Across - Man bag solenoid intermittant open and eventually failed...fix

for the past few weeks the solenoid in my man bag has been harder and harder to open, ie - have to keep turning the key to open it more and more.
lucky for me not long after i bought the bike i drilled a small hone in the bottom of the man bag and ran some wire down from the top of the solenoid thru the hole and under the seat.
that way, when the solenoid fails, remove the seat, pull the wire and your in.

well today the solenoid just wouldnt budge at all

bugger.

oh well pull the right side rear fairing odd, the one that says "across-new urban sports" and follow the 2 sets of wires from the man bag back and see what wires do what.

turn the ignition on and open man bag so light is on

theres 2 sets of wires from the man bag, one is for the light, one for the solenoid

so while light is on, remove one of the wires you followed back under the fairing and you will see they goto bullet connectors that can be pulled apart

remove one wire and see if light goes off.
if light goes off, this is the wires to the light
if light stays on, then this wire goes to the solenoid

pulled the plugs apart to the solenoid and there was 21 years worth of corrosion looking at me

get a small cup pull wires to bits and put in cup, put some baking soda in the cup and over the plugs.

put some water in and soak them for a few minutes. repeat a few times to clean the crud off.

wipe down and blow it off with the air compressor to get as dry as possible.
drown the plugs in WD40...this is a great job for WD40, a water displacement, this is what the product was designed for in the first place.
better yet, grab some dielectric grease

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Permatex-Bulb-Lamp-Electrical-Connector-Dielectric-Grease-3G.aspx?pid=129926#Description
and put that on the plugs, plug it back together and have a go

if your like me, problem solved!

put the bike back together, pack up tools, and have a coldie!! :Thumbs_up:

 

better thing to do, is drill a small hole, say 3millimters round in bottom of man bag, near the solenoid.run some wire thru the hole, make it about 14 inches long. attach the wire to inside the man bag on the top of the solenoid. there is a meter arm that comes off the solenoid and points towards the left side (gear shift side), attach the wire to this arm and run wire back underneath the seat.

so, next time, just remove the seat, pull the wire and your in like flynn.

 

easy way to test, put 12 volts across the rear of the solenoid, if it fires, then its wiring or plugs.

if it doesnt fire with 12 volts, the solenoid is kaput, buy a replacement from jaycar, i have info about this in my scribd.com account

 

awesome, good fault finding. you can clean the plugs up a bit with a bit of bicarb soda or soak in white vinegar for at least 24 hours.

after that clean the plugs down good and cover in dilectric grease from supercheap auto, its about $5 a bottle

heres how i fixed my suzuki across in the end, i ordered one of these, a kwaka ninja 300 se abs



fingers crossed should be here in a few weeks! :Thumbs_up: