1991 Voyager XII dashboard

[Aquakiwi]

Does anyone have a diagram of the lights on the dashboard of a 1991 Voyager XII. I pretty sure it’s the battery light that keeps going on & the reason I have fully bright dashboard lights indicating plenty of power. However get nothing when pushing starter nothing no noise as if the kill switch was in the off position, but it isn’t. I’ve checked all fuses and the service manual but have no clue as to why it’s dead. Any ideas suggestions or diagram of dashboard lights .i.e. what each is, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Simon

[triton28]

Simon;
the dashboard "Battery" light is a battery electrolyte level indicator light only and has no bearing on the alternator output, in case you were unaware.
You are of course attempting to start the bike in Neutral with the Neutral light illuminated, or if in gear, with the clutch lever pulled in to the bar? I say this as sometimes I have had to restart while in gear and nothing would happen until I remembered to haul the lever in, but I'm getting old and forgetful sometimes.
If you suspect the starter/starter lockout/neutral or sidestand switch may be malfunctioning these can be bypassed to check operation.
It could also be a battery that has 12 Volts but no amperage reserve left. These small batteries generally only last a few-5 years at best before the amperage capacity is either exhausted or the sulphation prevents the battery from holding much amperage.
Substitution/jumper with a "known good battery" will reveal if this could be the culprit.
It could also be a corroded contact on the lead from the handle bar starter switch, or one of the other terminal connections of the starting circuit. Time and the elements can cause corrosion inside the plastic connector housings.
In the Voyager XII section of the "Tech Center", accessed from the AVA Home page, there is a link to manuals and schematics which may be of help. I'm sure it is a simple solution after some detective work on your part,
Dave

[Aquakiwi]

Thanks triton28 first thanks for replying I greatly appreciate it. Unfortunately yes I have done the neutral light clutch & even stand up. The battery light was retired as the modern batteries don’t have that hole for the level on 2nd battery since then. This issue has been around on this bike for over 20 plus years (before the battery indicator retire) the previous owner had it for 20 plus & his mechanic never found the problem. Normally give the bike a shake & it fixes it. My mechanic couldn’t find the problem when I last had them check for it. Issue is now it doesn’t want to work regardless of how much you shake the bike. Plenty of battery. (On trickle charger/maintainer when not in use). I have tried with a jump starter but nothing. Pulled apart kill switch nothing. I have the tech manual but doesn’t have a simple diagram of dash board lights. Each time it appears to be battery light & when the light goes out it starts, when on it’s like the kill switch is in the off position as nothing. Last time it really played up I went all over the engine area tapping things gently & it went out, this time even that hasn’t worked.

Any advise or similar issues/solutions will be greatly received. Thanks again triton28.

[ekap1200]

The 2 things that come to mind are as follows. #1 the harness from the handle bar start button . #2 main harness from the key switch to the left side of the bike. Test each lead from one end to the other.
Gene Kap

[Nails]

On mine at least, the battery light says "BATT". When the battery fluid sensor is dumped, the light either stays on or you have to disable it (ground the sensor or pull the bulb).

Which light is it on the dash? Color?

If anomalous and it's gone away with shaking, maybe it just means there's something loose within the dash. I'm not clear how that would mess with starting, but the light and the shaking seem (to me) to point to the dash. I would consider pulling the dash out (a moderate hassle) just to look for wonky connections &etc.

Have you tried jumping (hot-wiring) the starter solenoid?

[triton28]

Upon the first attempt of the day to start the engine, just after the key is set to on, one would of course set the choke/engage neutral and set the engine stop switch to Run, and then press the starter button. In your case nothing happens so the first question is: does the headlight come on after pressing the start button? Probably not I suspect. If it did then I would suspect a starter circuit problem. If it doesn't then I would suspect there may be a problem with the White/Black wire to the fuse block as this wire supplies power to the "ignition/horns/brake light switches/turn signal switch/cruise control and alternator exciter voltage using the "after fuse block" Brown coloured wire.
If one follows the circuit diagram the Yellow/Red wire from the ignition switch, while the switch is set to ON, is perhaps the most important wire as it energizes the main relay which in turn then connects the White and the White/Black. The White now is supplying power to the White/Black which I spoke of above.
With the battery hooked up the White wire is always providing power to the switch, from the White/Red wire of the battery cable to the fuse block, regardless of the switch position. Of course the 30 Amp fuse must be functioning for this to be the case.
I would be metering all the wire ends from the White wire end of the main fuse through all of the disassembled plastic terminal connectors for power. Somewhere there may be corrosion or a broken wire; or perhaps the terminals of the main relay may be corroded or perhaps even the main relay may be faulty. Sometimes a relay will work intermittently until finally it doesn't work. If you have parallel power on the disconnected from the Main relay White and Yellow/Red wires with the ignition switch set to "On" the circuitry is good to that point. Turn off the Ignition switch, reconnect the White and Yellow/Red wires, disconnect the White/Black wire, turn On the ignition and if you don't have power exiting the relay brass terminal for the White/Black wire then the relay is bad. Then you can substitute the Accessory or Fan relay to verify this. Remember to turn off the ignition switch before connecting/disconnecting wires/terminals as arcing can cause poor contact later. Also, Grote Ultra Seal 99170 ( or equivalent) is a good dielectric grease to use at wire/terminal reassembly time
Other than checking as outlined I can't offer any more insight as somewhere there is a minor discrepancy which is causing this and I don't have the physical presence to try any other ideas or jiggle the wires etc.
I hope this helps and you get running again,
Dave

[Nails]

Dave,
Where did you find a diagram you can read? The manual available here is too low-res.

[triton28]

Nails;
Although the wiring diagram available at the "Click here to access Voyager XII manuals and diagrams" button, on the opening page of the Voyager XII selection of the Tech Center menu at the AVA Home page is the 1986 version and doesn't have the cruise control nor the added audio rear controls, it is one of the "Good" colourized wiring schematics.
I use the WSM Supplement for the 1987 and later additional circuitry.
I once had a pdf file of the good colourized '87 and later schematic which had complete tool functions so using the grab and move made it easy to follow the circuit. I can't remember where I got that and when my hard drive crashed several years ago I lost it.

[Nails]

I didn't know a tool like that ever even existed. Thx.

[Aquakiwi]

Thank you all for the helpful replies, it now's lives again after getting two of the local Army mechanics in to take a look. Would appear that one of the many wiring plugs must have had some corrosion in it, they were pulling apart each plug and checking them, once they did that it was all go.

So I need to add some contact cleaner, and emery paper to my on board tool kit, as well has putting into my maintenance schedule to given them a clean every now and then.

Thanks again all, your advise and help is greatly appreciated, and did help me in the diagnosis of this issue.

Simon

[triton28]

Hurrah! Success!
Glad you got it fixed,
Dave

[cranky]

... dielectric grease....

Thank you all for the helpful replies, it now's lives again after getting two of the local Army mechanics in to take a look. Would appear that one of the many wiring plugs must have had some corrosion in it, they were pulling apart each plug and checking them, once they did that it was all go.

So I need to add some contact cleaner, and emery paper to my on board tool kit, as well has putting into my maintenance schedule to given them a clean every now and then.

Thanks again all, your advise and help is greatly appreciated, and did help me in the diagnosis of this issue.

Simon

[Nails]

Did you identify which dash bulb it was?

I don't remember (or never knew), but there can't be many multi-pin connectors involved in the starter circuit. The ignition has a seperate electrical switch attached to the ignition mechanical switch, but I bet there's a connecter to the rest of the harness.

I'm just trying to say that wonky connections can cause the goofiest symptoms. You might never really understand what exactly was wrong. Hope it really is fixed.

How did you clean them?

[Aquakiwi]

Bulb was the battery light which had previously been rewired so shouldn't show at all. Unfortunately we didn't totally kill the electrical gremlin and it is back on & off randomly affecting the start, but a good shake of the bike back and forth still fixes it.

Still looking and hopefully one day will locate it ....... it's only been an issue on the bike for oh 15 - 20 years I believe based on what the previous owner said.

Only became a real issue when the shaking didn't work and it wouldn't go full stop.

[Scott-(Altoona, PA)]

I got similar symptoms when my side stand switch started to go bad, at times the bike would randomly shut off while riding then come back to life just as quickly. Until it finally died, I removed it and shorted the wires and haven't had an issue since. The side stand switch is a great feature but I've learned to live without it (so far)!