Monster 900 - idiot lights

[Diver]

Hello,

I have a 1999 Monster 900 and have swapped over the instrument cluster (Speedo plus idiot light unit - one unit on this model) with a unit I purchased second hand. This is because I need a unit which reads in KM/H as opposed to MPH as I now live in France.

I now appear to have a problem with both the neutral light and the oil light - neither work! The others all do.

I have swapped over the bulbs but get the same result.

I have had a look around the wiring surrounding the unit and cannot see any reason why these two lights should stop working.

They worked before I swapped over the unit but I tried swapping back the unit and they no longer work on the old unit!

Obviously a wiring issue but I simply cannot pinpoint it or understand why these two lights should not be working (possibly the fuel indicator lamp is also not working but I cannot easily check that one).

Any ideas?

thank you in advance.

[ducpainter]

Do you have a wiring diagram?

[greenmonster]

Wiring around steering stem often problematic.
Bad ground causes all sorts of issues.

[Diver]

Thank you for your response. I will check that out tomorrow. It is the likely reason as I will have disturbed the wiring in that area.

I just had a look at the wiring to the oil sensor and that.is pretty brittle. Unlikely to be the issue but a problem for the future!

[Howie]

The lights go on by completing a circuit to ground.  As asked before, got a wiring diagram?  If you can identify the pins at the connector you can run them to ground.  Key on, lights now work?  Instrument cluster is good, problem is wires to the sensors.

[Diver]

I have a workshop manual which should have the pinouts for the lights.

Will check tomorrow.

Thank you again.

[Diver]

Hello everyone,

I had a look at both the oil sensor and the neutral sensor and both wires are brittle with age. This is going to be part of the problem. I also noticed that the brake light did not work so checked the bulb which was OK, then refreshed the connectors with some sandpaper. This solved the problem.

My oil light also came on during one of the testing sessions but now does not come on again!

All of the above points to a poor connection however I doubt if it is a ground as the neutral, indicators and sidestand lights all are fed from the same relay however their respective sensors are seperate.

I will try to follow through the cable from the sensor to the light but doubt if that is going to be easy as I do not want to cut into a cable.

It is always thew simple things that are such a pain!

thank you everyone for your help and advice

[koko64]

On two occasions I note that when changing from carbed early cluster (no tacho) to carbed later cluster (with round tacho), that the pin location for neutral moved. Comparing wiring diagrams should show it. Don't know if this applies to your situation.

[Diver]

A good point to look out for however I swapped over like for like apart from mph to kmph.

I got the oil light to work by earthing the cable to the switch and think that if I do a similar exercise to the neutral cable (at the switch), it will probably work too.

Overall, I think that the problem is corrosion on old connections and hope that once I run the bike, the problem will resolve itself.

[koko64]

 
Only having to Clean connectors for a fix is an excellent outcome. I replaced and cleaned  corroded and burn't headlight wiring and it transformed the light output.

[Diver]

Just back from walking the dog and was churning over the problem.

I will take out the connector and clean each of the pins as this is probably the issue!

Won't manage until Wednesday but will update the outcome here.

[Diver]

I managed to file each of the pins on both the male and female connectors this afternoon however this has madre no difference to the oil and neutral light.

If I short out the oil lamp at the switch, it goes on immediately (and one time stayed on) so this points to the oil and neutral sensors. I am still fairly confident that both are simple issues through lack of use and with me changing the speedo and panel this only highlighted the problem. I cannot really be certain when they failed as the last time I rode the bike would have been some time last summer (I have only done less than 10 miles in the last four years on this bike - fortunately I have others which are registered in France which I ride).

I am now going to wait until I get the bike officially imported into France and registered so that I can run it and I hope that in doing so both sensors will come back to life!

thank you again (everyone) for your input.

[greenmonster]

Oil and neutral sensors often just stop working on these bikes, very common.