1983 KZ550-H1 Instrument Panel Questions

Good day,

I'm new to the forum (first post!), having recently picked up a fairly abused '83 KZ550 that was left under a tree for more than a year, exposed to the elements the poor thing! I got a hold of a service manual for the series and have been reading it almost from cover-to-cover.

Anyways, I've stripped off all the bodywork and the electrics look alright (no severe corrosion, chopped wires or such like). The battery was almost dry, but some distilled water and a long, slow charge seems to have revived the sucker

I have sooo many questions, but for now I'll limit them to the instrument cluster on the bike (I've attached a photo for clarity). Most of the back-lighting appears to be shot (only one light turns on behind the speedo), both turn signals work (although the left one gets stuck ... mechanical relay I guess), the neutral indicator and high beam lights both work too.

Now the questions ... what is the "headlamp" light for? Does it indicate when one of the bulbs is blown? Should it light up as part of the turn on auto-check?

During the turn on auto-check the fuel guage level rises all the way and battery, oil and stand lcds activate and the red flashing LED blinks (and stays blinking because the fuel gauge is toast). By this I mean that, under the right light, I can see them turn on, in sequence. They do not illuminate. To clarify with an example, when the battery indicator is meant to be on, the small areas of LCD above and below the word turn black, but no light is produced (so it can only be seen during the day). Is this how the LCD is supposed to operate? Is each warning region meant to be back-lit? Are these back lights part of the cluster which illuminates the rest of the panel or are they incorporated in the LCD system?

Ok, that's a lot of questions and I'm not too sure if it's all clear. Any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank-you all!

- Arc

First I recommend getting a Factory service manual. Member Loudhvx has one in his signature. I'm not sure about your battery, have you tested it? It would need replacing if it has sat for those years, it couldn't possibly hold the proper Amp Hours of storage. Nothing worse for a Lead Acid Battery than sitting discharged, then dry. Why dry, probably has a overcharging issue that will have to be sorted.
Get the Manual, and a new battery, then put in a fresh set of fuses in the panel cleaning and tightening the clips that hold the fuses. Then go from there, electrically.
Pull and clean the Tank, replace the fuel line, add a gravity type Motorcycle In- Line filter. Pull the carbs, remove the float bowls, take out the jets, and clean every orifice. Keep the parts separated so they stay with the carb they came out of. Check those intake manifolds for cracks, most likely order a set of boots for the carb to airbox.
Clean and lubricate the Ignition mechanical advancer, lube all the cables, throttle sleeve, change the fork oil, lube / adjust the chain, etc. After sitting it will need everything checked out, but hopefully between the manual and your expertise it will be riding again.

Thanks for the advice I'm in no rush to ride it, so planning to strip it down to the frame, overhaul the engine ... give the bike a full work-over before even trying to fire it up. There were vines growing through the carbs, so wouldn't surprise me to find mice in the cylinders

Ok, some progress. I managed to open the instrument panel and it seems the LCD display is NOT meant to light up. Think an old style digital calculator ... when the fuel gauge or warning lights are on, the appropriate area turns black, no back-lighting. The light comes from a section of clear plastic pulling off a neat fiber optics trick from one of the lights behind the tachometer (see first photo). On my bike, that light is burnt out, hence the LCD display is difficult to see.

For anyone else trying to get the panel open (perhaps to change the light globes), you need to remove the headlight (two bolts on the sides, one beneath), detach the speedo cable, remove 3 screws from the back of the instrument panel cover (left, center top, right), take that black back cover off.

If you have trouble accessing the back of the panel, two bolts in front of the panel (look down between the panel and the forks) hold it in place, remove these and the panel frees up a bit.

The second photo below shows what you should see. The 5 screws on the left hold the tach in place (the 3 holding wires and the other 2). Remove all 5 and the tach slides out the front (don't forget to disconnect the tach's wires )

EDIT: Oh, and the front (black and glass) section is held on by two screws, bottom left and bottom right.

Cleaning Motorcycle Electrics

Get some of the De-Oxit electrical contact cleaner and figure on spending a good day going from the front of the bike to the back. It’s a plastic safe cleaner/preservative. www.deoxit.com is their website.

On the older Kawasaki's, a majority of electrical connectors are inside the headlight housing requiring removal of the headlight, then the fun begins.

Do one set of electrical connectors at a time to avoid mixing up what connects to where. Usually disconnecting, spraying with De-Oxit and reconnecting is about all you'll need.

However, when encountering the green crud of corrosion, a brass wire brush may be needed on the pins you can reach.
Some 400-600 grit wet and dry sandpaper strips rolled into a tube should reach the male and female pins in the more difficult to clean connectors.

Smoker’s pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and wooden toothpicks work as cleaning aids.

Really small electrical connectors may require the use of a welders tip cleaning tool assortment.

Most pins in the connectors are coated with a thin plating of tin, and others may be nothing more than copper or brass.

If moisture is added, the resulting corrosion lowers the voltage/current being carried causing dim lights, slow engine cranking, slow turn signal responce and lower input voltage to the ignition coils resulting in weak spark.

The left and right handlebar switch pods will need attention too as they have circuit functions like turn, horn, run/stop, and start.

Usually a spritz or two with actuation of the switch is about all needed for these switches unless corrosion is detected and then careful disassembly is required.

The ignition switch may or may be not sealed to allow spraying the internal contacts. I urge caution if attempting to open this up as springs, and ball bearings may fly out never to be seen again!

If your bike has the older style glass tubed fuses, I suggest replacing them as vibration can cause internal failure. AGX is the type used, and most auto parts stores can get them for you.

Clean the fuse holder clips, looking for signs of overheating(discolored insulation, signs of melting).
I use metal polish on a cotton swab, followed by spraying another clean swab with the De-Oxit and then rubbing the inside of the fuse clip.

Each "Bullet Connector" will have to be sprayed to ensure good connectivity, especially the ones going to the energizing coil of the starter solenoid.

The alternator output “Bullet Connectors” are usually behind the engine sprocket cover and will need inspecting and cleaning too.

The turn signal light sockets will benefit from a spritz from the contact cleaner along with the tail light/brake light socket.

Some brake light switches can be sprayed on the actuating rod, with the spray running down inside to the electrical contacts, others may be sealed requiring replacement if the switch is intermittent in operation.

Some people put the Di-Electric Grease on cleaned terminations/connectors, I don’t, as I’ve read/heard it can cause problems when it gets hot, actually insulating the connections, so the choice is yours to use or not.

I think I've covered about all of the electrical systems on the bike.........



and:

Why WD-40 Should Not Be Used On Motorcycle Electrical Items.

For many years, I was proponent of the use of WD-40 on fuse clips, fuses, switches and connectors. After hearing of other peoples experience with intermittent and sporadic activity, I shrugged it off as maybe they did something wrong in the application of the product.

It wasn’t until the time I rode my 1982 GPz1100 B2 model to downtown San Diego that I encountered the problems others had gone through.

After concluding my business downtown, I walked to where my bike was parked, turned the key to unlock the forks, and prepared to start the engine. The key was in the "On" position, yet I had no lights in the dash panel, the fuel pump was not running(I have FI), and the horn and tail light were not working.


Stumped as to why nothing electrical was happening, I remember my earlier conversations about how WD-40 will over time become a non-conductor(more like an insulator). I had some pieces of 400 and 600 grit sandpaper in my tool kit and with them was able to scratch away the coating from the WD-40 on the fuses and clips.

After removing the insulating film, the bike started and ran like it should. Since that time, I’ve told people about the problem with WD-40. If you must use a contact cleaner, I recommend getting some "De-oxit" from Radio Shack Stores or any good electronic supply store.

That's fantastic, thank-you I now have a game plan for the bike for the weekend :laugh:

Unfortunately I just sprayed a bunch of connections with WD40 this morning ... including the moving parts of the tach!!! What do you recommend to remedy the problem? Will deoxit displace the WD40?

After a brief internet search, it seems we can't get deoxit in Canada I did, however, find a recommendation for something called Nutrol ( ). Does anyone know how reliable this stuff is?

Can deoxit and nutrol be used on moving parts too? Such as inside the tach, the speedo, etc.?

Is WD40 still acceptable for other light lube jobs that aren't electrical? The speedo and speedo cable for instance?

Thanks

For stuck parts, I use either Kroil or PB Blaster. WD-40, I use for removing masking tape residue.
Whatever brand of contact cleaner you use, make sure it's plastic safe. A rider (maybe this forum) tried to use brake cleaner, and melted a majority of the bikes electrical connectors.

If you've found damaged/missing electrical connectors, here's some websites that should have parts:


Electrical Connectors, Wire, And supplies
www.easternbeaver.com
www.vintageconnections.com
www.z1enterprises.com/catalog.aspx?pid=KPEL1
www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu
www.electricalconnection.com
www.electricalconnection.com/electrical-components/hitachi.htm
www.pbase.com/mainecruising/wire_termination&page=1
www.crowbarelectricalparts.com/butt_connectors.htm
www.ratwell.com/technical/Terminals.html
www.economycycle.com/servlet/the-Bullet-...lectrical/Categories
www.surplussales.com/SolderlessTerminals/WireTerminals-3.html
www.findtape.com/shop/product.aspx?id=32...&width=1436&height=0

What's the general opinion of replacing stock incandescent instrument lights with LED versions? Most of the Stanley 158's in the panel are toast, so have to be swapped out either way. I figure the LED's will give more light, making the panel more visible. They're also more expensive though. Any other pro's and con's of each?

If you can get them to fit, that's a major problem as most manufacturers put two or more elements on the base and then the bulb won't go up inside the instrument panel.

Tried these websites?

www.radiantz.com/index1.html?c34.html&1
www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/in...ni-wedge.html%23wled

Another website: www.customled.com/products/led_bulbs/led_bulbs.htm

Archiddeon wrote: Good day,

I'm new to the forum (first post!), having recently picked up a fairly abused '83 KZ550 that was left under a tree for more than a year, exposed to the elements the poor thing! I got a hold of a service manual for the series and have been reading it almost from cover-to-cover.

Anyways, I've stripped off all the bodywork and the electrics look alright (no severe corrosion, chopped wires or such like). The battery was almost dry, but some distilled water and a long, slow charge seems to have revived the sucker

I have sooo many questions, but for now I'll limit them to the instrument cluster on the bike (I've attached a photo for clarity). Most of the back-lighting appears to be shot (only one light turns on behind the speedo), both turn signals work (although the left one gets stuck ... mechanical relay I guess), the neutral indicator and high beam lights both work too.

Now the questions ... what is the "headlamp" light for? Does it indicate when one of the bulbs is blown? Should it light up as part of the turn on auto-check?

During the turn on auto-check the fuel guage level rises all the way and battery, oil and stand lcds activate and the red flashing LED blinks (and stays blinking because the fuel gauge is toast). By this I mean that, under the right light, I can see them turn on, in sequence. They do not illuminate. To clarify with an example, when the battery indicator is meant to be on, the small areas of LCD above and below the word turn black, but no light is produced (so it can only be seen during the day). Is this how the LCD is supposed to operate? Is each warning region meant to be back-lit? Are these back lights part of the cluster which illuminates the rest of the panel or are they incorporated in the LCD system?

Ok, that's a lot of questions and I'm not too sure if it's all clear. Any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank-you all!

- Arc

on my 750R1 when my low beam burned out the headlamp light lit up and the headlight was pretty dim on low. once i replaced the headlight the headlamp light went out.