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Flashing Reverse Light , Engine Won't Turn Over

6K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  Timothya 
#1 ·
This has been posted elsewhere on other forums, and quite possibly here. It is because someone else posted about the issue that I was able to fix mine and motor on down the road. Big picture - I was riding a 3 day rally this past weekend and came out to leave on day 2. Turned on the key and everything worked fine - didn't notice any issues. Tried to start it and all I got was a click in return.

Initially I assumed bad battery (on a 3 month old bike). It seemed unlikely, but I went back and found someone willing to offer a jump start. Connected cables and nothing - same symptom, just a click. Now believing I had something more ominous going on, I prepared for the inevitable DNF on the rally and started thinking through how I would get the bike fixed and ride roughly 1,000 miles home.

Enter the internet - normally the bane of my existence. I literally did a simple search for the symptom I had observed and the top return was a post discussing the exact same problem. There is a single wire on the right side of the motor above the oil fill with a rubber boot over it. Loose wire could be a possible cause (as well as poorly adjusted actuator cables) - so I did my best troubleshooting and played with the wire. Nothing obviously wrong on first inspection, but the bike now fires right up. Not solved, but functional.

Same thing happened a few more times that day, including once while riding. I didn't see the flashing reverse light the first time I had the problem, but it was probably there and certainly was every other time. The one time I saw it while riding the flashing reverse light was accompanied by strange nav system operation (the heading indicator would switch direction every second or so) and the cruise control would not function. I suffered through the rest of the day and made it to my next rest stop late Saturday night.

Once at the hotel and with some proper light I took a closer look. The wire was not really attached - it was only being held on by the rubber boot and making intermittent contact. I Macgyver'ed the crap out of it and attached the wire with a zip-tie and some electrical tape. Bike worked flawlessly the rest of my trip - about 2 days and roughly 1800 more miles.

I am very appreciative that someone else took the time to post about their experience. Being able to find the issue using a search saved my rally and got me home safely. I will now either fix it properly or take it to the dealer and get them to correct it (under warranty, so that seems more prudent).
 
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#4 ·
There is a single wire on the right side of the motor above the oil fill with a rubber boot over it. Loose wire could be a possible cause (as well as poorly adjusted actuator cables) - so I did my best troubleshooting and played with the wire. Nothing obviously wrong on first inspection, but the bike now fires right up. will now either fix it properly or take it to the dealer and get them to correct it (under warranty, so that seems more prudent).
So, this is on a new bike. What is the problem?? Was the wire not secured properly from the factory or is it a broken wire inside of a terminal or something like that.?? Is this something that is happening on "later model" 1800's.?? Thanks for some clarification. A pic would be nice too.

Glad you got it figured out and back on the road quick. Nice job.!!
 
#6 ·
Yes, great post! An update on GWK's question would be nice though.
 
#7 ·
Yes, it is a new 2016 (3 months old but a lot of miles already - ~11,500).

The first picture shows the wire and rubber boot on the right side of the engine behind the cover. The second picture shows what I found when I lifted the boot. The nut was not there. I included it to show what should have been present. Also no lock washer, either.

IMG_1179 by timothya12000, on Flickr

IMG_1180 by timothya12000, on Flickr
 
#8 ·
That find is very disturbing to me. Clearly there is a hole in Honda's quality control checks, and it is a serious one. It makes me wonder how many more holes exist that will cause issues for us as our bikes age.
 
#9 ·
I am not ready to go that far. I think crap happens, and after riding several Honda bikes over the years, I have had so few problems that I still maintain complete confidence in this bike. I did go over it pretty closely to double check fastener tightness after finding this problem.

I have had it for about 3 months now and have put over 11,500 miles on it. This is the only issue I have found.
 
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