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Last night I had absolutely had it with an intermitant problem
with my bike's ignition switch. The problem was that all power
would cut out (as if the key was turned to the OFF position) and
the key would have to be jiggled to "find" the ON spot
again. This had been happening before bike could be started
(which is mildly annoying, but the spot could always be found and
the bike would stay on.) In wet weather it would be a little
harder to find, but not impossible. Friday night, on my ride home the bike kept cutting out WHILE
RIDING! The resulting backfires would make Ye grin and
pedestrians leap out of their skins. It became very hairy and
scary. Needless to say I was very grateful to be home and
IMMEDIATELY torn into the ignition switch. The switch, I found, is not solid state (thankfully) and I was
able to completely disassemble it. The contacts were very mildly
dirty, so I cleaned them and coated with dielectric grease. I
partially reassembled to test it, and it seemed to work. I
installed the switch back into the key/lock housing to test
again. This time the problem persisted. ??? I eventualy realized that there was some play in the way the unit fit together. I had to shim the space in there to make the unit solid, but what do I use that won't interferre with all the electrical contacts on the back of the switch where the ignition wire are soldered? I ended up using a folded up condom. It is made out of latex rubber, and I know that I always feel "insulated" when I wear one. It worked like a charm. The switch now performs effortlessly! |