2006 Yamaha FJR1300A: headlights failing or too dim

Filed Aug 19, 2016 · Lights · 58,000 miles · UT

Bike lost headlights (again). I've had electrical fixes under recall and this continues. Had ignition replaced, ground fault work done, entire wiring harness replaced and now it has left me stranded again without lights. This is a dangerous situation to lose your headlights. Its a known recurrent problem with this bike. High beam indicator stays on, strange flashing turn signal indicators remain on, no windshield motor control, no headlights, no high or low beam. Yamaha needs to come up with proper fix for this dangerous situation. A quick read on the fjr1300 forum shows this recurrent problem is hitting many.

Filed Mar 2, 2016 · Electrical · 92,000 miles · CA

I commute on my motorcycle nearly every day throughout the year. This is the reason I have a motorcycle. My work start time is at 5:30am so I commute to work in the dark year round. I also travel a section of road that takes me through a 6 mile canyon that has no street lighting so the road is completely dark and has many turns while traveling at near the 65mph speed limit. Two weeks ago while traveling this section I flipped the headlight brights switch which caused my headlights to go completely out. Flipping the switch back to normal lights did not turn them back on. After a few seconds the lights came back on. This happened three times during down the canyon and twice more until I got to work. I was very lucky I didn't crash or get injured. Luckily, a car was positioned a little ahead of me which allowed me to know where the road was due to the car's tail lights. I was able to ride home in the daylight. I tested the headlights at home and found that a relay was buzzing so I thought that was the cause. Unfortunately, swapping for a different relay did not fix the issue. I eventually located a connector with a spider grounding pole that had a burnt mark. Taking it apart showed the caused. One of the wires no longer had good contact due to an overload of the connector. I'm attaching a picture. There's a recall due to another one of these connectors and it was completed a while ago. My recent issue is not addressed by the federal safety agency campaign number: 11v‑338. My faulty connector is s6 not the s4 from the recall. I've read that many others have had issues with the same connector and if future riders have a similar problem as mine we are certainly looking at a major safety issue.

Filed Feb 23, 2014 · Electrical, Lights · 30,265 miles · TX

Headlights failed without warning. Potentially life threatening as this occurred while underway at night. The defect occurred in what is known as the s6 spider - a spider being a ground wire collector circuit on the vehicle. The vehicle has already been recalled for other spider failures, but the spider affected by this problem was not among the ones dealt with.

Filed May 30, 2012 · Electrical, Lights · 58,000 miles · OH

Riding in western virginia, on a warm saturday afternoon, I noticed my turn signal indicator lights were both on, and flashed weirdly when I used them. I also lost the electric adjustable windshield, and discovered when I stopped that I had no headlights. This was painful because the ride I was on involved a lot of night time riding. Luckily this happened during the day and I was able to use my auxiliary lights that night. Upon dis-assembly, a ground spider (s6) under the nose of the bike, not covered or inspected by the current recall was burned to a crisp. This would have been really bad had I lost my lights at speed, at night on a twisty mountain road.

Filed Sep 28, 2010 · Electrical · 24,340 miles · MN

After starting my motorcycle for the first time that day, my wife and I rode it .9 miles when the engine quit running. I was midway through a steep, downhill left turn when I lost power. I stopped the bike using a combination of front and rear brakes, stopping at the stop sign at the bottom of the hill. Several of the lights on the instrument cluster were illuminated. Both turn signal indicator lights were lit without flashing. The lcd fuel gauge was flashing. The high beam indicator light was illuminated. The bike's headlights were not illuminated. The horn did not work. These symptoms have been reported before on fjrforum.com as I was 150 miles from home, I made a phone call to a friend and asked him to go on fjrforum.com and find the cause of the problem. Following the descriptions and photos offered on the forum, I was able to locate a melted connector. It is known as a "ground spider". After removing the ground spider, cleaning it and reinstalling it, I was able to get the bike running. The bike ran normally for 4 or 5 miles before the same problem returned. Knowing what to look for, I again partially disassembled the bike to again have access to the ground spider. This time, I cut the melted plastic off the lugs, exposing them and used utility wire to bind them together. The bike ran normally after that. I was able to ride the bike home. I would like yamaha to correct this design flaw. The problem is well documented. Some very intelligent fjr owners have tried to make the best of this situation. Yamaha could easily use the information generously shared on fjrforum.com to correct their problematic wiring harness.

Filed Jul 1, 2010 · Electrical · 30,800 miles · IN

Ground spider failure. 2006 fjr1300 with 30,880 miles on the clock, bought it used from a local honda dealer on 4/8/10. Started noticing weird hiccups less than a month after I bought it. I first started to notice problems on the way home from deals gap, nc while sitting in 98 degree rush hour louisville traffic. Bike died on me: turn signal indicators lit up, gas gauge flashed, windshield stayed put, no headlight or taillight, no starter button, no fans, no horn. Pushed bike to side of road and fiddled with it for a few minutes, thinking it had just overheated. After a few minutes of sitting around, it fired right up. This pattern happened to me everyday for about a month. Decided to take it to the dealer when the bike died on me in a low speed, pucker-inducing turn with my fiancee on the back. Dealer spent 7 hours of labor to diagnose the problem. Had the choice of replacing the entire wiring harness ($$$$) or changing and rewiring the grounding block for free. I chose option #2. Thank you dreyer honda for paying dreyer yamaha's labor to correct this issue! It is a real safety hazard that should definitely be a recall from yamaha. As a result of this issue, I was stranded in traffic 8 times, dead on the side of the road twice, and nearly wrecked in a turn with a passenger due to the power cutting out.

Filed Nov 10, 2009 · Electrical · 29,457 miles · MO

2006 yamaha fjr 1300 a. Wire connection near fuel tank corroded and was melting. Headlamps quit, along with horn, turn signals. Engine would miss with the turn signal switch in the left or right position. I was in the dark, when the lights quit. I have heard of other fjr 1300 owners with the same problem.