1996 K1100RS - Battery Ground?

Does anyone remember the original spot where the battery made its ground?


My ground is on the batteryABS tray and it seems like a lot of potential for high resistance build up having to go through four contacts for the tray and then four more contacts for the cross brace underneath the tray.

Well I tried to make a .PDF of the IPC but I wasn't successful to show what I am posting about.

There are a total of nine contact points before the ground gets to the frame and/or engine.

On prior threads I am fighting a charging problem and while the generator is getting looked at I decide to look at my grounds to see how healthy they were. Where my battery ground was connected was a little corroded but I don't think bad enough to give me this problem.

I don't know about K11s, but K100s and K75s had a ground wire that bolted to a boss on the transmission 3" above where the shifter shaft enters the tranny. You might consider running a new large diameter one direct to the engine or tranny.

98lee said:

I don't know about K11s, but K100s and K75s had a ground wire that bolted to the transmission. You might consider running a new large diameter one direct to the engine or tranny.

Click to expand...

Well that would be well and good but I don't see where I could bolt it to. The only place I see is forward to the starter mount on the inboard bolt.

Reread my previous post. I edited it with the location.

I am the same as 98Lee I never worked on a K11's, but per REALOEM the battery cable appears to be the same as the K100's to 07/1993 and different from 07/1993 on.

My copy of the K1100 maintenance manual only gives a hint of the motorcycle point of attachment, It appears to be one of 3 ground/earth wires to the outside/rear bolt of the starter


http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=0532&mospid=47928&btnr=61_1081&hg=61&fg=05

Goodluck in finding the proper attachment point.

Myself I just went to a store (Home Depot) that sold 8 gauge wiring (black and red) and soldered ends, made up my own positive and negitive leads. One may not be able to insure that the wiring inside of the connectors or insulation is in good shape, cheap to replace the leads.

I stand corrected. Looking thru the K1100 maintence manual, I spotted another photo that now leads me to believe you may be correct in the placement of the negitive battery lead. On the battery bracket


ÔÇó Remove left battery bracket.
ÔÇó Disconnect earth (ground) lead of battery.


But I will state this, it can not hurt to run additional leads either from the initial negitive contact point to other contact points for insuring good grounding. Or from this stud to the starter, frame, engine or transmission somewhere.

That must be a K100 picture. My battery goes length-wise with the bike not across. And the more I dig into this the more I wonder. When I took up the battery
/ABS tray it was mounted on insulated mounts, a poor source of ground. There are a number of places I can move it to, some that require a new cable and others just a new terminal on one end. I am waiting to hear what the multitudes say, of which you are a part of...I Thank you

I pulled the photo from a K1100 LT/RS Manual. Produced in 5/99, not that I can attest to it being accurate

Sorry it doesnÔÇÖt seem to represent what your situation is. I am sure someone else will chime in, maybe one that has a '96 K1100 RS with real photos.

My book is a mix of k1100RS, k100, k75 so I don't trust any of the pictures. Only the riders and people reading them

Ground Wires

You should have 2 wires coming off of the ground side of the battery. One is a bundle of brown ground wires going into the main wiring harness. Also coming from this connection is a short wire that grounds to a tab on the Motronic unit. The second ground is one heavy cable which grounds to the back starter bolt. Mine is on the right. The left starter bolt has two other small black wires grounded to it. Hope this helps.