Dash is Fubar

Yakaru · November 2nd, 2016, 06:47 PM

So before I do a tear down or a replacement I thought I might get some thoughts from Ninjette.

After my engine blew at the track earlier this year, the shop and I made the call replacing it would be cheaper than repairing it. We found a 2016 300 engine from a (presumably) totaled bike with under 100 miles on it. The price was reasonable, so we bought it and installed it.

When I picked it up everything looked good, and my dash worked fine (I remember going through it and commenting the odometer was still at the old engine's numbers and I'd have to account for that in my logs. It also matters if I ever sell it, but that's simply not foreseeable to me).

When it came time for my first fillup came the first oddity. I was on "Trip A" and pressed the reset button and... nothing. After fiddling I decided to switch to Trip B. Trip B wouldn't reset either and now I couldn't toggle over to Odometer. If I turned the bike off and back on the dash defaulted to odometer, but pressing the toggle would jump immediately to Trip B and, again, hang there. The trip reset button never worked.

That was annoying and I was intending to do a comb over, thinking maybe it was a loose electrical connection or something. But after a few days the behavior got weirder -- every couple of miles, while riding, the odometer would reset to 0. Not trip, odometer. It's still doing this, and I'm lucky to go more than 5 or 6 miles until it resets itself again.

This is supremely annoying, I use the odometer to keep logs of maintenance and I'm now reduced to tracking number of fill ups as a rough estimate. I did some research and I noticed that the 2016 Ninja 300 and the 2013 Ninja 300 have different part numbers for the dash/tach assembly. I can't imagine they're fundamentally different, but could that be the problem?

Given the ridiculous price of the OEM part, I've also investigated a number of third party options. Some of these are pretty interesting, but I've yet to see any reports of them being successfully installed on a 300 (I even called a few shops that advertise dashes for the 300 and asked, their response was that the part is 'basically universal' but they hadn't heard of it actually being done on the 300). Since I know the 300 still uses some 'old school' tech I'm figuring I'd rather be safe than sorry before I order a replacement that could be incompatible.

So: anyone have any ideas what's going on? I'm hoping to maybe just do a fairing strip and check over every connector I can find to make sure they're solid, but maybe someone else has some insight to what's going on. Also if anyone has thoughts/experience on doing a swap, if it comes to that, I'm open to anything I'll need to know.

algs26 · November 2nd, 2016, 10:54 PM

The dash looks different on later 300s. That would explain the part number change.
https://www.kawasaki.com/Products/20...otos-studio-17

Are they interchangeable? *shrug*

What are the symptons of a bad ground connection? That would be super easy to fix.

JohnnyBravo · November 2nd, 2016, 11:57 PM

sounds pretty funky though
P.S. I hate electronicals

November 2nd, 2016, 06:47 PM	#1
Yakaru The Violet Vixen Name: Yakaru Location: Issaquah, WA & Las Vegas, NV Join Date: Jun 2012 Motorcycle(s): Perigee (250), Hotaru (250), Saturn (300), Pearl (300), Zero (S1000RR), Chibi (Z125), Xellos ('18 HP4R) Posts: A lot. MOTM - Jun '16	Dash is Fubar So before I do a tear down or a replacement I thought I might get some thoughts from Ninjette. After my engine blew at the track earlier this year, the shop and I made the call replacing it would be cheaper than repairing it. We found a 2016 300 engine from a (presumably) totaled bike with under 100 miles on it. The price was reasonable, so we bought it and installed it. When I picked it up everything looked good, and my dash worked fine (I remember going through it and commenting the odometer was still at the old engine's numbers and I'd have to account for that in my logs. It also matters if I ever sell it, but that's simply not foreseeable to me). When it came time for my first fillup came the first oddity. I was on "Trip A" and pressed the reset button and... nothing. After fiddling I decided to switch to Trip B. Trip B wouldn't reset either and now I couldn't toggle over to Odometer. If I turned the bike off and back on the dash defaulted to odometer, but pressing the toggle would jump immediately to Trip B and, again, hang there. The trip reset button never worked. That was annoying and I was intending to do a comb over, thinking maybe it was a loose electrical connection or something. But after a few days the behavior got weirder -- every couple of miles, while riding, the odometer would reset to 0. Not trip, odometer. It's still doing this, and I'm lucky to go more than 5 or 6 miles until it resets itself again. This is supremely annoying, I use the odometer to keep logs of maintenance and I'm now reduced to tracking number of fill ups as a rough estimate. I did some research and I noticed that the 2016 Ninja 300 and the 2013 Ninja 300 have different part numbers for the dash/tach assembly. I can't imagine they're fundamentally different, but could that be the problem? Given the ridiculous price of the OEM part, I've also investigated a number of third party options. Some of these are pretty interesting, but I've yet to see any reports of them being successfully installed on a 300 (I even called a few shops that advertise dashes for the 300 and asked, their response was that the part is 'basically universal' but they hadn't heard of it actually being done on the 300). Since I know the 300 still uses some 'old school' tech I'm figuring I'd rather be safe than sorry before I order a replacement that could be incompatible. So: anyone have any ideas what's going on? I'm hoping to maybe just do a fairing strip and check over every connector I can find to make sure they're solid, but maybe someone else has some insight to what's going on. Also if anyone has thoughts/experience on doing a swap, if it comes to that, I'm open to anything I'll need to know. __________________________________________________ "most folks racing this bike get it in a competitive state of being with much less invested than you've already put in Saturn." - Alex

November 2nd, 2016, 11:57 PM	#3
JohnnyBravo Certifiable nontundrum Name: Harper Location: NC Milkshake stand Join Date: Mar 2013 Motorcycle(s): 2013 SE NINJA 300 Posts: Too much. MOTM - Sep '13, Sep '16	sounds pretty funky though P.S. I hate electronicals __________________________________________________

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November 2nd, 2016, 10:54 PM	#2
algs26 ninjette.org guru Name: al Location: NorCal Join Date: Aug 2012 Motorcycle(s): ex300, gave up looking for a 250 Posts: 435	The dash looks different on later 300s. That would explain the part number change. https://www.kawasaki.com/Products/20...otos-studio-17 Are they interchangeable? shrug What are the symptons of a bad ground connection? That would be super easy to fix.