1978 KZ 1000 A2

Greetings...just brought my 78 KZ 1000 A2 back to life after over 10 years in proper storage...did lots of proper maintenance and refreshing and most everything seems to work well with the exception of a glitch with the brake light failure light on the ignition switch console...here's the scenario. When main light switch is in the OFF position the BFL (brake failure light on ignition cluster) is not lit. Brake light works fine via front and rear switches. When main light switch is turned on the BFL flashes intermittently and the brake light works fine via both front and rear switches. One other symptom is that the flashers work but seem dim. Any and all help appreciated. Thanks. Fitz/Boston MA

Welcome ,
Have you lubed the switches ?
Maybe a couple of drops of WD and work the switch a while.
JD

A bad or dirty ground connection for the tail/brake bulb can cause your symptom.

When the headlight is turned on, the tail light is also turned on. If the ground connection at the tail light is bad, the current from the tail light will cause the ground connection for the brake light tohave an increased voltage on it. To the brakelight failure unit, it will appear that the brake light filament has broken. This causes the flashing.

You will have to trace the black/yellow wire from the tail light all the way back to the main harness ground, and maybe even back to the battery, depending on how your harness and connections look.

And of course, it could also just be a flakey bulb, but you reported the brake light is working.

Welcome to the Forum.

Everyone is right here. Just go through the wiring and clean all the plugins. I bought me a can of electrical cleaner and some dialetic greese.

The ground on the engine is very improtant.

After you get the wiring sorted out be sure to check the voltage.

If you haven't got a manual get one or download one.

If you put your bike in the signiture of your profile it will help a lot. Roy

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. Or use any plastic safe electrical contact cleaner(NOT WD-40 !).

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.

All battery cables must be clean and tight for maximum current transfer. Check the cables going from the Negative(-) battery terminal/post to the engine mounting bolt

Also the one going from the Positive(+) terminal to the starter solenoid and from there to the starter motor.

If any battery cable feels ”Crunchy” when flexed, replace it as possible corrosion is inside the insulation.

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.........



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.

Puzzled 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.

I stand corrected :blush:
Thanks for that great post MFolks.
I will taking your advise.
luckily for me I am about a couple of weeks away from going over all the wiring.
It would have been a real drag to read that a month from now.
JD

Greetings all...thanks for the great posts and helpful info...think I may have found the problem...while resurrecting the bike my brother replaced the 1157 tail light with an LED unit...I was not aware of this but suspect it may be the culprit. My plan is to spend a day cleaning, Q tipping, pipe cleaning and De-Oxit-ing all of the connections anyway as I suspect it's great PM.
Also...now that I'm up and running where do most of you source replacement parts such as gaskets, cam cover end plugs, filters and misc OEM parts?
Thanks from Hull MA.
Fitz

Z1 Enterprises....
APE
Schnitz
Redline Cycle

Just a few of many... Z1 Ent. would be the Main source for Stock/Reproductions....

OMR

Thanks again all...switched back from LED to filiment based 1157 bulb and shazam...all set.

If you want LED, just change out the relay...

Example: LED current sensitive relays, many options, easy to install...