always lots of questions on electrical glitches and strange things on the pro action chassis sleds. The most common issue that arises is the wire harness chaffs and rubs thru the wire insulation. This allows the wires arc to the sleds chassis, shorting out and cross powering circuits, some of the symptoms will be:
A)-rough running for a brief time on a bumpy trail
B)-tach needle jumping around
C)-gas gauge moving or not working
D)-headlights dim and the tach jumps when changing from low beam to high beam.
E)-vipers will flash the whole digital display and sweep the tach needle.
F)-engine sound like it runs on 2 cylinders if a triple and single if a twin then will pick up and run normal again for a short bit, then repeat.
I tell people to just do this on EVERY 1997-2005 pro action chassis sled as sometime in the sleds life, its going to have this problem. It just depends on the mileage and how rough the trails are but they ALL will rub thru sooner or later.
((NOTE: on a 2002 srx Yamaha installed a clamp on the harness to try and fix this problem, it is more difficult to do this on this year only srx, but the convolte tubing should still be installed.))
heres how to repair it or prevent problems from arising in the future, once done they will never have the problems again:
1.) go up to the hood hinge area and observe the wire harness plugs are to hood harness, unplug the connections. At this time take a piece of 3-4ft long string or light rope and tie it to the harness on the sled engine side of harness.
2.) looking at the harness that runs under the front of the engine you will observe small black bend over clamps, you will want to release these clamps, as many as you can reach, they go clear under the front of the engine so youll need to reach down between the exhaust and release the harness from them.
3). its much easier to do this repair with the airbox and the carb rack removed from the sled, remove those now.
4.) standing on the recoil side, you will see large black rubber covers on the wires coming from the engine, these are the stator and pick up coil connections, unplug these. You will also need to unplug the connections to coil rack and the water temp sensor in the head and or water rail if srx.
5.) once this is done you will grasp the harness by the recoil and pull it back and up at the same time. Its gonna have a bit of resistance to move as the little bend over clamps you did at the front, theres 2 more under the engine that you were not able to reach. once free of the clamps it will pull out.
6.) inspect the harness which will be wrapped in black electrical tape. I would advise removing the electrical tape and wipe of the harness with laq. thinner or something to cut the oil/grease that will be on it. Carefully inspect each wire by itself. You will see the colored insulation worn away exposing the copper wire inside, all it takes sometimes is 1 strand to arc on the frame.
7.) repair each wire separately, solder it back together if broken, use heat shrink to repair it or individually tape each wire if just worn thru, take your time. Once repaired you can tightly tape it back up like it was stock with electrical tape.
8.) you need to now place that repaired harness into plastic convolute tubing. it is available at any auto parts store. You need 4 ft of it. place the harness in the tubing and then going up to the front of the sled, grab your string you have sticking out from under the engine. pull harness back thru and place it in and under the little black bend over clamps.
9.) plug everything back in and install your carbs and airbox, you should then enjoy the sled with no more wire harness problems from the engine bay for the sleds lifetime.
A)-rough running for a brief time on a bumpy trail
B)-tach needle jumping around
C)-gas gauge moving or not working
D)-headlights dim and the tach jumps when changing from low beam to high beam.
E)-vipers will flash the whole digital display and sweep the tach needle.
F)-engine sound like it runs on 2 cylinders if a triple and single if a twin then will pick up and run normal again for a short bit, then repeat.
I tell people to just do this on EVERY 1997-2005 pro action chassis sled as sometime in the sleds life, its going to have this problem. It just depends on the mileage and how rough the trails are but they ALL will rub thru sooner or later.
((NOTE: on a 2002 srx Yamaha installed a clamp on the harness to try and fix this problem, it is more difficult to do this on this year only srx, but the convolte tubing should still be installed.))
heres how to repair it or prevent problems from arising in the future, once done they will never have the problems again:
1.) go up to the hood hinge area and observe the wire harness plugs are to hood harness, unplug the connections. At this time take a piece of 3-4ft long string or light rope and tie it to the harness on the sled engine side of harness.
2.) looking at the harness that runs under the front of the engine you will observe small black bend over clamps, you will want to release these clamps, as many as you can reach, they go clear under the front of the engine so youll need to reach down between the exhaust and release the harness from them.
3). its much easier to do this repair with the airbox and the carb rack removed from the sled, remove those now.
4.) standing on the recoil side, you will see large black rubber covers on the wires coming from the engine, these are the stator and pick up coil connections, unplug these. You will also need to unplug the connections to coil rack and the water temp sensor in the head and or water rail if srx.
5.) once this is done you will grasp the harness by the recoil and pull it back and up at the same time. Its gonna have a bit of resistance to move as the little bend over clamps you did at the front, theres 2 more under the engine that you were not able to reach. once free of the clamps it will pull out.
6.) inspect the harness which will be wrapped in black electrical tape. I would advise removing the electrical tape and wipe of the harness with laq. thinner or something to cut the oil/grease that will be on it. Carefully inspect each wire by itself. You will see the colored insulation worn away exposing the copper wire inside, all it takes sometimes is 1 strand to arc on the frame.
7.) repair each wire separately, solder it back together if broken, use heat shrink to repair it or individually tape each wire if just worn thru, take your time. Once repaired you can tightly tape it back up like it was stock with electrical tape.
8.) you need to now place that repaired harness into plastic convolute tubing. it is available at any auto parts store. You need 4 ft of it. place the harness in the tubing and then going up to the front of the sled, grab your string you have sticking out from under the engine. pull harness back thru and place it in and under the little black bend over clamps.
9.) plug everything back in and install your carbs and airbox, you should then enjoy the sled with no more wire harness problems from the engine bay for the sleds lifetime.
Another EXCELLENT write up by Mr. Viper, THANK YOU!
super1c
Super Moderator
Nice post, thanks don!
nick5oh
Member
I assume this job could take 1-2 hours or a whole day depending how anal you are or if there is an actual problem?
I never liked the way any yammy harnesses have been routed. Always running/pinching somewhere. Do we put the harness back the same way with extra protection or run a different way? The one spot where I assume there is most issues is right near the mag side rubbing on the coolant hose and engine cylinder. Am I correct here?
I never liked the way any yammy harnesses have been routed. Always running/pinching somewhere. Do we put the harness back the same way with extra protection or run a different way? The one spot where I assume there is most issues is right near the mag side rubbing on the coolant hose and engine cylinder. Am I correct here?
devinzz1
Active member
just noticed the kanji for "life" was added to the life member avatars. nice touch
I've read of folks rerouting the harness and ended up with it burning from the exhaust. The ones I've seen rubbed through have been at the point where the harness rests/rubs against the bellypan under the motor. Placing the harness into split convolute and placing back to it's original location as Mr. Viper suggests is IMHO the best way to repair it.