Riding back from argos in hayes yesterday i decided to use m4 instead of normal route on 312 and a30 home …
after leaving 312 and setting off on m4 make way out to lane 3 and am progressing quite nicley when i have a lovely odour of melting plastic/burning wiring smell and at first though possible bonfire somewhere and riding through the path of that , Open visor and even more intense and at this moment i am engulfed in a large cloud of white smoke from the headstock area and in this instance the whole bike shuts down …complete eletrical shutdown …no lights no indicators and worse of all NO ENGINE POWER and considering i am still ( or was rapidly progressing ) in lane three and quickly pull the clutch in and then have that lovely option of Central reservation stop but bearing in mind i have no form or warning other motorists of my presence there and the risk of misjudging the varying barrier direction and detrius that accumaltes along side and end up bouncing along in the outisde lane did not fill me with much relief or the slightly insane attempt to reach the hard shoulder by crossing two lanes of traffic with no power and no form of signalling my intentions ( yes i know arm signals but i did not want to risk not finding neutral in my attempt to be able to release the clutch lever).
So i go for the hard shoulder option … and just had to pick the best gaps i possibly could and go for it…
And thankfully i made it yes with some added chorus of a car horn or two and thankfully without making anyone else have to swerve or brake harshly and managed to make it onto hard shoulder at about 25mph …
After a period of sitting down and wondering if this was a good time to start smoking again an then realising it may be but no cigarettes i would not bother to go there again .
So my investigation begins play with switches …Nothing … ok seat of and check fuses … Main Fuse is a melted glob of plastic …ok change that and instantly smell and smoke from ignition switch area and pretty spark from fuse …
Not being able to see the switch back due to fairings etc i decide to remove ignition switch (yes i am one of those who actually carry a full toolkit( not just the one that comes with the bike ) and know how to use it ) this removed and investigated … the main battery feed to the switch has become detached from the rear of the switch and melted the insulation where it must have earthed/shorted against something) … Change main fuse and hold the wire against its correct place and we have life …But the cable soons gets very hot and i have to let go so this is the reason why the wire became detached by the extreme heat causing its connection to melt ( solder based )
Not wanting to start dismantling the switch on the roadside and risk loosing any bits its time to go back along the lines to see if possible to bypass the switch easily … find the relevant connector ( under the tank ) and seeing i have added extra things to the bike ( cigarette lighter socket for phone chrger/sat nav etc ) i have a few spare wires i can borrow …This done and worked out which wire i need to place a feed to to activate the ignition side of things i connect the two up and the bike starts and no problems with the wires heating up … next … work out the electrical side ( lights etc ) this done and again no problems … so switch seems to be the issue to investigate …
Remount switch and inner fairing panels and tank recheck the wires integrity …everything away …
and off i go … thinking …hope i dont get stopped and they notice the bike is hotwired lol :D…
( got home and then realised i had to pick something up from feltham anyway so carried on there with my wires intact and collected my item and on way home the wire for ignition detached itself and stopped the bike but thankfully this time was a single carriageway at 30mph and very light traffic so just pulled into side street and reattached …
Now about to investigate the switch and possibly hoping the 600’s switch will fit if this one is knackered
so need to investigate deeper …so will keep posted .