I been on the road for two weeks with my 08 Concours and today the Kipass started acting up. I managed to get it started, luckily, but I'm at a Super8 in Sturgis and it won't engage.
If I can't get it started, I'll have to call the Rapid City Kawasaki shop to come get it and me.
Any help is appreciated, please call Gary at seven three two, 492, four nine 3 1.

I've been tapping on the ingition switch and that or luck got it going a couple of times, but right now I can't get anything.

This hotels internet is the pits, so a call would be best, thanks, Gary

Did you try the bypass trick?  A lot of the old threads are gone but I found this, it is referring to installing a fuse or switch but if you can detach the wire and then reattach it the idea is the same. Good luck.

"Under the top / left black fairing cover is a black rubber boot with several wiring harness connectors in it. Find the gray connector and the BLACK / WHITE wire and cut it. There, now the bike is disabled for all time :-)  Strip back both ends of each wire.


I used a Gerbing fuse holder because I have several already and the quality of them is better than most. Also it contains a very large fuse, 15 Amp, which is what I wanted to use here. I do not want to fuse this circuit, I just want the fuse to be used as a switch. There is no risk of ever blowing a fuse that big in this circuit. Again, if something like a 1 amp fuse were used and it were to blow at some point, the bike would be completely disabled until the fuse was replaced.


Connect the fuse in- line with the wire that was cut earlier. Again, use a good, robust connection method and insulate the wires very well, this connection is to the KiPass control unit and critical to the operation of the bike. I soldered the wires and covered the joints in shrink- wrap tubing (two layers each) because it is the most robust method of wiring that I know. I also coat the fuse contacts with grease to prevent any possible corrosion over the years.


That's it. Make sure to leave at least a few inches of wire on each end of the fuse holder so the holder can be found and removed without taking off any Tupperware, even in the dark. Just tuck the fuse holder back under the fairing cover. If at some point the bike won't respond when you push the ignition switch down, just reach under the black fairing cover, find the fuse holder and pull it out a bit, remove and replace the fuse and you will have five seconds to turn the key to 'ON'.


If the fuse is removed (or the bypass becomes electrically disconnected for any reason) while the bike is running, the red warning light on the dash will light. The bike will KEEP RUNNING but the warning light will indicate the circuit has failed. This is why I used the BLACK / WHITE wire, it sinks (pulls to ground) the KiPass control unit. This result could be considered a benefit or a flaw depending on your point of view. I hereby declare it a benefit.

Of course we are now going to have a disposal problem what with all the old K-rocks clogging landfills from coast to coast :-)

Update: 28.April.09   The rest of the circuit that activates the KiPass system is the Green wire in the same connector. If the fuse is installed in this wire instead of the Black / White wire mentioned above, it works the same way except that it won't generate a fault if the circuit is opened after the bike is running. I have tested installing the fuse in the Green wire and it works well also. It was suggested by another forum member (he can jump in here so I won't speak for him) that using the Green wire is the more direct method with possibly less chance of disturbing anything else in the KiPass system. I agree with that thought and the simplest method is almost always the safest and cutting into the KiPass circuitry certainly carries some risk."

Yeah but be careful- I know the guy who wrote that and he gets a lot of threads locked on a particular motorcycle forum....

Brian

Did you try the bypass trick?  A lot of the old threads are gone but I found this, it is referring to installing a fuse or switch but if you can detach the wire and then reattach it the idea is the same. Good luck.

<snipped procedure>

Under the top / left fairing cover, the black one just under the left handlebar is a rubber boot with part of the wiring harness inside it. One of the connectors inside that boot is dark gray- pull that connector apart and put it back together. If the LCD display illuminates when you plug the connector back in, turn the key to the "ON" position immediately, and you have a stuck activation key. If nothing happens when reconnecting that connector, you have some other problem.

Also, before you do anything, always try the 'dead fob battery' method which is to remove the key from the fob, hold the fob directly against the ignition switch housing (there is a boss up front that the notch in the fob will fit on) and press the key down. If the LCD display illuminates when you do this then you have a dead fob battery.

If neither one of the above things work you probably have a dead main battery in the bike or a bad connection on or near the main battery.

Best of luck.
Brian

I been on the road for two weeks with my 08 Concours and today the Kipass started acting up. I managed to get it started, luckily, but I'm at a Super8 in Sturgis and it won't engage.
If I can't get it started, I'll have to call the Rapid City Kawasaki shop to come get it and me.
Any help is appreciated, please call Gary at seven three two, 492, four nine 3 1.

I've been tapping on the ingition switch and that or luck got it going a couple of times, but right now I can't get anything.

Yeah but be careful- I know the guy who wrote that and he gets a lot of threads locked on a particular motorcycle forum....

Brian

LOL I had hoped you would show up to shed light on this. I have never done this little trick.

The by-pass is a great temporary work- around and will work every single time for a stuck activation switch but is tough to do on the side of the road. It takes a little fairing removal, some wire splicing (ideally soldering) and then covering the soldered joints (again, ideally with shrink tubing). It is not really meant to be an emergency procedure. Then again, if you are stuck, I guess there is plenty of time to do whatever it takes to get going again. As you mentioned, you could just cut the wire and twist it together although there is not much wire length to work with there and it is about impossible to reach without taking at least the black fairing cover off.

Just to pass along a better understanding, this by- pass does not address the activation switch directly; those wires do not leave the ignition switch housing so they are not available to be cut, tapped into or anything else. The wire being cut is actually a CANBUS ground for the activation switch but it absolutely will do what is needed to get the activation switch and, especially, the entire bike up and running again.

Just out of curiosity, I wonder if the original poster can provide some info. about the bike that is stuck- what year, how many miles approximately, etc.

Brian

LOL I had hoped you would show up to shed light on this. I have never done this little trick.

I been on the road for two weeks with my 08 Concours

Just out of curiosity, I wonder if the original poster can provide some info. about the bike that is stuck- what year, how many miles approximately, etc.

Brian

Well, it looks to be an 08. Wonder if it's Cap'n Bob's old bike?!?!?! 

Well, it looks to be an 08. Wonder if it's Cap'n Bob's old bike?!?!?! 

Not unless the dealer shipped it out of state or the rider bought it out of state.  It looks, from the profile, that the OP is from New Jersey.

The dealer in Rapid City has been good to us in the past.  I've actually bought a riding jacket from them.  They were the dealer of choice for the 2006 National.  If it's a solid failure I would take it into them and get it looked at.

We've only had a few 'solid' failures of that switch (Bob, being one of them).  It's a real PITA if it happens on a trip across country, though.

Yep, as stated in the original post- it is an '08. Thanks for reading that to me.... I promise I will try to pay more attention in the future (but I am getting older so it might be an uphill race).

Brian

Well, it looks to be an 08. Wonder if it's Cap'n Bob's old bike?!?!?! 

The by-pass is a great temporary work- around and will work every single time for a stuck activation switch but is tough to do on the side of the road. It takes a little fairing removal, some wire splicing (ideally soldering) and then covering the soldered joints (again, ideally with shrink tubing). It is not really meant to be an emergency procedure. Then again, if you are stuck, I guess there is plenty of time to do whatever it takes to get going again. As you mentioned, you could just cut the wire and twist it together although there is not much wire length to work with there and it is about impossible to reach without taking at least the black fairing cover off.


Brian

Thanks for that clarification, I was wondering how much wore there was to work with. I knew it was a paint to get to.

Didn't someone post that you can unplug the gray connector Under the top / left black fairing cover  and plug it back in without cutting any wires?

Gary, you may want to try spraying silicone lube at the 9 o'clock position around the key and leave it for an hour or so and then try again.

Gary, you may want to try spraying silicone lube at the 9 o'clock position around the key and leave it for an hour or so and then try again.

Not to start controversy,  but I don't like the idea of using silicone on parts like this, it will tend to attract more dirt and cause a bigger problem later. Then again, he is already stuck, so if it works it works and I know others have done it in the past. I guess if worse comes to worse, if he did use silicone, he could always use an electronics parts cleaner, the type without lube later to clean it out.

That or get a bigger KRock. 

I hope someone helps you solve this problem. If not take a couple aspirins and call the dealer. Because this is going to hurt.

Gary, you may want to try spraying silicone lube at the 9 o'clock position around the key and leave it for an hour or so and then try again.

what about spraying the silicone now. I know it's 6 in the afternoon but, is there any technical reason to wait until 9 o'clock? 

 

I don't think that's going to work....

Guys. After a couple of hours it connected & I haven't turned it off since. Ate a seventy dollar
Motel room and left last night. Near Chicago and trying to make it home. It never had any previous symptom.
The bike just went over ten thousand on this trip