Warning light problem

My Son and I are a little over 1600mi into a road trip to Phoenix, AZ and we experienced an odd, non catastrophic electrical issue with the Seca today.

The red warning light on the instrument panel started coming on randomly. It will come on solid then flash a few times then maybe flicker or go off only to start flashing, flickering or staying on steady in irregular periods. Sometimes it was off for as long as an hour. None of the warning displays are coming on, except for the "Batt" indicator that has been on for years(no water sensor). We checked the oil level and monkeyed with the kick stand a bit but I didn't really think either we're likely the cause.

The tach also was glitchy, it would jump up or down 500 or so rpm occasionally. The bike is running fine and feels and sounds great.

I am assuming that there is a loose connection somewhere but it also occurred to me that we were caught in a torrential down pour two days ago and something could have gotten wet... But we had no symptoms yesterday.

Any thoughts as to where to start looking. Has anyone else ever seen anything similar?

 

Dear Road trippers,

I encountered the same problem. Bought a 1982 750XJ Seca, 11.000 miles now.
I bought it last month and drove ca 200 miles on it.
After some maintenance (mostly due to non-use), the bike was ready to be used again.
My warning light (thanks google translate for translating the only japanese signs on the bike) starts flickering from 80-110 kmh and the light is on constantly above 110 km. After some driving it stops lightening up after some initial flickering....
As the most basic functions are monitored by the "magical" LCD display I wonder what this red rectangular light adds to the warning funcitions on the dashboard.
All warning lights/LCD/switches/sensors are functioning well as far as I can see. All fluid levels are OK, brake wear is minimal....carbs are attached firmly etc etc...
I was wondering if it would be a "turbo boost" warning, as 1982 was the era of Knight Riders, A-Teams etc..haha.

Anyone who can help us on the forum??

Greetings from The Netherlands (Scheveningen),

Sjengg

 

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=1 ... tml#183984

 

Does the "all purpose warning" light come on if a BULB is failing, or does the bulb check only happen when you power up the system? I'm not familiar with the ins-n-outs of the whole Atari thing.

It's almost certainly an electrical intermittency somewhere; could be (?) a bulb, any wiring connection or even the fusebox. It's not the original fusebox is it?

If it is, DO NOT so much as touch it unless you're within walking distance of a Radio Shack store.

Where are you keeping the oil level (checked on the centerstand, warm motor, off for at least 5 ~ 10 minutes?) Should be above the "full" mark with just a bubble showing up top.

 

Normally the warning light will come on when one of the monitored systems is shown as having a fault. The "BIG RED LIGHT" serves as a indicator for the rider to check the LCD to see what system is effected. The ATARI does a system check after the engine fires. The LCD scrolls through the system warnings as each system is checked. If there is a fault any time after the engine is started the red light will come on, along with the LCD indicator for the faulty system. It will also come on when the fuel level is low (or the sending unit deems the level to be low).

lumvy40: Do you have the water level sensor hooked up to read battery voltage, or is it just disconnected (you have to reset the light every time you start the bike)?

Sjengg: You could be having any number of issues that might cause the light to come on intermittently. Are any of the LCD indicators coming on when the light is flashing? Are the LCD indicators on when you switch the ignition on prior to starting?

 

Ok, the batt. water sensor is just disconnected. The warning light has to be cleared on start up. It has never come back on before.

The oils level is good when checked on the center stand.

This is an RH model, no Kanji light. It's the big red warning indicator at the top of the Atari display that is coming on.

We did recently replace the license plate light with LEDs but that as weeks before this started and the original bulb had been out for quite some time and did not cause the warning light to come on.

I'm just going to start checking connections from stem to stern.

 

Had the same problem with a members 750 Seca, turns out the contacts in the reset button were causing the display to flash. The switch in there is a magnetic reed switch and the solder joints were cracked on it. A quick touch with a soldering iron and its fixed. Be careful the reed switch is small and can easily be dammaged from the heat.

 

It does appear that the reset button is the culprit in some way.

Cal tore the instrument cluster apart yesterday and checked the reset switch solder joints and reseated all of the connectors. The switch's solder joints looked good and there was no corrosion on any of the connectors.

After re-assembling everything the reset button has no effect. You can't clear the initial warning from the battery sensor. The bike still runs fine tough. Either the switch it's self is badd or the connections at the other end of the harness are bad. I have to fly this afternoon so he's on his own with it. He'll figure it out eventually and since it doesn't effect the bike's operation there is no real rush.

 

Hi there,
I'm luvmy40's son. I took the instrument panel apart again a week or so ago and switched the check button with the warning control button. This seems to have solved the issue and I can now clear the warning light (granted I have gotten into the habit of not doing so since I couldn't).

Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions and it's much appreciated.