Help Please! What did I do wrong

[neJeff]

Pulled the fuse panel to clean up the electrical connections with contact cleaner and pack with dielectric grease. Did all four plastic connectors under box and now I have no tach, signals, neutral light, horn ect. The headlight did come on. What the hell did I do wrong? Used Deoxit D5 and Permatex grease. Never had an issue like this before? Help!

[b.walker5]

No Tach is most likely due to bad connections in the large plug with the three white wires in it. It's direct from the alternator. The other issues may be due to bad fuse connections. Do you still have glass fuses or have you upgraded to the spade plug in type? The dielectric grease could be the problem as well, It doesnt conduct so you dont want it all over the connectors in the blocks. If the spade connectors are a little slack the grease can prevent good contact. I would go back to the contact cleaner and clean all the grease out and try again. If the problem goes away then carefully repack the connector blocks, taking care not to coat the actual terminals and try again.

[BA80]

Brian is right, just recheck your work carefully. The grease is to help seal from moisture getting in and insulate, not for conductivity.

[neJeff]

Ok, will redo. Thought the grease was to make a good contact and I've got it all over the blades. I'll report back...

[neJeff]

The Deoxit I was using felt a little oily so went to parts store and got CRC electronics cleaner. Took all connectors apart and have sprayed them out. Will let them dry overnight. I am hoping I have not done any permanent damage to anything.

[crazy steve]

I like using a product called 'De-ox' on electrical connections. It's mildly conductive, so not a good choice in lamp sockets or switches, but anyplace you have a mechanical barrier between conductors (like in the plug connectors) it works great. Does the same function as dielectric grease, but can be applied directly to connections. The brand name is Ilsco 'De-ox' and you can usually find it anywhere electrical parts are sold. There's another product used for the same purpose; Burndy 'Penatrox', but don't use that as it contains ground-up zinc and is pretty abrasive.

[neJeff]

Couldn't wait until until tomorrow...put all connectors back together and now the neutral and tach work but when you use signal lights it shuts them off. There are four blocks under there. I know one goes to the aux. power tap, another 2 wire one is field coil, the 3 white wire one is stator and the other has several wires in it but I'm not sure what they are. I suspect this one needs cleaned again if the wires are literally "getting crossed".

[BA80]

Keep workin'........your gettin' there.

turn the ignition on and move stuff around. Watch the lights, you'll find the problem.

[bikerphil]

I couldn't tell from your posts if you have the old style glass fuse box or have upgraded to the newer blade type. If you have the old type, do yourself a favor and upgrade. Makes gremlins magically go away.

[neJeff]

Hi, Have the glass ones. Seem pretty straight forward, is a blade conversion that much better than the glass?

[bikerphil]

Well, the clips of the glass type box lose their integrity, they get weak and can cause an open circuit. Also you know those glass fuses can be flaky with their loose ends and all. Member Topcat sells the proper blade (ATC) fuse box for like $10, straight forward to hook up.

Don't forget about your main fuse in the black rubber holder on the left side of the bike.

[BA80]

Since everyone here is trying to sell you the upgrade, which I don't disagree with, I just thought I would throw in here and say to make sure THAT IS your problem before you just start throwing stuff at it.

I have three bikes with the stock panels and they all work OK.

[bikerphil]

I have three bikes with the stock panels and they all work OK.

For now.

[cywelchjr]

Since everyone here is trying to sell you the upgrade, which I don't disagree with, I just thought I would throw in here and say to make sure THAT IS your problem before you just start throwing stuff at it.

I have three bikes with the stock panels and they all work OK.

Your lucky Greg. I've got two bikes that the stock panels almost fell apart, and they looked fine till I started fiddling with the clips and then they came apart. Those clips get brittle with age, and also lose their spring and don't hold onto the fuse as well, plus, working in the electronics field, there is a reason they have largely gotten rid of those glass type fuses in new stuff, they really are junk, just just the holders, but the fuses themselves just are not up the standard that the newer fuse types are up to, most circuits that use glass fuses in electronics use ones with pigtails on them that are soldered into the circuit for a good connection, but few circuits use those anymore, there are so many more reliable fuse types available, and frankly those aren't even all that cheap either, and they don't hold up to vibration all that well either, so what with how cheap it is to change those out, it's cheap insurance, but if your not going to do that, there is a source for a replacement box just like the original but new, at least do that. Frankly, my XS400 that has the same fuse box had electrical issues from the fuse box 20 years ago when it was only 6 years old, that's how bad the OEM box is.
And yes, owners talked about how bad they were back then, it was just when you met another owner in person.

[James England]

Since everyone here is trying to sell you the upgrade,

The fuse box is a pain in the neck and the source of loads of problems. Yes, sure, they work perfectly...until they stop working perfectly. The fact that a known problem component works OK right now is absolutely no reason to leave it alone, untouched and un-replaced. If you check the threads here, you'll see loads of people have replaced the old fuseboxes. $10 isn't exactly a fortune is it? And it's probably a lot easier and more reliable than cleaning all that goop off the fusebox too.

The bladed fuse upgrade is one of these very low cost, easily done upgrades which avoid problems. ie it's a preventative measure which will remove all possibility of what happened to me... complete electrical failure whilst overtaking, caused by a hitherto 'reliable' fusebox. In your case, since you quite clearly have created a problem by trying to maintain the old one (I presume your bike was working OK until then?), it makes perfect sense to spend $10 or less, get rid of the greasy old one and put a modern, reliable upgrade on.

The grease thing is meant to be done after you've put the blocks together. Did you do it before assembling the plugs? (I bet you did). No panic. Replace the fuse box anyway and clean all the blocks with degreaser. You could also clean all the old fuse box, just to get the bike running and reassure yourself that all is fine. I'd still replace the box though