I have just posted another thread about a couple of interesting electrical connectors under the LH side cover and this post is related to those connectors. But I think that we have a topic here that deserves it's own thread.
While checking out the battery charger pigtail under what the OEM calls the left side "fairing" I discovered that the cable and smaller pigtail wire connected to the ground terminal were very LOOSE! As in, less than hand tight! Without using a wrench, I could have removed the screw that loosely passed through the ground cable lug. This is a BIG DEAL. If any of the ends of the big cables connected to the battery are loose, they can cause real problems. Loose high power cables can result in high impedance overheating at the cable itself or sudden loss of connectivity that can leave you stranded at the road side.
As a professional mechanic of decades, I've seen this issue on MANY new motorcycles of all brands. And I've seen the problems that it causes. R18 Riders... please remove the left side cover and the plastic cover under it and check to be sure that your battery cables are tight at the battery terminals. They don't have to be super tight. Just snug enough to be sure they will stay that way. Typically the torque spec is 4.7 Nm . Be careful that you don't touch the wrench to chassis ground while checking/tightening the positive terminal screw.
While checking out the battery charger pigtail under what the OEM calls the left side "fairing" I discovered that the cable and smaller pigtail wire connected to the ground terminal were very LOOSE! As in, less than hand tight! Without using a wrench, I could have removed the screw that loosely passed through the ground cable lug. This is a BIG DEAL. If any of the ends of the big cables connected to the battery are loose, they can cause real problems. Loose high power cables can result in high impedance overheating at the cable itself or sudden loss of connectivity that can leave you stranded at the road side.
As a professional mechanic of decades, I've seen this issue on MANY new motorcycles of all brands. And I've seen the problems that it causes. R18 Riders... please remove the left side cover and the plastic cover under it and check to be sure that your battery cables are tight at the battery terminals. They don't have to be super tight. Just snug enough to be sure they will stay that way. Typically the torque spec is 4.7 Nm . Be careful that you don't touch the wrench to chassis ground while checking/tightening the positive terminal screw.
