electrical malfunction

[Preacherman]

   I was riding home from work one nite last week.  When I tried to honk the horn...well let's just say, it didn't.  Also almost everything went dark.  The bike still ran, the headlight still worked, but everything else went black.  I checked the fuses.  All are good.  I checked the lights.  All are good.  I checked the wires.  No shorts or grounds that I can find.  I removed the dash and fairing. but didn't find anything unusual or out of place.  The bike still starts and the headlight works, but that is all.  HELP!  This is a '99 Interstate.

[X Ring]

Replace the fuse anyway.  I had an electrical problem and when I checked the fuse it looked fine.  After checking everything I finally just replaced the fuse.  Everything worked.  The fuse can be bad or going bad and give no visible indication. 

Marty

[Novavalker]

I had a similar issue with the LCD crapping out and no radio etc. The problem in my case was a splice plug connection hidden in the main wiring harness. I emailed you a detailed description on how mine was corrected. Hopefully it will assist you. In any case let us know what you find.

[Preacherman]

Thanx to you all for the helpful info.  I spoke with the local Honda mechanic.  He sid it was probably the ignition switch.  A bad ground or loose connection.  I checked that as well.   I really didn't find anything wrong or out of kilter.  I put everything back together, checking it for good connection and power, and it all works fine now.
   Hope no one else has this problem.

[R J]

WIRE splices/connections are one of Honda's downfalls.

They use a round male /female connector and the female seems to spread out.

I've had to go over my bike several times pulling these apart, squeezing the female a little and putting them back together.

Mine all started over my turn signals went limp so to speak.   Indicator would hardly show and several lamps would try to light.

It was a green ground wire under the right side panel. an da poor old bike was chasin it's arse off looking for a good ground...........   The 3rd time it did it, it got a flat spade connector.    That was like 95,000 miles ago.  No more problem, with that ground anyway.

Now that I have said this, it will fail tomorrow.....