Oh Oh Rub Through! Suggestions?

sideshowBob

sideshowBob

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Northwestern Ontario
Well My 2002 SRX came down with an electrical issue, first one in 20,000+++ miles.

I was out riding by myself yesterday, -25c, windy day, 20 miles from nowhere...not smart.

I was crossing a very rough very large lake and the sled cut out momentarily followed by all my warning lights flashing just like right after initial startup. The sled then ran normally for a few miles then it did the same thing except dropped down to idle and died...miles from any shelter and out of cell range!

First thought was I should have taken my Apex!

I got the sled refired but it was running on Mag side cylinder only and would not take the throttle enough to engage the clutch. More trouble shooting showed no visual spark on PTO and centre cylinder and no lights, tach ,or fuel gage.
So I obviously deducted it must be a short somewhere...I looked every where that was acessable but nothing obvious...no luck.

Oh Oh!

After about an hour of trouble shooting and getting darn cold...fortunately... I remembered threads from this forum about no headlight after startup on the 2000 and up SRXs. I located the white load control relay, removed it, and started it up again.

Success! Those three cylinders firing away at idle never sounded so sweet! I buttoned it up and headed home.

Any suggestions as to where to look initially for the rub through?
 

Other than the typical harness under the engine - I haven't, seen first hand, the other areas but I remember Mr. Viper and others mentioning behind the cowling and bar pad and maybe a few other more specific areas. When I did my engine harness and decided to look at the rest of the wire routings I found a half dozen areas of the rubber sheathing and cables partially rubbed through. Coolant hoses too.

I'd guess after the first half hour you'd have been happy to see... even a ski-doo come along.

Glad you made it off the lake Bob.
 
snomofo said:
I'd guess after the first half hour you'd have been happy to see... even a ski-doo come along.

Glad you made it off the lake Bob.
Click to expand...

Yes it would have been a long cold day as the group I was trying to catch up to were unaware I was coming ,an hour ahead of me, and weren't returning until 5 - 6 hrs later.
 
I'm sure I'm not doing something right, but I haven't had much luck using the search function these days.

For grins I tried rub through, rub thru and got nothing.
 
Same thing happened on my viper (I think) but my sled would not refire. Just died as though someone hit the kill switch. I have a spare harness laying around so i'll just end up replacing the entire system.
 
It might just be the relay. I don't remember which way it was but have read that went one goes out sled will run fine in HI (or low) and not for crap or not at all in low (or HI?) Maybe plug it back in and see if switching HI/LOW beam makes a difference?
 
your scaring me now bob,riding these old sleds now could be hazardess to our health.I always ride alone now,no one left out here with sleds anymore as lot of them have got out of the sport.I do not go out as far as I use to.I know I probably would not ride out 20 miles from home on a cold day..good luck with the old SRX
 
Devilin AblueDress! said:
It might just be the relay. I don't remember which way it was but have read that went one goes out sled will run fine in HI (or low) and not for crap or not at all in low (or HI?) Maybe plug it back in and see if switching HI/LOW beam makes a difference?
Click to expand...

I did not try changing the light setting, it was in low beam...I will give that a try. -30c right now I will have to wait until it warms up.
Thanks for info.
 
bluemonster1 said:
your scaring me now bob,riding these old sleds now could be hazardess to our health.I always ride alone now,no one left out here with sleds anymore as lot of them have got out of the sport.I do not go out as far as I use to.I know I probably would not ride out 20 miles from home on a cold day..good luck with the old SRX
Click to expand...

Yes I have to start being more cautious...I am so used to the reliability of my Yamahas that I take them for granted and it is not uncommon for me to venture off regularly, by myself, in extreme conditions to remote places.
 
check over at cdi box, they rub there, and also up the sides to behind the powervalave servo. Typical under engine area, even though the 02 srx has a protective bracket on it, they still rub under engine, it makes it a bit tougher to get out.
 
Thanks for suggestions...I am hoping its not under the engine. Common sense tells me it must be somewhere the harness can move a bit as it seemed to me it was triggered or at least aggravated by the drifts I was hitting. It may be a while before I get at it as I have a busy work schedule coming up, but I definitely will update everyone once I figure it out.
Lucky I have my Attak to ride, although I still really enjoy riding the SRX too.
 
sideshowBob said:
I did a bit of trouble shooting today.
All of the wiring I can see looks good and is secure
With the sled idling, I unplugged grip warmers, thumb warmers, head lights, all the connections for the servo motor but every time I plugged the load relay in you could see a spark as it made its connection and the sled wanted to die right away.
I don't think this is going to be a quick fix but, like usual for me, the "full meal deal"!
Click to expand...
well bob,better get the tools out and dismantle the whole sled and slowing start to put it back together again..you will find the problem then..lol
 
im pretty sure the blue wired is short to ground somewhere ...u can get a look at the opening of the hood ..ive seen some rub there too ....u can try to plug a ohm metter on the blue wired to see if its ground to the chassis ...if its grounded then giggle the harness to see if something will change on ohm metter ...easier if u got a buzzer one
 
****UPDATE****

I found the problem!
To trouble shoot the short I have been leaving the sled idling with the white load relay removed and disconnecting items then plugging the relay in to see if engine quits.
I started under the handlebar pad and was moving down and forward thru the wiring with no success until I unplugged both of the wiring harness plugs to the hood harness then plugged in the relay the sled kept idling normally...success...I finally made some progress!
when I plugged the small hood harness plug back in the sled kept idling but when I reconnected the large plug the sled wanted to die immediately. I then unplugged both headlights and tried it again and the sled kept running. Finally thru process of elimination I traced it to a dead short in the right hand side headlight connector.

Thanks for all the advice....

I got lucky this time and didn't have to dismantle anything.
 
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