Cruise control problem solved, GL1500

1055 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by NevadaDave, Oct 4, 2012

NevadaDave

Discussion Starter · Oct 3, 2012

For several months now, I have been having problems where my cruise control would not engage. It first started when I was up in Portland, and I thought that maybe the humidity was affecting the switches, as after a while riding, things would start to work OK. When I got back to nice, dry Nevada, the cruise control continued to exhibit this maddening intermittent behavior. I pulled the seat & did the switch diagnostic, and all seemed OK, so I put everything back together & still had the problem. Finally, this weekend I could not get it to work at all, so I figured more intense troubleshooting was in order. I pulled the seat again & started going through the switches, and to my surprise, found that my clutch switch was indicating open. I took a quick look, and found that the lever had not quite returned to its full travel. I pushed it a bit and the ohmmeter showed the switch activating. Further testing showed that if I operated the clutch as normal, most of the time the lever did not fully return to the inactive position. The cruise switch activates with just the slightest movement of the lever, which explains why there were no other clutch-switch related symptoms. At any rate, I buttoned everything up, took a test ride, and sure enough, if I just went through the gears normally, the cruise would not engage. If I pushed the lever just a bit so it was solidly in place, the cruise engaged every time!
So - I looked at the clutch lever side of things and it is not clear to me if that switch can be adjusted - does anyone know if it can?

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Hodgy

· #2 · Oct 3, 2012

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Mine did the same thing a couple of years ago. I took the clutch lever apart, cleaned it out and it has worked ever since.

A couple of posts here indicated that aftermarket levers sometimes change the way the micro switch is activated, or not.

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exavid

· #3 · Oct 3, 2012

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It's not really adjustable. A worn bushing in the lever will cause this problem. Check how well the pivot bolt fits into the lever. If the fit is sloppy that's the problem. It's often possible get the switch working by gluing a little piece of aluminum from a beer or pop can to the lever to make up for some wear in the switch. I've used a wee piece of aluminum can super glued to the lever where it contacts the switch plunger to make it work. As already mentioned this can be a problem with aftermarket levers but can usually be modified as above to get them to work as well.

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Dusty Boots

· #4 · Oct 3, 2012

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There is no adjustment of the switch.

An easy fix is to remove the lever,cut a small piece of aluminum (such as dryer vent pipe)andform it over the flat portion of the lever where it contacts the swicth. Then JB Weld it on, spreading the JB to the underside of the formed aluminum then add some kind of a clamp to keep it fitted tightand let it dry for 3-4 hours

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busdriver

· #5 · Oct 3, 2012

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Remove the lever, clean and re grease the brass pivot bushing and the area on the lever around the main bolt. Replace and test again.

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glhonda

· #6 · Oct 3, 2012

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busdriver wrote:

Remove the lever, clean and re grease the brass pivot bushing and the area on the lever around the main bolt. Replace and test again.

+1. My clutch lever was failing to return as well. I don't have cruise, but the lack of travel would cause the clutch to slip under hard accel. Clean the lever and pivot point.

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NevadaDave

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 4, 2012

All right! I took the lever off, cleaned and lubed everything, put it all back together, and it works great! Thanks to all who suggested cleaning & lubing!

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