[Rippa_MD]

2005 R6 with about 68xx miles, everything on the bike works EXCEPT the tachometer.

ok this is what I've done so far with no type of success, the tachometer needle stays on zero forever.

bought a used tach to switch and same results: the second tach stays on zero.
bought a used ECU from the same person: the second ECU did nothing, tach stays on zero.

change spark plugs just to try anything, the tach stays on zero.
change the front sub harness (connects to the lights and tachometer) result: the tach stays on zero.

change the sub harness that connects to the coils, the tach stays on zero.
change the rectifier, the tach stays on zero.

what the hell? The only thing that I have NOT done is change out the entire wiring harness. The only time the tach needle sometimes works is when I hit a bump during the ride. The tach starts to work during that ride session.

Tach sometimes work the next day after the ride but that is so rare.

Anybody else heard of this problem?
Any ideas on what the fix is or any bulletins out there for this issue?

If I take it to a dealer do they diagnose the problem for a fee or for free? What is this diagnosis fee? I'm about throw in the towel and let the dealer have a crack at this. Will they tell me 'this is the problem and this is how much it will cost you to fix' ? Is the work guarantee in other words if the same tachometer problem creeps up again will they fix it for what I already paid or is it a new repair fee all together? :comp

 

[asdfjklm]

are you the original owner?

 

[Rippa_MD]

the second owner. had the bike for almost two years now, this started to happen early 08...this tach problem is a total mystery, hope is not something more serious.

 

[asdfjklm]

Did you do any mods to the bike.

Turn signals, rear hugger delete, integrated tail lights, speedo healer, PCIII. Any of THAT stuff?
Have you checked all of your fuses?

That's all I can think of right now...

 

[Rippa_MD]

I did do a rear hugger/fender removal and replaced/changed the stock rear signals with smaller LED ones. No to the integrated tail lights + speedo healer + PCIII. My lights blink faster now but I like the faster blinking actually. I'll put the stock hugger with stock signal lights and see if that changes anything...

 

[asdfjklm]

Did you check all the fuses.

 

[Rippa_MD]

all fuses checked: none were burnt out. I can't find my old fender lol so what I did was unplug the rear signal plug under the seat and no changes---tach stays on zero. The wiring harness is a bitch to install but that's the only thing left.

 

[asdfjklm]

Dang dude, that's all I can think of. Let us know what you figure out man.

 

[r6kid]

Sounds like a bad ground to me but it's really wacky.

 

[Rippa_MD]

wacky definitely fits the bill with the tach. The problem has been narrowed down to a bad wiring harness or bad ground in the wiring harness. Any ideas on how to track down a bad ground?

Electrical :comp gurus do you know if there are multiple ground points spread through out the bike or just at the battery terminal?

 

[Agent4573]

To see if its a bad ground, first find the ground wire for the gauge cluster. Not sure which wire it is on the 05, but you seem like the kinda person that has some knowledge of what their doing, so I'll leave it to you to find the ground wiring for the cluster. Get yourself a vampire clip and a 2 foot piece of wire. Connect one of the 2 foot piece to the ground wire with the vampire clip. Ground the other end on the bike chassis. If your tach starts working, then you have a bad ground. Let me know what happens.