Recently far from home, I found that I had no dash lights w/ the key on, and no start. Thinking back on what I had read on here, I went straight to the Jbox. During side of the road troubleshooting I once left the key on and wiggled the box: viola. The lights came on. For the next couple of weeks when the intermittent no start/no lights happened, I would pull the side cover, turn the key on and "flick" the box, reattach the side panel and ride off.

With info found on here, I found this on Ebay:

 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649&item=370511544717&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

New Panasonic JS1-12V NAIS SPDT PCB PC Power Relay

Ordered (3) on Friday for a few dollars, like $7.50 shipped I think. Monday morning it cuts out driving to work: now that was scary. Come home on Monday, my package was waiting on me. The engineer @ work solders them in, and the next day I am riding safe again! And I dare say that an intermittent weird miss seems to be gone too.

I never would have even made it through the first part without the help of this forum, so thanks to all that share wisdom. And for those that have not had the problem, try keeping the key "on" and flick the box with a finger, or tap with the screwdriver: It may get you home.

Glad you got her fixed.  It's doesn't hurt to carry a spare J-box on the road.  I have one in my tool/spares kit just in case.  I had mine go intermittent about 60 miles from home and I was sweating it the whole way.  Repaired it, got a cheap replacement, resoldered that one and now it's no worries.

It's doesn't hurt to carry a spare J-box on the road.

Once you re-do the sloppy factory soldering, you'll likely never need a spare - but if it makes you fell better . . .

Recently far from home, I found that I had no dash lights w/ the key on, and no start. Thinking back on what I had read on here, I went straight to the Jbox. During side of the road troubleshooting I once left the key on and wiggled the box: viola. The lights came on. For the next couple of weeks when the intermittent no start/no lights happened, I would pull the side cover, turn the key on and "flick" the box, reattach the side panel and ride off.

With info found on here, I found this on Ebay:

 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649&item=370511544717&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

New Panasonic JS1-12V NAIS SPDT PCB PC Power Relay

Ordered (3) on Friday for a few dollars, like $7.50 shipped I think. Monday morning it cuts out driving to work: now that was scary. Come home on Monday, my package was waiting on me. The engineer @ work solders them in, and the next day I am riding safe again! And I dare say that an intermittent weird miss seems to be gone too.

I never would have even made it through the first part without the help of this forum, so thanks to all that share wisdom. And for those that have not had the problem, try keeping the key "on" and flick the box with a finger, or tap with the screwdriver: It may get you home.

Were they an exact match?

Were they an exact match?

I went with the information on this page:

http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=1004.0

and yes, they were a direct "drop in" replacement. Not sure if they were the higher capacity relays or not.

This is something I need to do. I have time and tools this weekend, I was just going to redo all of the solder connects, would it be wise to put it off and wait to order new relays? I had the same symptoms as you describe but it only happened twice, so far.  Thanks

90% of the J-Box failures are attributed to a simple solder joint failure, they are invisible to the nekid (or old) eyes, and reflowing /adding solder to all the junctions will likely fix it for an eternity...  If you bought relays without reflowing the solder, you will never know if it was in fact the relay, or the solder joint... I wouldn't swap relays out untill I found that a solder re-flow did not cure the problem.
remember swapping a part out that WAS working, with a part of unknown viability, may just be a false assumption the new one is better/won't fail...and I have installed lots of new parts that were defective, only to re-install the part i removed because it was working but i did a pre-emptive replacement.

My failure was one of the "other 10%".  The main fuse socket lost tension and that caused high resistance and heat, which melted the plastic case a little and also burned the contact socketclip and started to melt the fuse body.  That's something that you should check when you disassemble the J-box for other repairs.  If the sockets are loose, just give them a squeeze with needle-nose pliers.  The fuses should have some physical resistance when you push them in.

pics below:

I understand on the reflow thoughts, but how did my tapping the box, mounted in the bike, make my solder flow reattach? We did get the magnifying glass out and checked the joints, they looked good under there.

For the minimum outlay of cash, I would have changed the relays anyway. I do still have the old ones, and one day will test them out. Maybe.

I understand on the reflow thoughts, but how did my tapping the box, mounted in the bike, make my solder flow reattach? We did get the magnifying glass out and checked the joints, they looked good under there.

Personnally I would not do it any other way! If a person is going to go through the trouble of removing the J-Box and breaking into it why not replace the known low amperage relays that were known to stick; that's why a solid whack of the J-Box would get the failed unit to again function at least temporarily. This is exactly the service that Larry Buck does; he replaces all the relays with higher amp units as well as re-flows all solder joints... I'd much rather do a complete repair right off the bat and know that in all likelyhood that I'm DONE with that repair.....

I understand on the reflow thoughts, but how did my tapping the box, mounted in the bike, make my solder flow reattach? We did get the magnifying glass out and checked the joints, they looked good under there.

that's why a solid whack of the J-Box would get the failed unit to again function at least temporarily.

when you initially experience the lack of headlight symptom, the "whack" test forces a momentary contact on the failed solder joint, that is all it takes to cause the current flow to actuate the relay to latch on, and produce resultant lighting circuit connection..
mind you, i have examined these elusive bad solder joints with a magnafying glass, and simply cannot see all of the cracks that would cause this, I know it sounds silly, and you would think it visible, but most of the time it's just not visible, but re-soldering did fix the problems.
I also agree with tony, that if time allows, ordering and replacing the relay is a viable action, but on the road, 500 miles from home, on a ride, simply re-soldering repairs the problem to get you home, so don't discount the viability when it occurs.....a soldering iron from wally world comes in handy and can be obtained a lot easier en-route than relays....and will likely get ya home.

when you initially experience the lack of headlight symptom, the "whack" test forces a momentary contact on the failed solder joint

Wasn't a "lack of headlight", was a "lack of any lights (except for the turn signals and flashers) or start". And I hesitated to admit: said "whacking" worked over the last month or month and a half, usually at least once a day, and usually further away from home than I should have been.