Lighting/Electrical Question

[jasnyder]

So I have an electrical question for you guys...on my 04 escape my lights and hand warmers have been working sporadically. Then on a ride today I noticed that the premium only light on the dash was doing the same thing. So I tried switching the key between premium and regular and I noticed that the tach would sometimes stop working when I had it in the regular position. To makes things more confusing to me when I put the key in the off position the sled would keep running, but the tach would stop working again. When switching the key back and forth it had no affect on the lights, they did not come on. I thought it may be a switch issue so I disconnected it and my lights still did not work. Any suggestions, could it possibly be the voltage regulator?

Thanks

 

[Jay]

Goofy stuff like that is usually a ground issue. Won't hurt to check the VR and also have a look at how it's grounded. Maybe rust or corrosion.

 

[jasnyder]

Thanks for the info Jay, I will take a look at that. Do you know if there is a central ground point for the whole electrical system?

 

[Jay]

The stator is grounded into the engine, the wiring harness is grounded at the VR, thats all I can think of, could be more. Brown is ground all through the harness and yellow/red is grounded at the main plug for the stator. You'll see it tie into the brown in that plug. Check the connection at the VR also look for worn/rubbed wires. I've seen a wire rubbed bare touching the frame somewhere that does what your describing. Tailight wire under the seat or a wire on the handlebars cut. Electrical gemlins can be a b!tch, just take a good look at it and you'll probably find something. Good luck

 

[jasnyder]

Thanks Jay

 

[jasnyder]

So I found the issue...looks like I had a loose connection in a butt connector in the wiring that goes up to the handlebars. It looks like the loose connection got hot and melted the insulation on a couple of the wires. Cleaned it all up and all of the lights started working properly again. Loo I still have an ignition switch issue, the motor keeps running when in the off position, but that should be an easy fix.