#^&#@*$(&$ Gremlins

[planedick]

Had a couple of days with decent weather to ride and The Pathfinder wants to make problems. Went to the bank yesterday, lots of traffic, moved to the head of the line at the light as there was lots of room between the cars. Sat there idling fine until the light went green, then the engine quit. No lights, no nothing. Got off it and started pushing it out of the way so the traffic could go and the nuetral light came on so I got on and hit the starter. Started right up and went to the next signal just fine. This time I didn't go to the front and same thing, after about 30 seconds idling it quit again. Got off and started to move it and power came back again. #%$&#@ At the bank I was leaving, hard right turn, just as I leaned right and started to move, stopped again, this time falling over. $#&^%@#% Got home by keeping RPMS high and of course it runs fine in the garage. Idled for long periods of time without any problem. Looks like it's time to take all the connections apart and look everything over real good. Oh well, it is winter, time for all those maintenance things.

[tarzan]

Amc gremlins?hehe

It sounds like your problem might be up around the steering head eh?What a pain.But like you say it gives time for maintainance.Good luck and have fun

[Ken Talbot]

Electrical gremlin - loose or dirty connector.

BTDT..

[thewiz]

Sparkey gremlins, eh? Ain't that yer ....

speciality, there Mr. Planerichard? Only a one in ten chance to nail it with a 'sharpshot'. You're right to check everything ... there ain't that much, right? Already has a new fuse box, doesn't it? Since the accident, everything up front is suspect, I believe, including the kill switch. .... even the pick up coil wires that have been fixed in the past could have broken loose again ... what a pain !!

[Cobia]

Sorry to hear that, Richard. Hope there wasn't too much damage.

[wa407mpp]

There's a connector plug under the fuel tank on the right side. It connects the switches on the handlebars when I remove the handlebars or work under the tank on my bike it will pull apart and leave me dead in the water.Might be worth a look.

[boyat68]

planedick:

It looks like the old clean and di-electric grease time again. When I bought my bike from the PO, he said he was selling it because he had an electrical gremlin that caused the bike to die. I had him knock down the price and eventually found the gremlin. It was heating up the connector to the key switch. It apparently would heat up and separate in the connector. The original PO did not do any of his own maintenance and had spent a lot of money at his local Yamaha dealer trying to fix the bike. They sold him a new Star.

[foreda]

Gremlins

I know you probably have this but here is the diagram anyway. Don't forget the grounds!! They are often neglected and overlooked.

[planedick]

Oh yeah

I know I can find the gremlin, it's just that it comes when there is a good day to ride. It's just a matter of doing it. Like The Whiz says, it's my forte and I'll find it OK, just gotta go do it. Looks like it's gonna rain for the whole week, so I'll have time for that and some other things I have to do also.

[egsols]

Maybe a shot in the dark, but you may want to include the tipover switch in you troubleshooting.

[GARTHXS]

good luck!

Hey planedick I am going through something like that too but only when I am trying to park and it requires mucho head movement. I hope you didn't hurt your bike too much when you dropped it

[randy]

It was heating up the connector to the key switch. It apparently would heat up and separate in the connector.

I had that exact problem this past summer, even though I had replaced the connectors two years back. Finally soldered the wires permanently.

[Dragonrider]

If that rubbery "lump in the cable" main fuse holder on the *left* side hasn't been replaced...I'd suspect it...

[planedick]

Rubbery lump?????

I haven't heard of that before. I didn't know there was a fuse in the cable. Maybe I should have posted this in the XS/XJ discussion forum. I wasn't really looking for help yet as I haven't even begun to look for the problem.....

[Dragonrider]

Not sure all the models had them...but I know the specials did and at least the 80-up standard.

There's a rubber(ish) fuse holder...in the cable...it was meant to be accessed from under the *left* side cover, but more often ends up under the seat on the left side...in a large guage red wire...the main power other than the starter cable. It holds a glass 30amp fuse and a spare. It doesn't hold it very well and can be a loose or bad connection. When I replaced my fuse box I simply added a main fuse in the fuse box and removed that one...

It's a common yamaha feature for that era too...not just the XS11's. Very unreliable...and sort of hard to spot unless you know what you are looking for!