• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

ignition issue on 1968 R60/US

chwood4

New member
When I depressed the "key" in the headlight bucket to kick the old girl over I was rewarded with nothing..no oil or neutral lights, no horn, nothing! The battery is fine as I just rode it last week. I seem to recall having a similiar problem in the past and think it had something to do with the position of the key when shutting off the bike. I believe the plastic teardrop must be straight ahead in order to start but am not sure. Is there some type of internal contact that can break or otherwise cause this trouble? I am fairly certain it is a simple fix and would appreciate any thoughts before I look into the headlight shell. Thanks.
 
"The battery is fine as I just rode it last week"

Are you sure? It is easy to pull the key out with the lights on and walk away
Battery will be totally dead when you return

The plastic teardrop key needs to be centered in line with the bike centerline when you remove the key
 
But did the bike start? Don't need a battery to start the bike.

And how did you know the battery was fine? Because you rode it last week? Did you test the battery? If you left a light on for a week the battery won't be fine any more. A small, 6 watt draw will deplete your battery in about half a day! That's less the draw of your parking lights plus the neutral light.
 
The battery is only a resevoir to power things when the engine is off or you're at idle. As suggested, try and start the bike. If it starts, then measure the voltage at the battery terminals...should be close to 7.0v. If not, they you have a charging problem or a bad battery.
 
Back
Top