[Man_Ray]

I searched the site and could not find an answer to this situation.

I have a 2006 EX500 - 1600miles. while riding, (I was going slow) the bike just died on me one day, when I check the fuses, the ignition fuse is blown. I put in 3 fuses - they all blow. So I take it to the shop and they can't get the fuse to blow or see if the bike is over heating.

You guessed it, on my way home it dies on me. I don't think it's overheating - it was fine on the freeway.

Has anybody heard of this happening on an EX?

Thanks

 

[HooliganD]

I had a similar problem on my old honda, check any wiring harnesses that come near the triple trees and steering head for rubbing.

On the honda everytime I turned the bars I rubbed off more and more insulation until it shorted out.

Luckily I caught it in time that the wire wasn't frayed and I was able to put some heat shrink on it and reinforced it.

I would take off all the plastics and start from the fuse box examining every wire looking for abraisions, bare wires, burn marks, etc. once found, fix the problem by splicing the wire or insulating it and try it again.

Good luck, electrical sucks if you don't know what you're doing.

 

[Smoky]

electrical is easy. do what he said and make shure all your grounds are clean and tight.

 

[Man_Ray]

electrical is easy. do what he said and make shure all your grounds are clean and tight.

thanks!

Well, it's under warranty so Kawasaki is taking care of it. Per Kawasaki, they have had some EX500s with the same problem. Not sure how many though.

Peace,
Man_Ray

 

[HooliganD]

If/when they find the problem, be sure to post it here so someone with a better memory then me can remember it for similar future posts.

 

[Man_Ray]

If/when they find the problem, be sure to post it here so someone with a better memory then me can remember it for similar future posts.

I will post the source of the problem once it is found. When I called the dealer today, they said they could not recreate the problem - as in the bike stalling. Funny how it stalled on me when I tried to get it home - but it doesn't stall on them when they ride it.

Anyway, I will try to get it home tomorrow and see if it dies again. Then I'll call Kawasaki Customer Service.

Peace,
Man_Ray

 

[HooliganD]

sorry man, that is so frustrating, i hope they didn't charge you for that visit.

I hope you get things sorted out soon.

 

[Man_Ray]

This was my response to commuter - seems he has the same problem.

It took about a month, but the dealer was able to recreate the problem and work toward fixing it. Before they could recreate the problem, they checked all the wiring and connections for shorts - nothing. Note: when my ignition fuse started to blow, the temperature was normal. Overheating was listed as a cause for the ignition to blow.

They had to get the bike nice and hot - near the red zone on the temperature gauge. Only then, did the fuse start to blow regularly. (put in a new fuse and try the bike after it has sat for awhile - the dealer would say they could ride the think all day without blowing) Once they could see the fuse start blowing, they narrowed down the problem between the starter switch or solenoid (I can't remember) and the fuse box.

To make a long story short: they finally thought of replacing the starter switch (on the throttle grip), starter solenoid, and coil(??). I'm not sure about the coil - they might have gone ahead and replace the fuse box instead of the coil. As they replaced each part, the bike would still blow the fuse. Only when they replaced all three parts and had them installed together did the ignition fuse stopped blowing.

When I took possession of the bike, I ran the thing like heck - short twisties, freeway, stop and go traffic. The little EX runs great! I cannot recreate the problem on my own up to this date.

The estimate for repairs was just under $700.00 - this was covered by warranty.

FYI: as my bike sat at the dealers, an owner of an EX500 called in with the same problem - this was a 07' bike that was purchased new one month prior. So, this could be something that is happening to all EXs, but not so many as to warrant a technical bulletin or something.

That is all I have right now. I will post this on the main forums as an FYI.

Peace,
Man_Ray

 

[Frog]

Thanks for sharing Man_Ray, I hope it will help many

 

[commuter]

Thanks Man_Ray! Glad your dealer got your bike going. My dealer wanted me to bring it it's under an extended warranty and they're slow, but my bike is 60 miles away at my work! They didn't offer free towing so I figured I better take a crack at it myself!

Fortunately my problem did not involve parts, just some wires rubbing on a bracket under the gas tank. I posted the info on that here: http://www.ex-500.com/index.php/topic,2121.0.html

Later!

 

[HooliganD]

Glad you both got your gremlins worked out.

 

[Man_Ray]

Thanks Man_Ray! Glad your dealer got your bike going. My dealer wanted me to bring it it's under an extended warranty and they're slow, but my bike is 60 miles away at my work! They didn't offer free towing so I figured I better take a crack at it myself!

Fortunately my problem did not involve parts, just some wires rubbing on a bracket under the gas tank. I posted the info on that here: http://www.ex-500.com/index.php/topic,2121.0.html

Later!

Yeah, the dealers are slow!!

With warranty work, especially the problem I had, they couldn't just keep working on my bike all the time. They would work on the other bikes and then get to mine when they could. So I'm kinda lucky that they could even find the problem! I always dealt with one of the owners of the dealership and he was very apologetic about how long it took.

All well that ends well;D

Peace,
Man_Ray