K11 Owners Group

[bsample]

I've searched several forums for tach problems, but it appears the most common issue is with speedo's. bike is fairly new to me (less than 500 miles) and was in dry storage for about 5 years before I got it. New battery, etc.... radio does not work andI had to wire the fan with an on/off switch, but all other electrics seem to be fine. Bike runs great, no hesitation or erratic behavior. Speedometer works fine, never a hitch. The tach had always read very low (never above 3k), sometimes not at all. I've just pulled the instrument cluster and did not see any signs of moisture, all connections and pins on the board appear bright and shiny. Any suggestions?

[Alan Walker]

It is probably a ground that is causing the issue after setting idle for so long. According to the wiring diagram there is a brown wire coming off the tach unit. But the tach actually gets its signal from the Motronic control unit which is prone to having grounding issues. Hope you find the culprit more will probably chime in shortly. Good luck.
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95 K1100LT Current ride
05 Suzuki DL650 sold
86 Honda Nighthawk 450 sold
76 Honda CB400F sold

[Inge K.]

From your description I would guess that it is a power or ground problem, rather than a signal problem.
Here is the connections that is involved in this circuit:

I would have checked the three connectors at the top of the cluster carefully, these ones connects to the tacho pcb.
Remove the conductor film and it`plastic frame, and clean the contacts with contact cleaner,
and move the pins a bit forth and back in the female connectors.

It`s also a couple of connectors between the tacho pcb and the galvanometer, but it is a lot more dismantling to get acces to these.
It could be tried as the next step...it`s less likely that these are the reason to the problem.

[bsample]

Once the front and rear cover have been removed I took out the small black screws that secure the PCB and film. I've not had any luck seperating the PCB from the tach or speedo. Its loose, but I'm concerned about breaking something as it still seems attached.... what am I missing?

[Inge K.]

It`s enough to remove the rear cover....then the instrument needles is better protected.

After you have you have removed the two small screws (one at each side close to the bottom of the cluster),
pull the plastic frame together with the conductive film straight up at all sides simultaneously.

It`s held together by the connectors, pull up a thiny part at a time and work yourself around all sides/connectors, do this in more rounds.

Be careful so you don`t bend the connector pins!

Inge K.

[bsample]

Thanks for all the advice Inge. It worked just like you described, I' guess that stuff is tougher than it looks. Results.... prior to assembling I checked continuity on the signal, + and - between the 3 pins at the top and where the wiring harness attaches. All fine. I have not had it on the road yet, but did fire it up and the tach will read up to around 4K just fine. It is still a bit lethargic.... moving slower than I would expect. my RT tach responds quickly to a throttle blip... the K tach gets there, just not as quick. So- it's better but I'm still not convinced its right.

I'll get it back together after work today and try a road test. Could someone give me an idea about how fast the engine should be running at a given speed in 5th gear? Lets say at 50 mph and at 70mph? That will give me an idea if it is really reading what it should.

Thanks for you help on this...

[whyoldbill]

[sccommuter]

on mine in 5th at 50 mph-2900 rpms, @ 60 - 3400 and at 70-4000.
I've not calibrated the speedo and it doesn't sound like the previous owner did either going by what "whyoldbill"says.
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1995 K1100 LT
Illegitimi non Carborundum