Hello all,, new member here!
So I wash my newly aquired 1500 Meanie today and a couple hours later, went to move it. Turned over and needed its usual choke/warm up and it died during the process. So a couple mins later I try again, and I can hear starter relay clicking/vibrating and everything goes dead. I guess the battery could be dead, but I just rode it home 9 hours so it should be charged. Any ideas? Thanks

 

Water does a number on your electrics, give it a day to dry out and try again, if it still isnt working start troubleshooting, let us know how it goes, welcome to KF!

 

I did bust out the air hose and blow some of the elec components. Guess I'm waiting a day anyway! I put batt on trickle, but it had voltage. And starter replay seems to be kicking. Something screwy in the ignition switch, but it was like that. Considering it turned right over and started 5 mins before this, maybe (hopefully) water did cause an error.

 

I'm betting on the Ign switch. The elec's just go crazy with its on flickering, etc. Then when you do anything like hit the starter, turn sig, horn, everything fizzes. And the switch is a voltage crossover as I've found. Gonna try some contact cleaner before I head to parts counter. But, the switch felt/acted goofy when I picked the bike up. Update shortly!

 

Still putting my money on water shorting out the ride, its happened to me a time or two when I got a little crazy with the hose. If it got into the relays it could take a while to dry out, Good luck!

 

Well, todays thing is, turn key and it either primes and sets right up (still fizzes with any voltage draw). OR the lights all flicker and I can hear the voltage pulsing-presuming in the relay. The thing is, if I jiggle the key switch and/or keep on/offing it, I get different results. But guess I can watch it sit another day or two. Rather not drop 125.00 on a switch if thats not it. But I really didn't wash the bike that much. So this give me concern about what getting caught in a downpour might do. Watching it sit really sucks!!

 

If it still isnt working you may have caused some damage putting power through the system when it was wet. Fizzing is bad bro, find out where it is and stop it. If you can locate it and fix the short and you should be good, electrical gremlins can be nasty. I would definately limit the amount of time you have the power turned on and check all the fuses and relays.

As far as rain is concerned, it should not be a problem. All bikes are made to handle a normal amount of water in the typical places, and some places on the ride are expected to stay dry even in a downpour so even a little water could cause problems. Of course those areas dont clean themselves so when we go to wash, even a quick spray in a sensitive area can lead to a stopped ride.

 

What I mean as far as fizzing, is if you say, hit the start button the whole system pulses and you can hear the starter relay clicking, etc. So no sparks or sounds of a short (that I know of). But yeah, I'm getting concerned. May take it in if this doesnt clear up.

 

In the electrical section of your manual, it will tell you the relay ohms and how to check it. I would do a hopscotch method and start there with your meter and back track to your starter button itself. I have seen a lot of starter buttons/ kill switches get moisture in there causing a bad voltage drop. Not saying that is the issue since kawi is also renowned for weak starter relays. lol good luck

 

Have no manual, so I'm gathering ohm info online. Gonna hit it hard and heavy today. The relay sounds like its doing its thing. But who knows? Its gotta be something where all the voltage passed through (assume the relay would be such a point). So hopefully a day of metering will reveal something.