Malcolm, The Fringe Kid (and official site photographer) brought over his
ailing bike, Maggie, to see if we could fix his non-working and blatently intermittant
signal switch. Sometimes, all the switch needs is a little WD-40 sprayed on it, and
then just worked in a little. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times.
After spraying the unit, it was obvious that this signal was not the co-operative
type. The switch must be taken apart and cleaned. Well Malcolm, I hope you
brought a lot of beer! The Honda manual says that this
unit is not rebuildable. Untrue!
As we will soon see! It does have a lot of small parts, but if you are careful, it
can be done! The trick is to recognize that there are a lot of small parts to deal
with. For reference the switch is shown to the right.
The First step is to remove the screws at the bottom of the assembly. Loosen the
master cylinder from the handlebar to allow room to remove the choke. Remove the
choke cable from the lever, and then remove the lever, leaving it on the handlebar.
When you pull apart the two halves of the switch assembly, you will notice that one half
has all the signal guts, as shown in figure 1. Note the operation of the
switch. There are three screws. Two hold in parts of the assembly, while the
other holds the pivot for the slide switch. Carefully remove all three screws,
noting where each one goes. Under each screw, there is a smaller washer or metal
piece, which you do not want to lose, nor do you want to forget where it goes. It is
best to draw a diagram. Once the pieces are removed and the small parts safely
tucked away, the remaining assembly is shown in Figure 2. Yes, Malcolm was
chasing those little pieces all over the garage floor!
Figure 1 Top Half Of
Signal Assembly
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Figure 2 Top Half Of
Signal Assembly
With first screw layer removed
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Notice that there are really two major
pieces. The upper housing of the signal switch, and the electrical assembly
inside. Carefully remove this electrical assembly. Once the electrical
assembly is removed, look at the top. There are two little plastic 'clips'
that snap the assembly together. They are similar to the ones found on all the
electrical connectors. Be careful not to snap them! Gently pry the clips loose
and pull off the 'top' of the assembly, as shown in figure 4. Do this VERY
CAREFULLY, since there are two small springs and two small clips that WILL spring out on
you. The 'top' piece in figure 3 is connected to the wiring, as can be seen in
figure 4. Here lies one of the difficulties. Note that the 'top' piece
shown in figure 4 is full of crud. This must be cleaned, with something like
WD-40.
Figure 3 Electrical
Assembly
and Separation of the Pieces
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Figure 4 Whats left
after 'Bottom' Piece is Removed
Note The Crud on the Electrical Connections
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After Malcolm and I finished chasing flying springs and guts, (I've got to listen to my
own advice) we put the pieces of the bottom of the electrical assembly (that was shown in
figure 3) back together to pose for a photo. This is shown in Figure 5. Note
that there is crud on the side of the assembly, as well as minor corrosion on the metal
contacts. This must be cleaned. Figure 6 shows all the components of the electrical
assembly.
Figure 5 Electrical
Assembly and Separation of the Pieces
|
Figure 6 Whats left
after 'Bottom' Piece is Removed
Note More Corrosion
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Reassembly is the opposite of disassembly. Again, care must be taken not to
drop any of the pieces. Watching Malcolm crawling on the garage floor with his nose
2" off the ground, searching for tiny pieces is a horrifying sight that has been
burned into my memory forever! It gave me quite the incentive not to drop anything
on reassembly!