Ok, I'm an idiot. <--Just wanted to get that out of the way before someone in the peanut gallery says it! Roughly 18 months ago my gear indicator light started acting squirrely. It would stay blank most of the time, occasionally show a gear while riding, and rarely show neutral. I searched a zillion threads on various sites and finally gave up because it seemed like a "shop only" fix, something about taking the WHOLE back end off just to get to it! I figured it was an annoyance and not a safety issue. When I first started riding the instructor from my basic rider course said that the only thing a gear indicator light tells you is that the bulb is working. Remembering his quote I decided to just live with it not working properly (or at all). I only had the bike a year and a half or so at the time and I was struggling with my lingo. Trying to google search thing-a-ma-bobs, whatchamacallits, and little wire thingies has a tendency to stunt productivity. I got distracted and started tinkering with other things, but all the while the gear light bothered me. : At the tech day this weekend JVB was helping look over my bike and noticed the issue. He told me that they sell a replacement part for the fix. When I got back home I was glowing with confidence since the guys helped me through all the tech day wrenching. Feeling like I could fix ANYTHING and with plans to replace the gear/final drive oil, and lube the splines soon I decided to do some more investigating. After hours of research, I finally determined that the offending whatchamacallit is know in the mean streets as The POTENTIOMETER. He may not have known it yet... but me and MR POTENTIOMETER had a score to settle. I strapped up my tools and got ready to engage. Crept past the wife and into the garage and flanked him when he least expected it. In a flash I was on my back under the bike going for the gusto. Before he could blink I had him cornered... there was nothing he could do. And thats when I noticed it. He was unplugged. Plugged him back up... turned the key and voila! The green neutral light was back burning my retina! Took ole Laila for a spin and worked her through gears... I'm back in business. Let me know if anyone wants me to put together a pictorial for the site on how to plug it back in. 8)
Hey Shark....are you close to Norfolk? Do like the US Navy 2nd fleet and get outta town. Otherwise yes, we're all up for a good video of anything you wrench on a GS...especially if it electrical.
My own brainiac moment came when I was taking off the gear selection sender from the transmission on my 2000 GS. After much grunting and effort. I managed to get the black plastic cover yanked off of the black plastic body... and after all the small contacts and springs fell out, I came to understand there was a simple clip holding the whole thing in place. The replacement part was not cheap...
SharkDiesel, hi! This totally made me smile! I think most of us have been in similar situations, but you illustrate it so well. Any new further successes since, you would like to share? Thank you thank you thank you for the levity! Enjoy! Liz
