Author Topic: Fix a flaky or inoperative K bike speedometer (Read 39017 times)

frankenduck · « **on:** May 22, 2011, 06:49:47 PM »

Many times the cause of K bike speedometer flakiness is poor connections inside of the instrument cluster. This is especially true for 88 and earlier model years. Here's how to correct the problem:

1) Remove the instrument cluster from the bike. Exact mounting varies by model but all of them have four 5mm Allen bolts in recessed holes in the back of the instrument cluster. The wiring harness connector is secured to the back of the instrument cluster either by a Phillips screw or 3mm Allen bolt.

2) Place the instrument cluster face down on a towel on a table. Remove the nine (seven on 85 and earlier K100s) Phillips screws from the perimeter of the back of the instrument cluster to remove the instrument cluster's back plate.

3) Once the back plate is removed you will see a three terminal connector on the top middle of the back of the speedometer. It has three long pins on it. That's usually the culprit. Pull it straight up. A small screwdriver can be useful it prying it out.

4) Clean corrosion of of those pins with some steel wool, fine sand paper, whatever. Then, before reinserting it into the back of the speedometer, twist each of the pins slightly. That will help to ensure that they maintain good contact when they are reinserted.

5) Put everything back together and go for a test ride to see if that fixed the problem.

Photog · « **Reply #1 on:** May 28, 2011, 08:57:03 PM »

What about flakyness of the clock and/or gear indicator?

My clock has segments which don't activate, and the shift indicator doesn't like cool or damp weather. It starts randomly displaying different numbers.
Any "standard" fixes for these?

TIA

frankenduck · « **Reply #2 on:** May 28, 2011, 09:14:27 PM »

Quote from: Photog on May 28, 2011, 08:57:03 PM

What about flakyness of the clock and/or gear indicator?

My clock has segments which don't activate, and the shift indicator doesn't like cool or damp weather. It starts randomly displaying different numbers.
Any "standard" fixes for these?

TIA

The LCD is shot on your clock. No fix other than replacing it with a good one.

On the gear indicator it's probably water getting into the switch on the back of the transmission. They live a hard life down there and eventually disintegrate. The standard fix is to replace the gear indicator switch. (It's possible that it's the wiring harness connector but the switch is the usual culprit.)

(Tomorrow morning I'll add a gear indicator thread to the Lieberry to explain how it works and how to troubleshoot it. I have to go BBQ some NY steaks right now. ;D)

billday · « **Reply #3 on:** August 19, 2011, 06:41:45 PM »

While you have the instrument cluster apart, give it a few hours in proximity to a dehumidifier. I've had my speedo go duff a few times: once from a mucky sensor (when the final drive still had PO's gear oil in it), the other times from moisture getting into the cluster (while parked outside in driving daylong rain).

rbm · « **Reply #4 on:** August 20, 2011, 07:39:44 AM »

Before reassembling the three pin connector, it would be good to spray it with DeoxIt. This product is much more than a contact cleaner; it contains chemicals that form a protective film on the connector pins that will inhibit corrosion in the future. It would be advisable to treat all contacts in this manner while the speedometer is open. This is good preventive care to apply to any K-bike connector while it's apart as it will delay the onset of poor-connection-related problems.

billday · « **Reply #5 on:** May 21, 2013, 04:55:50 PM »

I did this today -- and it worked! Except.... I have no idea what he means by prying the connectors out, because they are mounted to a piece of plastic that does not want to lift off anything. But there was room to lift the connectors a bit then reseat them, and I gave them a shot of DeOxit. Put everything back together and voila, speedo and odo. Thanks once again Frankenduck!

k98DOG · « **Reply #6 on:** August 05, 2013, 11:07:15 AM »

Where exactly is said monster?

Quote

3) Once the back plate is removed you will see a three terminal connector on the top middle of the back of the speedometer. It has three long pins on it. That's usually the culprit. Pull it straight up. A small screwdriver can be useful it prying it out.

billday · « **Reply #7 on:** August 07, 2013, 02:00:14 AM »

Just north-northeast of that blue "075" in your picture. See those three rivet-y looking things?

k98DOG · « **Reply #8 on:** August 10, 2013, 05:37:56 PM »

Clarification??

heller · « **Reply #9 on:** June 19, 2015, 02:57:47 PM »

My Speedo on the 93 k1100rs just flaked. I've read through these boards and now am looking for some more detail specific to my unit. I took the speedo off and cleaned up the contacts. Also cleaned the contacts at the right side cover and on the final drive. I opened the unit up and really didn't see any serviceable connections. Worried that something would break. Couple of questions: 1) can I use a "contact cleaner and spray the circuitry. Should I take the unit apart further? Will the bike run if I screw things up more than there already are? Also, how about dialectic grease on the pins. Also, I saw once a detailed description of twisting pins with a pliers to improve the connections. Now I can't find that bit. I'd also love to see some video instruction on troubleshooting these instruments. Any help would be much appreciated.

rbm · « **Reply #10 on:** June 19, 2015, 05:56:42 PM »

Quote from: heller on June 19, 2015, 02:57:47 PM

Couple of questions: 1) can I use a "contact cleaner and spray the circuitry.

Yes. Deoxit is recommended.

Quote from: heller

Should I take the unit apart further?

You can. Just be careful. You don't have to disassemble the entire unit. A couple of posts back there is a photo of the interior of the gauge. You're looking to clean the 3-pin contact pointed to by the arrow.

Quote from: heller

Will the bike run if I screw things up more than there already are?

Yes. You may loose "enable start while in neutral" but you have "pull in the clutch" to override that.

Quote from: heller

Also, how about dialectic grease on the pins.

No, bad idea. Dialetric grease is not conductive and with the millivolt/microamp signal coming from the speedo sensor, you'll do more damage than good.

Quote from: heller

Any help would be much appreciated.

Read the page on Karamba.

heller · « **Reply #11 on:** June 20, 2015, 01:12:46 PM »

Thank for the help. As I was walking by, bumped into the mirror and it popped off! I am doing the leash thing next. Any tip on how to reattach it? Is it slid back over the posts or pressed back in place?

johnny · « **Reply #12 on:** June 20, 2015, 01:43:22 PM »

greetings heller...

welcome to motobrick.com...

line up the 3 mirror side cups with the 3 moto side nubbins... with the clips touching the nubbins in perfect alignment... smack it straight with the palm of you hand... should go straight on...

j o

RobP · « **Reply #13 on:** September 13, 2015, 01:49:33 PM »

Thanks for posting this.

I cleaned up the speedo pins as recommended. They seemed a bit loose in their socket connections, but I reassembled and went on a test ride. The speedometer wonkiness still was present, although not as bad.

I removed the gauge cluster and rear cover again. Taking care not to overstress and break the plastic, I pulled the plastic wing with the pins OUT as far as I dared, then pushed it NORTH while holding it out at the same time. The intent was to bend a very slight angle in the pins so as to cause them to bind as they settled back into the sockets and to improve the mechanical connection. That seemed to do the trick, as in the follow-up test ride my speedometer and odometer worked perfectly.

mg1 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 06, 2017, 11:26:20 PM »

Hi

Thanks for this excellent resource - I'm using it to guide me in fixing my wayward speedo, but I've run into a small issue: the three pin plug does not want to come out, and I'm wary of forcing it to do so. Also the attachment point looks different on my speedo (92 K11RS) compared to the image earlier in the thread, in that the three pin plug enters a small housing secured by two screws. It occurs to me that the plug may be secured on the other side of that housing, but I'm wary of undoing the screws too in case something underneath should not be disturbed. I'd appreciate advice from anyone who's been in this position before me on how to proceed from here. I may appear a little timid, but I'm a notorious klutz so better safe than sorry. Image attached.
thanks from
Martin (the other Aussie one)
in the sunny Riverina

mg1 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 07, 2017, 12:46:14 AM »

Never mind, took little screws out, found ribbon plug is attached to plastic plate secured by two screws. Took plug out, seemed very clean and tight but have given them a light rough up and some contact cleaner, will reassemble and see how it goes.

regards
MG1

Laitch · « **Reply #16 on:** January 07, 2017, 07:18:38 AM »

Quote from: mg1 on January 07, 2017, 12:46:14 AM

Never mind, took little screws out, found ribbon plug is attached to plastic plate secured by two screws. Took plug out, seemed very clean and tight but have given them a light rough up and some contact cleaner, will reassemble and see how it goes.

:2thumbup:
Be sure to clean the main connection plug, too.

Martin · « **Reply #17 on:** January 07, 2017, 02:47:21 PM »

OZ Martin # 2 go to Jaycar they have a product called Deoxit and Dielectric Grease. Bricks really benefit from clean electrical connectors. I use dielectric grease or heavy silicon grease and have not had any contact problems where I have used it. However other inmates discourage it's use in connectors, my belief is that it stops air and moisture getting in which will discourage corrosion. Your call on the grease.
Regards OZ Martin # 1.

alexis291 · « **Reply #18 on:** January 09, 2017, 08:09:58 AM »

A couple of tips from when I had instrument cluster problems:
1. My erratic speedo reading turned out to be the needle touching the scale behind it because the scale had come loose and lifted up slightly. I simply undid the screws which hold the scale down, smoothed it out and all was okay.
2. Packets of silica gel in the back of the cluster stopped my condensation problem after I had tried a few of the other fixes on this forum. The cluster has just started to fog up again after about 10 months so I will replace or dry them out and re-fit.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thecableguy · « **Reply #19 on:** January 09, 2017, 11:43:20 AM »

Another tip on a flaky speedo. One of the "fixes" BMW promulgated back in the day was to paint the pins on both the three-pin connector and on the main connector with conductive paint. On mine, apparently the tech got overzealous with his paintbrush and a bit too much ran down the pin and pooled at the base. In my case the pin in question was on the main connector and was shorting it (intermittently when warm) to the next pin. Scraping the excess paint from the base of that pin cured my speedometer issues when none of the other fixes worked.

Took me months to figure that one out.

Jim

swanwr · « **Reply #20 on:** May 25, 2017, 09:31:40 AM »

I'm still having speedo troubles---I cleaned and did a continuity checks on all the connections, including the 3 pin connector in the speedo housing (twice). I did the soldering iron trick the speedo reads the 45ish MPH like it should, but it sets on 0 mph when I ride the bike. I assume the sensor isn't picking up the wheel inside the final drive. Any idea? There are no shims on the sensor and I don't see any adjustment for it. Back story is, the speed went from working all the time to not at all, no flaky in and out.

thecableguy · « **Reply #21 on:** May 25, 2017, 03:21:09 PM »

If it's working with the soldering iron, my first action would be to pull and clean the sensor.

Good luck!
Jim

swanwr · « **Reply #22 on:** May 26, 2017, 12:58:38 PM »

The problem ended up being the pickup ring inside the final drive. It's loose. Anyone have experience/instructions on taking the final drive apart to repair this?

Laitch · « **Reply #23 on:** May 26, 2017, 01:12:19 PM »

Quote from: swanwr on May 26, 2017, 12:58:38 PM

Anyone have experience/instructions on taking the final drive apart to repair this?

https://www.motobrick.com/index.php/topic,580.msg9690.html#msg9690

swanwr · « **Reply #24 on:** May 27, 2017, 03:36:29 PM »

Good info. Is the speedmeter ring pressed onto the FD shaft behind the tapered bearing? Just trying to figure out what to look for before I dive into it.

News:

Author Topic: Fix a flaky or inoperative K bike speedometer (Read 39017 times)