It had to happen eventually.

[Boatguy]

I have some problems now with the xpect. I think they are most likely a direct result of it being outside, flying around the country on a rack on an RV.

1) my instruments are all filled with water. I thought it was just condensation until I went for a 4 hour ride today. I noticed the condensation wouldn’t go away. Then I noticed many of my RPM indicator LEDs weren’t working anymore. Then I noticed standing WATER at the bottom of my tachometer. I can’t see the tach, the speed, the gas level or odometer past all the condensation.

2) the battery is draining out quickly. As a matter of fact it’s not even a week since I last charged it up by running it. And it’s 100% flat. Possibly related to #1?

3) This is the big one. I was positioning the bike to get it onto the rack. Lining it up so I could drive it up onto the rack. As is common when you are doing tight quarters maneuvers, I swung the handlebars all the way to the right to the lock position. The bike died like someone hit the kill switch. All gages went dark. Everything went dark. There is no hope whatsoever it starting. The starter doesn’t engage, the gages don’t come on. Literally nothing. Dead as dead can be. Nothing can do that other than a solar flare or some electronics failure. Stupid electronics on bikes/cars/boats. What the hell? That’s ALWAYS what goes wrong.

So do we have any theories to get me started?

Water in gages, battery constantly going flat and then complete death of all systems of the bike from turning the handlebars to the right all the way to the lock position.

Ran like a champ for 4 hours on and off road just before this.

Note: one of the reasons I don’t spend a lot of time working on the bike is that I’m full time traveling. So there is nowhere but a Walmart or autozone to do this.

[zero_dgz]

Re: your handlebar turn causing it to cut out, I would conjecture that your wiring harness is rubbed through somewhere and flexing it caused it to short and/or break contact. Have a careful looksee at the wiring loom where it goes past the headstock, usually it's routed in a little hook or something welded to the side of the frame. You will probably want to carefully peel off any wire wrap around this area which can be replaced when you're done with regular electrical tape.


I would also give the ignition cylinder barrel a good once over, possibly after removing it first. And pull all the plugs going to/from the instruments, cylinder barrel, handlebar switches, etc. and check for moisture ingress, dirt buildup, or corrosion. After thoroughly cleaning them, also thoroughly goop them with dielectric grease (a lifetime supply available at Autozone for a few bucks) to keep moisture out of there in the future. Moisture ingress will cause problems. Maybe not immediately, but eventually.

[Boatguy]

OK. That’s where I will start. I was thinking it was something like what you said about the wire touching the frame or something somewhere. Grounding out. But I wanted to see what people thought about it having to do with the flooded instrument cluster.

I imagine I probably blew a fuse also somewhere if it did ground out. Hopefully. Hopefully that is protected.

[China Rider 27]

Ouch! I do not electrics. I hope I didn't put some bad Mojo on yaa. As said, Four bolts, pull that head light lamp assembly and look at connections. .

[landshark]

My xpect did the exact same thing. The wiring harness was getting pinched between the left fork tube and the steerer tube. Just peel off the wire protection and you will probably easily identify the exposed wire. Turned out to be an easy fix.

[Boatguy]

Originally Posted by landshark

My xpect did the exact same thing. The wiring harness was getting pinched between the left fork tube and the steerer tube. Just peel off the wire protection and you will probably easily identify the exposed wire. Turned out to be an easy fix.

Thank you for that! I’m seeing wear on my wiring all over the place. I have to go over them and just make sure everything is good.

I’m pretty happy that didn’t happen deep in the middle of the woods somewhere. Where I already was that same day. It happened literally right as I was loading it onto the rack. That was really lucky.

And I agree. I’m thinking it looks pretty easy also. Because I can see wear patterns in some places. And also, if it happened when I move the handlebars all the way to the right, it should be really easy to see the general area that was rubbing.

I haven’t had a good place to do this yet. I will probably look at it next week when I get into my seasonal area in Florida.

Also, there is a fuse somewhere for that right?

[braindead0]

For the gauges, it's not an uncommon problem.. behind and RV the wind/rain will be whipping around at all sorts of angles as well.. might even be coming in from the bottom. I would use a 1 gallon zip lock bag, cover the cluster as well as you can and masking tape it tightly so it doesn't blow around in the wind.

Battery drain may be related to the short that killed the engine. You'll want to track that down.

I'd recommend doing over the entire wiring harness... repair any damage and areas that might be subject to wear should get a few wraps of tesa harness tape.

[Boatguy]

The Ziploc bag would’ve been smart from the start. I wish I knew that from the beginning. I thought these things were pretty watertight. I think I have to buy a new instrument cluster I can put the bag over that one.

[China Rider 27]

I would see about a waterproof bike cover and using bungy cords to try and pull it as tight as possible all over. As long as it did not prevent you from seeing, but I imagine it might flap some.

[Boatguy]

Originally Posted by China Rider 27

I would see about a waterproof bike cover and using bungy cords to try and pull it as tight as possible all over. As long as it did not prevent you from seeing, but I imagine it might flap some.

No chance of a bike cover. The bike already causes overheating on the RV in the hotter weather.

The bike had always been covered before this big trip I took it on. I really wanted to put the cover on it, but it did not work.

[Boatguy]

I’m starting to think it might be my instrument cluster. I’m gonna start looking through this today. I mean, the thing is full of water. There are definitely areas where the power is not getting to it. Such as the LED lights for the Tach.

The battery has also been going flat very quickly. So, it seems like something in there probably shorted out.


That area is a mess anyway, so I’m going to take all of that apart. Dry it out. See if I can salvage what I have. Before I order a new one.

[65cabriolet]

ever thought of putting the rack on the back of the RV?

[Boatguy]

Originally Posted by 65cabriolet

ever thought of putting the rack on the back of the RV?

That was the initial thought. But it doesn’t work. It’s not possible. Too much distance between the hitch receiver and where the bike has to be. Over 4ft. So the hitch extended would be likely to fail.

If I end up with a different RV eventually, I’ll definitely put a bike on the back.

It can’t work on this one.

[Boatguy]

Hmmm. I wonder what my problem with the electrical system might be?




Drying this out and checking for blown fuses, then giving it a shot to see if it’ll work.

[Boatguy]

Not really a Lifan problem, but kind of. They should make the gauges waterproof.