Ignition Switch Rebuild

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Ignition Switch rebuild for the F650CS 2003 K14

This switch was overloaded and therefore failed on me! Be sure to use relays for your electrical applications no matter HOW SMALL you think they are!

So I had some bad contacts in my ignition switch which gave me the following problems:

Bike randomly turned itself off while the key was in the ON position and I was riding
(coincidently this occurred twice and both times less than 2 mins away from my house!)

Displays and everything that is run through the ignition switch would be dead except the 12V outlet and the clock in the instrument cluster

Bike would restart (somehow) without any outside interference or not start at all

This problem could also be occurring with the steering angle changed (loose wires near the connections)

First check if battery voltage is still good (above 12.4Volts)

Diagnosing wasn't to bad if you know what to look for:

The battery gives power to everything so if there is a battery issue and everything else that runs off the battery would have issues as well. The clock was still working (low current draw) and so was my 12V outlet. I didn't test the outlet with my heated gear but both had power.

The voltage at the 12V outlet didn't change at all when the key was turned from OFF to ON…
there should be a slight drop or a spike of voltage for a brief second since there is an additional strain placed onto the battery which didn't happen and made me think that the ignition switch is the culprit as well as the block of relays.

Everyone on the board turned to the battery so it got inspected and turned out that it had a cell that was completely dry. So remember to check your battery at least every 1K miles since I serviced the battery in June prior to my trip down to the Dragon so it was topped off around 2,5K miles ago.

A load test on the battery in my garage pointed the needle to WEAK but not bad so I was in doubt that the battery was the issue but since it had been in there for at least 2 years it got replaced. Autozone carries motorcycle batteries by the way! 3 months warranty on the battery only though compared to their car batteries. Paid 59$ out the door.

Moving some stuff around to make it easier for the battery removal.

New battery installed and nothing changed so I went for the ignition switch.

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The ignition switch is the ELECTRICAL part of the Ignition! You have the "lock" which is the keyed part and then underneath a small plastic switch which makes all the connections. In order to remove the switch you have to remove two Phillips screws which are a pain to remove. I had all the Tupperware off and it made the job easier as you could see what you are doing, however removal might not be necessary in your case.

I had to loosen up the horn as well and do a 310 degree turn to swivel the connector out of the way to make room for the screwdriver so be aware of that as well.

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Once you remove the two Phillips screws the switch should just drop down exposing the lock pin that is connected to the switch. You can now use a flat blade screwdriver turn the switch.
My switch needed to be turned just a tad more to the R in order to make a good contact. The lock pin is limited to its 4 positions and cannot be turned a tad more so it didn't make a contact.

In order to remove the switch from its casing cut the zip tie on the bottom that keeps the wiring attached to the case, then push/feed the wiring into the house and pull on the switch. It will come out mm by mm and eventually be exposed.

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This picture shows how offset the switch was from the lock assembly in the on position, the pins that are connecting the lock with the switch could not line up exactly.

Disconnect the switch by pushing the pins in and removing it.

The following pictures are macro close ups of the switch:

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In order to take the switch apart you need to depress the three pins and push.. this will take some finesse!!! be gentle and don't BREAK the thing either! Patience and skill is the answer!
The two silver balls are spring loaded marbles that are giving you some resistance when using the key lock to turn the switch and to hold the switch in position when turned

The underside of the switch has two SPRING LOADED plates, remember how they face each other for reassembly later on if needed

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This is the connector plate of the switch, notice how DIRTY it is, alcohol is your friend in cleaning the contact plates!

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The underside, check for broken, misaligned dirty pins

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This is how the contact plates are supposed to look: Spring loaded and with some resistance to the touch and easy movable!

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Notice how the silver one is missing the spring on the bottom pushing against the plate like the copper one had.

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Another view of the silver plate missing its spring on the bottom of it.. also notice how the plastic appeared to have been melted into a square looking top.

Separate the metal from the plastic, if you look closely there is some dark stuff in the white plastic whole.

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Turns out that the spring had melted with the plastic and was constantly depressed since it got melted somehow with the plastic!

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Get either a spring assortment or use a spring from a push down pen that will either fit the whole of the plastic switch or fit around the newly formed "plate"

Cut the new spring down as needed so there is some snug tension on when depressing and no chance of movement

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Reassembly and REGREASE everything in the reverse order. Also don't forget this writeup was MY problem, your issue could be like mine with melted plastic lacking to make contact or the wires leading to the switch could have been under so much tension that they eventually got torn or ripped apart or even shorted them to the chassis.

Good luck!

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