[cjcoleiii]

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I had an odd ( at least I think odd) thing happen yesterday on my '88 1500GL. The bike has been running great. I replaced the battery about 2 weeks ago. I drove to work yesterday and when I went to go home I was putting on my gear and as normal I put the bike in neutral to start and warm it up before I got on the highway. When I turned the key to ACC I had the tempurature and amp guage come on as usual, however when I turned the key to "on" I got red "boxes" in the guages and the bike would not turn over. I tried it a number of times and the same result. If I turned the key back to ACC everything looked fine.



I was about to give up and I hopped on the bike thinking I may be able to push start it and I turned the key on ( after uprighting the bike). The lights returned to normal in the "on" position and the bike started fine. I got on and drove it home. This morning the bike started normal as usual.



When this happened the bike was on the kickstand all day and not the center stand, but that's not unusual when I have it at work. I thought maybe it could be a bank sensor but why would it do this when it was on it's kickstand.



I'm scheduled to ride to Boston next week and North Carolina in 2 weeks and as you may be able to appreciate I don't want this in the back of my mind while I'm riding.



Again, the battery was just replaced with the "gel" battery and it gave n o indication of anything wrong before this. I'm hoping when I get on her this afternoon to go home it starts. If not I'll update this blurb.



Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.



Thanks.



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[Zeke66]

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Ignition switch going bad?

 

[agnogel]

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What do you mean by red boxes in the guages

 

[SmartBiker]

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Zeke66 wrote:

Ignition switch going bad?

or the plugs over the left fan

may need cleaning

 

[machinehead]

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Ditto agnogel.?
What red boxes are you referring to on a gl1500 ???

 

[cjcoleiii]

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They were similar to dashes. The volts and temp. numbers went into what I can best describe as red boxes (graphics). Sorry if that's not clear. (By the way, sorry for the delayed response, have been dealing with water since Irene passed through here last week....yes, the wing made it!).

 

[cjcoleiii]

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Sorry, which plugs?

 

[SmartBiker]

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cjcoleiii wrote:

Sorry, which plugs?

there are connectors located over the right and left radiator fans. you have to remove each fairing lower on the right and left sides to see them.

the connectors over the left side fan, ignition switch, turn signal switch, turn signal cancel harness, and the radio controller on the handlebar

the connectors over the right side fan, switch for the right handlebar.

all mine were dirty.

 

[satan]

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agnogel wrote:

What do you mean by red boxes in the guages

machinehead wrote:

Ditto agnogel.?
What red boxes are you referring to on a gl1500 ???

Ahhh...



cjcoleiii wrote:

They were similar to dashes. The volts and temp. numbers went into what I can best describe as red boxes (graphics). Sorry if that's not clear. (By the way, sorry for the delayed response, have been dealing with water since Irene passed through here last week....yes, the wing made it!).

Aftermarket LED gauges... (Volt and Ambient Temp) -- Dead give-away is that they come on in the ACC key position.





cjcoleiii, with the bike idling normally, what voltage do you see? (and again at about 1500 RPM).



From what you describe, I'd suggest that you recheck the battery connectionsto ensure that they areclean and tight. Also an inspection of the dogbone and main fuse (in solenoid A) may be relevant (both forward of the battery)... just to be sure of things...



I would suspect that your "red box" display was a low-volt display condition, and since that display did NOT come up until after you switched to the ON position, additional current requirements may have drawn heavily across some high-resistance connection (e.g. dirty/loose battery connection) With your aftermarket gauges getting voltage from the ACC circuitry, and the start-stuff running from the "ON" circuitry, I'd suspect only items that those two key positions have in common. (or at least start there first)