Rode over to Lee's sandwich shop for a Korean beef sandwich. Love those.  But when I got home I popped the bike up on the center stand and let the engine run for a brief period and the fan came on. But when I turned off the heated hand grips the fan shut off. Just coincidence I thought. But just because, I turned the heated hand grips back on high. The fan motor turned back on. Oh, so interesting. So I played with it for a while turning the fan on/off with the heated hand  grip switch. Does this mean the H grip switch controls the fan? So I went back into the house and ate my Korean beef sandwich. Came back out and re-started the now cooled bike engine. No fan with or without the Heated hand grip switch. Left it running with the H grip switch off. After the bike had warmed up again the fan came on as it should, ran and then turned off.  Then I pushed the heated hand grip switch on into the high position. Fan came on and turned off when I turned the switch off.  Ooh? Tried the lower heat setting on the heated hand grip switch. Didn't come on immediately but did eventually after the engine had run a bit more.  And I could turn the fan off by turning off the heated hand grip switch. Did the fan come back on by itself after the engine heated up. I think so. Didn't exhaustively test it.

So any suggestions or comments about interaction between the fan and the heated hand grips? Hope the above description covers the phenomena adequately. Oh, when I arrived home and popped the bike up on the center stand it was so I could investigate the red warning light which lights up when the brakes are applied and the brake light doesn't work. Once again it is being sort of intermittent, i.e. it will flash briefly and then turn off when a brake is applied.

When was the last time the starter motor was out for a semi-annual carbon dust removal and clean up?

No joke. 

Sometimes you can press the turn signal button and the horn beeps. It's a vital part of the wiring as it is a ground point.

Here's a link to the procedure, done by Canadian member Robmack. It's worth a go.

Starter Motor Tutorial

Is this the Brick with the relatively newly-painted frame, j?

Laitch wrote:Is this the Brick with the relatively newly-painted frame, j?

Duh, it's my most recent K75? Well excepting the motor and frame laying out in the shed. And excepting the K100 which is still awaiting some TLC and restoration so the most recently painted. Well actually powder coated. Yes it's been powder coated. And uhh you're suggesting that that maybe part of the problem?

Bi-Annual starter motor cleaning? Whaaaat? If I remember correctly - I'm 79 and holding- it was blown off/out some while ago. Will check service log tomorrow.

Technically, I'm wrong to say 'semi-annual' since that means twice a year. More like once every coupla years, if the bike is used more than average. I'm a 20,000 mile per year rider.

If the main earth (ground) point on the main frame backbone isn't bare metal, then there could be an issue such as you're describing, as Laitch alludes to with his question.

As TWB suggests, if the powder coating was not removed from the frame backbone where main ground point is located and at the right rear leg of the frame where the engine is attached, problems could arise similar to those discussed in this service bulletin. Of course, a search for crossed/bare wires in the fan/heated grip circuits should occur, too.

Ok, will pull it down and check. I am fairly certain that the central grounding point under the tank was clean and the wire connectors cleaned as well. But there was mention made of the ?right rear engine mount? needing to be conductive as well? That one I'm not so sure about.

J.

jjefferies wrote: But there was mention made of the ?right rear engine mount? needing to be conductive as well? That one I'm

In post #6, I linked to a service bulletin indicating that particular mount could be a source of random winking and blinking not exactly of the type you seem to have, j, but close enough for me to wonder.