2013 Stelvio NTX blowing parking light fuse

[stick]

Any other NTX owners have this happen?  Just checking before I "dig in".  Just outta warranty...

Some good Samaritan told me that I had no tail light one evening.  I thanked him, and finally found a blown fuse up near the headlights.  Replaced fuse with one of the spares (thank U M. Guzzi!) and the running lights worked again.   For a while.  Then this week, I noticed that the running lights were out again.  Replaced again, at work, at lunch-hour.  Verified they worked again, but then at some point during the ride home, they are off again. (Yes, another blown fuse!) 

So, I peeked at the 2 small lights in the headlights, assuming that the sockets might be sub-par.  But they seem fine.  Actually better than expected.

So the next place to look is the rear light/license plate illuminator.   Not even sure how to get into there yet.

Anyway, just checking to see if anyone might have had an issue, along with the cure. 

Or any recommendations?  I was entertaining the idea of hooking a bright light across this fuse to "show" me when it blows...

[pyoungbl]

Hi Stick,   it sounds to me like you might be suffering from the dreaded aux light problem.  You mention having issues with your 'runnning lights'.  Guzzi has the headlights on whenever the engine is runnning so there are no 'running lights' which would normally be built into the headlight housing.  You do have those aux lights mounted on the crash bars.  They WILL short out and later self destruct due to the high frequency vibration in that area.  There are a few things I'd recommend.  First, do not use those lights until you have peeled back the rubber housing and made darn sure the wires cannot short out on the metal housing.  Next, install a 5A fuze in each aux light line.  Kirb sells a plug and play kit...AF1 Racing is another source.  Then check the 30A fuze behind the triangular panel below the right side of the seat...NOT the 30A fuze you see when you lift the seat.  Here's the deal, the aux lights short out and blow that 30A fuze.  The same circuit also sends electrons to the alternator to excite it so it can produce more electrons to keep the battery up and to power everything else...like your lights.  There is no warning that your alternator is no longer providing charge, you just suddenly find that all the electrical stuff goes to crap.

You are not the first to have this problem...lots of coverage on this forum.

Peter Y.

[brlawson]

I am having the same issue after two rainy rallies. No problem with the aux lights. Loses tail light and glovebox when the F2 fuse blows.

I had been told to clean the solenoid on the starter and check all grounds so I bought a new starter and will install this afternoon. Will update with results.

[canuguzzi]

And then report it. There is no reason that MG doesn't make the thing right before it leaves the factory, none at all. Its called send it out so long as people out up with it and fix it themselves.

Shorting out lights are a safety issue.

[brlawson]

The new starter seems to have resolved the issue. I took my roller tappet conversion on a major ride and stopped and started many times without issue. Before, just starting it blew the fuse.

I had read on a Griso forum that the Bosch starter developed issues as they age and the grounding tabs inside the starter corrode. Makes sense since the issue surfaced after a couple of long wet rides. Never had an issue prior to this.

[stick]

Sorry about any confusion.  I used parking lights, and "running lights" synonymously. 

I took the bike to work today, after digging into it some yesterday.  I found these cute fuses at Walmart (yesterday), made by Bussman, that have a light built into them!  When the fuse blows, the light comes on.  Sounds familiar...   

It might be challenging to see it if/when it happens, though, because the fuse box is down low, in front of the upper triple tree. 

But it made it to work with the fuse intact, and PARKing lights functioning.

As I mentioned, I glanced at the 2 front parking lights.  I also checked the rear license plate bulb/ socket.  This looked as good as the front parking lights. Then I removed the rear section (lights and fender assembly) to look around in there. If you remove this slowly, I found slack wiring routed through some cable management clips (no tie wraps for these).  They were pretty easy to pop the wires out, and then have more slack to play with.  I did find one tie wrap that was VERY tight, bundling all 4 or 5 wires together, very close to the lights/fender assembly.  So tight, I thought that it might cause wires inside to deform, and maybe create a short.  So I cut this tie wrap, and before re-installing the rear and re-dressing the wiring, I replaced it with a much looser tie.  I did try putting pressure on the wires at/near the tie wrap to see if the fuse would blow, but could not reproduce the problem.  Anyway, I feel a bit more comfortable with the wires & connectors dressed and tied "my way". 

Thanks about the tip on the starter.  If it happens again, I'll look at it.

Peter: Thanks to you and this forum, I prematurely replaced my Hella driving lights with 10W LED lights a while ago.  Then I made a bracket that goes under the headlight area of the fairing, and that's where the Hellas now reside.  They don't buzz up there like they did on the engine guards.  I also re-dressed the wires inside the rubber boot area so that they are less likely to short out.

[stick]

2 more round trips to work and home again.  Lights R good, fuse has not blown.

[SarniaON]

Thanks to this string of posts, my "battery not charging" issue appears to be resolved.  On my last ride with the Mode switch in the AUX readout showing voltage, the readout was steadily dropping indicating the battery was not charging.  Made it home with the voltage reading 11.6.   I was not aware of the fuses down low in front of the triple clamp and the 10 amp one closest to the front of the bike was blown. While looking for a solution, I read about the "headlight not working" and saw mine was out too. The voltage now is 13+ with the bike running.

My 2014 NTX was purchased used in 2016 with 5,000 kms on it in Ottawa (without any manual) and a long ride home to Sarnia Ontario was interrupted by a short in the Hella auxiliary lighting and an unintended stop at the side of the road, fortunately near civilization.  I arrived home a day and a half later after considerable expense and a stay in a sleazy motel near the repair shop.  I learned the hard way (and early on) about Guzzi electrics! The auxiliary lights are now LEDs with a fuse in the wiring to each one. 

The Stelvio NTX has been running great with 30,000 kms on the clock, until this wake up call a few days ago. The fuse for the charging system (right side of the bike behind the triangular panel) was still intact and I've been scratching my head while reading about main wiring harnesses, relays and starter motors. Like all other Guzzi riders, I'm learning how to be an electrical engineer. 

Looking forward to practicing Social Distancing while riding my motorcycle.

[Kiwi_Roy]

You Stelvio owners should also be worried about Startus Interuptus caused by a weak feed to the start relay / Start Solenoid.
Im not sure how your bike is starting if F2 is blown as it also feeds the start relay or have you already done the Startus Interrupts Fix, a dedicated fuse to the start relay?
The start relay to start solenoid is a wire that Guzzi typically undersize, that wire should be capable of passing 40 Amps, only for a split second.
http://www.thisoldtractor.com/guzzi007/schematics/2008_Stelvio.gif