Electrics problem

[Nai]

My bike got knocked over (again) before xmas, it has scince sat outside and been used... Once or twice over the whole xmas period (about 3-4 weeks, and if it got taken it it was 2 mile up the road at most). I hopped on this weekend for a ride, went out Friday, it worked fine, but the Neutral light seemed to be stuck on.

I turned on Saturday morning and got a flickering digital dash. I tried jumping it in case it was a flat battery and it didn't make any difference. I noticed when I turned the key to the off and wheel lock position the clock stayed on. It normally turns off.

I tried it tonight and got nothing. Not flickering dash. Not even a clock. In hindsight I should have disconnected the battery. Wasn't thinking, my bad.

My dealers are terrible and the last time they had my bike the monkey 'fill in' mechanic did more damage to my bike than servicing. They are buggers for saying 'I will call you back' and you never hear from them (much like they have done to me again this time).

The bike is of course a Rieju RS2 125. Any ideas on if this can be fixed by myself (I am utterly clueless with mechanics and have little to no tools) or is this a head to general topics and ask there for a good mechanic in Hillingdon kinda case?

[CaNsA]

https://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/56/l_94e3efb3c7ddde76eb63cea06e2d2245.jpg

[Nai]

No idea what that means...

[stinkwheel]

Sounds like a dodgy connector somewhere or possibly the ignition switch. Damp, corrosion, knocked loose in the drop of a combination of these.

I'd pull the connectors apart one a a time, give them a good scoosh of WD40 and reconnect them. I'd also treat the ignition and handlebar switches to a good dousing. While you're there, keep an eye out for any damaged or trapped wires.

Take the battery off, charge it and clean the contacts. Cover them with a smear of vaseline once reconnected and see how it goes.
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[Teflon-Mike]

Pic of arse end of bike is a pictorial version of 'I think your sub-frame's twisted'...

With Stinkwheel on this one. Electrical gremlins are, anoying little pixies, constantly shifting about and looking for trouble.

First thing BATTERY.
If the bikes been over, pull it, check it.
Chances are if it was lying on it's side or worse, inverted, all the acid has trickled out.
If the electrolyte level is low, you may have tatered it drawing starting current. If so, will need replacement. If not, MAY be salvaged with some new acid. Ones about £2 other £20, your call whether to risk a couple of quid on some acid and see if it recovers it.
Either way, if there has been some acid spill, sluice out the battery tray with copiouse quantities of water, and strip back all parts to the sill area and check for corrosion damage. Acid will make metal rust / corrode effoff quick.

Next; loose earths.
LOADS and LOADS of head-scratching electrical faults turn out to be down to a single dodgy earth. Sucking egs time, but electricity goes from + on battery to switch and from there to light bulb, but needs to get back from there to - on battery. To save wire, most bikes dont have a return or earth wire, the - on the battery is connected to teh frame, then the - side of everything else is too, saving spaghetti.
Only trouble is, with loads of 'common' circuits, branching off, if the earth wire on one device is cut, it can earth through another, causing curiouse effects.

Normally, the main junction box for all the bikes wiring is in the back of the head-lamp. Its a convenient spot, given most of the switches and stuff are on the handle-bars or yoke. Your bikes full-faired so may be in the fairing, but same area.

Conventionally the common earth point in the head-lamp is one of the head-lamp bolts. BUT, the forks and handle-bars and everything are only attached to the frame through the head-stock bearings, which covered in grease wont provide a great electrical return path, so theres normally a common earth return from the earth bonding point, through the main-loom back the the frame bonding point.

Given the bikes been 'over', and curiose faults on the instrument binicle, I'd look to see if an eart wire has been pulled out.

First one would be the earth wire from the instrument cluster to the common earth bonding point, next, the return strap from the comon earth to frame earth.

And as Stink suggests, all the connector blocks.

On that particular one, if you have access to a Multi-Meter, heck the continuity of each connection, through the block, spiking the wires a little before the contact.

Make sure the Battery is Removed from bike to void putting volts on your Multi-Meter, if you do this.

Connector blcoks are a 'stress-point' in the loom, the wires all doing a tight S bend to spread into the holes for the connectors in the block.

If bikes been over, POSSIBLE that a twiost or tug can pull the connectors slightly out of the block, or for wires to break at the connector crimp.

Worth waggling them to check... one of them nigglies just cost me a £50 ruddy rectifier, turns out I didn't need!

End of the day, Electrics usually isn't horendousely mind-bending physics, its just a case of looking for the obviouse, eliminating variables, and lots and lots of laboriouse, time consuming, checking and tracing.

Which is why people get frustrated, and why mechanics can charge an arm and a leg for it. Many often hate electrics, anyway, and fault-finding an intermittent problem is a 'how longs a piece of wire' job to bill. Fixing a head-gasket, they roughly know how many bolts need undoing, and what to do to change it, and what parts they'll need and how much its going to cost.

Intermittent electrical fault, might not actually show up when they look at the bike. Might take them half a day to even FIND a fault, then another two, tracing the cause... and if its just a loose wire, rather hard to convince a customer it really did take a mechanic 18hrs of work-shop time to fix it!
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[Nai]

Thanks guys, after a bit of fiddling with a torch last night, I notice the ignition barrel doesn't look right (or more feel). The key goes in fine but doesn't feel right, it used to be more.... Clicky? I am guessing its possible where it sat water could have gotten in and frozen / expanded? It got used every day through all conditions all over December.

If it is an ignition barrel problem would make sense as to why it is not responding to the keys position.

Ill have a proper go with the wires at the weekend as I have no street lights where my bike is parked and my torch is a piddly thing, I would be better off with a candle.