Yamaha FJR1300 headlights problems

Filed Nov 26, 2022 · Electrical, Lights · CA

I was riding the motorcycle during daylight hours, and I noticed some glitchy electrical behavior. The turn signal indicators were dimly lit, turn signals themselves were inoperative, horn inoperative, windshield vertical adjustment inoperative, etc. The important part was that both headlights were inoperative, which would be a huge problem if I was riding during nighttime hours. The engine continued to operate normally and I rode the bike home. The symptoms indicated a failed grounding connector. I removed the left side fairing and located a ground connector under the glove box/storage compartment that had scorch/burn marks on it. I cleaned the connector and applied conductive grease to prevent future corrosion. Problem solved…all electrical components worked normally. There was a previous the federal safety agency campaign for 2006-2009 FJR1300 models, 11V‑338, that addressed a failed grounding connector. This bike is a 2012 model which was not addressed by the earlier campaign, and my failed grounding connector was a different one than was addressed by the campaign. I’ll attach a photo of my failed connector as well as a schematic of the ground connectors. The schematic is not an official Yamaha drawing, but from a group of FJR owners that have been working to solve the grounding problems. The original campaign addressed only the “S4” connector located under the fuel tank near the coolant thermostat on the forward left-hand side of the engine valve cover. My failed component was the “S6” connector located under the glove box/storage compartment. I located all 8 ground connectors on my bike, cleaned them and applied conductive grease to each one to hopefully avoid any future electrical problems. Yamaha needs to come up with a fix for the “S6” connector. If a rider is out riding at night and that connector fails, and the headlights suddenly go out…it could be very difficult to keep the bike on the road and avoid a crash.

Filed May 19, 2021 · Electrical · AR

The motorcycle headlights, ignition, and other electrical items work intermittently. Lights will go off with no warning while operating the bike. Ignition switch also fails with no warning. The issues appear to mirror a safety recall issued for this same bike, years 2006-2009 FJR1300 Factory Modification Campaign - Ground Wire Junction. The bulletin was issued on 7/8/2011 M2011-003R. It was classified as an issue that required immediate attention to ensure consumer safety. Loss of headlights during night operation and or the bike could shutoff while in operation. I've contacted Yamaha corporate and they will not cover this issue because my bike is a 2011 and it was not considered part of M2011-003R. I believe the recall may need to be expanded to cover additional year bikes that experience the same safety issues that were part of the original recall.

Filed Aug 2, 2020 · Electrical, Lights · 23,000 miles · MA

A grounding block in the electrical system overheated and failed. The loss of ground caused several electrical anamolies, the most serious being that the headlights failed. Fortunately, this failure happened during the day at the beginning of my ride; it would have been very serious if the headlights had failed at night. Yamaha has issued a recall for earlier model years for a similar issue, but my failure was a different grounding block, in the nose fairing, not under the tank. I connected the wires from the grounding block together and everything works normally again.

Filed Jun 15, 2015 · Electrical, Engine · 45,000 miles · CA

High beam indicator came on, turn signals failed to operate, bike would not restart after stopping. This was all caused by ground spider 6 burning and failing.

Filed Apr 11, 2012 · Electrical, Lights · 25,590 miles · TX

Bike has had the factory recall that connects a more direct path of battery ground to the s 4 buss. However, this only helped with load on the components of the s4 connector. My lights went out because the down stream from the s4 connector, the s6 (had burned contacts) which the feed the s7 connector for the lh head light and the s8 connector for the rh headlight. The combination of current from both lights thru one pin at the s6 connector cause the connector to build up heat damage and kill the ground path for both headlights at the same time.

Filed Jul 20, 2011 · Electrical, Lights · 32,328 miles · WA

I was riding home from work in the dark on my 2007 yamaha fjr1300 motorcycle on a unlit, curvy, rural road when both my headlights suddenly died. Although I was able to avoid crashing, this is a huge safety concern. I am a 30 year experienced auto/motorcycle mechanic and certified as an aircraft mechanic, so I troubleshot and found the headlight failure was caused by an overheated/burned grounding connector located in the wiring harness above the left headlight shell (burnt connector and/or photo available on request). Because the connector was no longer useable, I cut the connector off and soldered all the wires together to restore the ground path for the headlights. As of today, with 52,000 miles on the motorcycle, there have been no additional failures of the headlights. I hasten to add that this failure is unrelated to the federal safety agency campaign # 11v‑338, which addresses a failure of a grounding connector under the fuel tank on the motorcycle. As a very active member in the online yamaha fjr1300 owners community at www.fjrforum.com, I am very in tune with all matters related to this motorcycle and would be more than happy to assist in an investigation of this serious safety defect.

Filed Dec 29, 2010 · Electrical · 27,000 miles · MO

2007 yamaha fjr-1300. Engine would intermittently die and would not re-start. Along with this, all lighting I.e. Headlights and taillights would go out. Upon investigating the issue, I found faulty electrical grounding "spiders". I am in the process of installing an aftermarket grounding loom as a fix to this problem this is a potentially deadly issue as the bike dies and all the lights are out.

Filed Jan 4, 2010 · Electrical · 32,328 miles · WA

Starting in mid 2009, the headlights on my 2007 yamaha fjr1300a motorcycle would occasionally flicker off and on. On december 21st, 2009 the headlights failed completely while riding home from work in the dark! Problem was found to be a grounding connection above the left headlight that had corroded and overheated the connector and spider insert. The faulty connector was removed and the wires were soldered together to fix the problem.

Filed Nov 3, 2009 · Electrical · 4,704 miles · OH

The incident occurred when returning from a short ride in my home area when I made a turn onto a side street and the and my 2009 fjr1300a stopped running. I pulled to the side of the road (curbs without a berm or parking area) and attempted a restart. The tachometer and speed gauges indexed as they should have. The ABS and low oil lights turned on then off as they should have. However, the hazard indicator lights were on (constantly) as well as the high beam light indicator. All other electric devices would not function including tail lights, stop light, hazard lights, turn lights, running lights, starter, fuel pump, horn and wind screen height adjustment. This appears to be a near complete electrical failure with no warning and without any prior indication of impending failure. The event occurred during the day with good visibility on a lightly traveled city street at low speed. Very lucky that it was not at night on a heavily traveled interstate in one of those construction zones where there is no berm on which to move. We have those in this area and I do travel in those zones from time to time. The manufacturer (yamaha) is replacing the wiring harness as the solution. It appears as though a ground wire collector has failed in some manner - no details from the dealer. Please reference the following url for a discussion of this problem: http://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=119017.

Filed Jul 19, 2007 · Fuel system · 5,799 miles · CO

Gas tank on a 2005 yamaha fjr1300a erupted in a geyser of gasoline. What happened?: on monday 7-16-07 I stopped for fuel. It was about 95 degrees, and the bike was hot. It was not outside of normal operating temp. - I had two bars on the temp gauge. I opened the fuel cap/door and liquid gasoline sprayed up in the air about 5 feet, it looked like old faithful. Liquid gas rained down on the fjr and soaked the tank, fairing and seat, and it cracked both my headlamp lenses instantly. The event voided the tank of most of the gas - it was instantly empty. It did not catch fire. After regaining some composure, I washed the bike off with water, moved it away from the gas puddle before starting it, and drove home (2 blocks away). Why did it happen?: I live at approx. 5,000 feet. I had been riding at 10,000 feet all morning. I came down from that altitude in about 1 hour. Altitude lowers the boiling point of liquids. I had purchased the morning's tank of gas at safeway (which I had never done before), it has a higher percentage of oxygenates (mtbe, methanol) than other brands. The tank was super-heated since it was close to empty (at '3-bars' on the display), and it was obviously super-pressurized by the heat. When I released the gas cap, the instant lowering of the pressure inside lowered the boiling point, and the gasoline expanded rapidly (it 'boiled') and ejected from the tank. Since gas evaporates quickly, when it touched the hot headlight lenses it's evaporative cooling removed heat too quickly , causing the spider cracking across the lenses. It all happened in about 5 seconds. This series of events is a new occurrence for all of us because our gasoline quality is changing, it's getting worse to make a profit and appease the 'green' contingent. The 'hot' fjr syndrome is now a concern beyond just body comfort! Worst case I could have been burned alive if the gas had ignited. I know of no way to correct this until I talk to a service rep.