 
#1 ·
I have an 03 GT with an instrument cluster that largely does not work and I'm hoping that someone here has had a similar experience with a solution for me.

A couple of months ago I noticed the dash was occasionally behaving unexpectedly after starting the engine. Alternator and sometimes neutral warning would glow dimly, disappearing after a short while, while RPM gague would cease to function.

More recently when turning on the ignition none of the warning lamps are lit with the exception of the flashing ABS check light (not the ABS fault light), after engine start, alt and neutral lit dimly, returning to normal after 10-30 seconds.

This has been highly intermittent, until a few days ago when the problem occurs for much longer on one occasion, then following the next restart the lights and gagues fail to resume normal function and it's how it remains now with the exception that the neutral light no longer glows and the alt light is lit brightly.

The fuel gague and temp gague work, as do indicators hi beam and ABS check, so does the clock but not the gear position indicator. I would check the cluster's board except that the things that dont work are wired directly and not through any board at the instrument panel.

Checking the alternator output by measuring the battery voltage I was getting about 14.0 volts when engine running and have conducted a battery test, post load, with a voltage around 12.9.

Something strange happened on some of the running tests. The alternator produced no corresponding increase in voltage across the battery, no alt light was lit and the temp gague stopped working. Stopping the engine and restarting would resume alternator output etc as before.

The bike's been pulled apart looking for the obvious, bad earth, corroded connections at connectors, etcetera. I found some corrosion on two of the blocks leading to the instrument cluster, think I cleaned them out but not 100% sure right now - the female socket with protruding pins appear bright but have some copper sulphate residues that come from the male plug end of the copper wires. These things have been cleaned inspected seated and reseated several times and it does not affect the symptoms except that I think that the glowing neutral and alternator together has stopped since the cleaning (alt is brightly lit).

Any ideas?

CS
 
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#2 · (Edited)
I'd be looking for ground wire problems or connectors and connections on the back of the instrument panel, but first check both grounds at the battery are present and clean. Many of those connections in the front are exposed to condensation and water and can get corroded. You need to mark all the wires first, remove and turn over the instrument head, then clean each connection in turn. When I've had corrosion on those push fit bullet connectors, I've used RS switch cleaner and even a needle file to thoroughly remove any crud.

Also, the instrumentation wiring is wrapped in a large bundle which has to move about as you steer. I had a couple of BMW's skimpy wires just break internally at the flex point. I found out when I grabbed the wire sheath at the panel end and gave it a sharp tug. The pvc wire sheath just tore apart and pulled out.

The next time you get some instrument lights lit, wiggle the steering lock to lock and see if any or all go out. There are so many issues it's difficult to boil them down to a single problem, so I'd start with checking wiring at the instrument housing and see what faults are left.

Hope this helps: Plastics off and a bit of searching with a wiring diagram and test meter I'm afraid.



 
#3 ·
Along with what VOX said...Not sure but I think the panel is a circut board...i have had number of problems in that area on different types of dash boards and it turns out that there is a break in the printed circut due to vibs and just bad production...might want to take a look at that also...instrament lights just go whako and you can never catch it when you need to find the area of the problem...but yes..gnd gnd gnd! just for shits and giggles run a jumper from your batt gnd to the panel gnd and see if that helps...hope all works out..most likly somthin simple
 
#5 ·
Resolution to wiring problem

Just in case anyone else has similar problems with this particular type of bike, here's what went wrong.

Most of the instrument cluster have a common wire marked Green/Black (there's 12 here). They all travel in the loom from the instruments to the headstock and terminate in an appendix-like wrap of jointed cables that point down just before entering the wiring box. Three other groups of wires do the same - Brown, Brown+mixed and gray/blue.

The way the cables are sheathed means that if water gets into the loom it settles in this 'appendix' and, with no means of draining away, corrodes the wires which are spliced together.

The resolution was to re-splice this group of wires, and also a smaller number of gray/blue wires (6) which were also badly corroded.

The work was finished by coating the newly soldered joints liberally with vaseline and shrink wrapping each, then shrink wrapping the whole appendix leaving a generous tube pointing down that will drain any future moisture rather than holding it around the joints.

Regards to those who offered help.
 
#6 ·
CitySlicker said:
Just in case anyone else has similar problems with this particular type of bike, here's what went wrong.

Most of the instrument cluster have a common wire marked Green/Black (there's 12 here). They all travel in the loom from the instruments to the headstock and terminate in an appendix-like wrap of jointed cables that point down just before entering the wiring box. Three other groups of wires do the same - Brown, Brown+mixed and gray/blue.

The way the cables are sheathed means that if water gets into the loom it settles in this 'appendix' and, with no means of draining away, corrodes the wires which are spliced together.

The resolution was to re-splice this group of wires, and also a smaller number of gray/blue wires (6) which were also badly corroded.

The work was finished by coating the newly soldered joints liberally with vaseline and shrink wrapping each, then shrink wrapping the whole appendix leaving a generous tube pointing down that will drain any future moisture rather than holding it around the joints.

Regards to those who offered help.

good catch....will come in handy im sure.....
 
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