David Graham Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Hello All. Having suffered the outrage of having my 2002 LeMans cutting out, having a missing starting circuit etc. I of course came to the forum for answers. This all pointed to relay touble - especially with the Fuel pump/ECU! Most of the remedies involved replacement relays of a fairly expensive and special nature. Deciding that the chances were if there was relay trouble and the relays in use were common widely used relays from reputable companies - Bosch, Seimens etc. that something else was damaging the relays - short, power surge etc. I decided to try a set of Bosch from a local truck parts distributer for £2.41 each I stuck them in and enjoyed trouble free riding for about 40 miles!!! So surmising that even the worst crap relay would last longer than that unless something more basic was wrong I called in my local spark wizard "The Bop Dunlop" - master of the wires. After a few basic checks including de-casing a relay to check for shorts, burnt wires etc. There was no sign of anything - in fact we put the naked relay back into its socket and with a little wobble it activated the fuel pump. So we went back to basics and simply took out all the relays, cleaned the sockets with solvent degreaser and tweaked the contacts with a small screwdriver to ensure a tight fit! Hey presto no more trouble apart from the need to wiggle the bars to sort the "under the tank wire" I have had no more unexpected stops! This lost me a whole riding season but this year I have been out every day since the clocks changed from GMT to BST rain or shine!! To put this simply - try cleaning and tweaking the sockets before buying relays!! I hope this helps some of you out. All the very best. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve G. Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Been there, done that. In time, you will see the advantages of Seimens/Bosch relay elimination. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luhbo Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Dave Graham is perfectly right with his observations. - The Siemens on my KR have seen nearly 100.000km or 9 years now - they still work fine and reliable. - The "Master of Relais and Everything Else On Bikes and Elsewhere" has tested probably every relais brand being available on the international market and found none but one of them satisfying (he has to use relays nevertheless, so probably the last brand tested luckily was the best). - David uses Bosch already now, and they didn't work either (before he'd fixed the rest around them). Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 To put this simply - try cleaning and tweaking the sockets before buying relays!! I second that. Last summer, after 20,000 kms without a trouble after replacing relays, my bike died on me while I was overtaking a good line of cars, leaving me in an awkward situation. It turned out the power relay had vibrated fully out of its socket! I pushed it in again and it died on me again on the same ride, after just 150 kms. Same relay off the socket again (and of course I was overtaking cars this time too ). While tweaking the connectors should be enough to fix that problem, I also applied some battery pole grease and strapped every relay down with cable ties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Graham Posted May 20, 2010 Author Share Posted May 20, 2010 Hello All again. Well here we are well into 2010 and I have once again been riding every day since the clocks went forwards and guess what - not a hint of relay trouble. Once again - check your connections and keep it simple. Basic rule for all thing mechanical and electrical - and especially electrical - if its not working start at the cheapest place!! Happy riding! Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docc Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 Good news, David! And thanks for the update. Just for cross reference, there is a thread on "How To" detailing this as well: Relay Base Repair Are you still having to "wiggle the bars" to sort your "under tank wire?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Graham Posted May 27, 2010 Author Share Posted May 27, 2010 Nope. Sorted that out when I had to take the tank off to replace the throttle cable, fuel and air filter. So all good at the moment thanks. Good news, David! And thanks for the update. Just for cross reference, there is a thread on "How To" detailing this as well: Relay Base Repair Are you still having to "wiggle the bars" to sort your "under tank wire?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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