I bought a 2009 Kawasaki Klr 650 a couple months ago. I rode at night for a short time a few days ago and noticed that I had no dash lights, though my head light and rest of lights where on and working fine. First of can anyone clarify that klr's have dash lights? If so any idea on how to fix it. Also my front brake lever does not activate the rear brake light, I'm not sure if that's wiring or the spring by the lever. Thanks!

In case you don't have one, there's an electrical schematic here: http://www.klrforum.com/showthread.php?t=17993

The KLR does have dash lights.

Can you do an inventory of what doesn't work and what does work?

Turn signals
Horn
Neutral Light
High Beam Indicator
Turn Indicator
Temperature Gauge
Tachometer

Headlight, both high and low beam

The reason I ask is because there are some common things among these items - connector, ground, and power, etc. Knowing what works will help narrow things down.

Do you have a Volt-Ohm meter or a test light? One or the other will help you determine what has power, and an ohmmeter will help diagnose a ground issue.

Tom

My 2011 has bright dash lights.
The front plastic faring comes off by removing 6 screws, and unplugging 3 connectors.
I think you can gain access to the dash lights from there.
Also check your fuses.

If you listen to the right brake lever when you pull it, and release it, you should hear the micro switch click. Clicks on pull, clicks again on release.

The rear brake light could be the switch, or in the wiring. Before you start pulling things apart, check the bulb.

Let's start with what should be the easy one - the rear brake light.

The rear brake light is controlled by a switch which is activated by a lump on the brake lever.

The switch is held to the brake lever housing by one screw and has two wires going to it.

First, as Larry says, make sure you can hear the switch clicking when you pull the lever and make sure that the rear brake pedal activates the light (to insure the bulb is good). Check both of your fuses. They should be good or the bike wouldn't run, but check anyway.

Look underneath the brake lever and see the lump that presses the switch button in. If all that is working (you can see it depressing the button and hear it click), get your volt meter.

With the ignition on, you should find 12V at one of the wires by probing it while the other VOM probe is grounded. If you find 12V, then put the probe on the other wire and pull the brake lever. You should see 12V on that, proving the switch works.

At this point you're going to be fishing for a problem with the wire that goes back to the brake light, which is a Blue/White wire. I believe it runs down to the rear brake switch.

If the switch looks bad, just get a new one. I've had one go bad on me and fixed it, but it sits in my tool kit as a replacement in case the new one goes bad someday.

If you don't find 12V at the brake switch on the Red wire, then there's probably something wonky in the area of the kill switch. The red wire should run into the harness near the kill switch; they share a common power source.

If need be, I can disassemble mine and get pictures for you.

Tom

Just a little off topic, but I've found the clutch switch to be a problem also.
On my bike, there was no clearance to allow the switch prong to fully extend out, when the lever was pulled in.
This meant the switch contacts did not close when the clutch was pulled in.
I ground a small amount of the plastic off the switch prong to allow the switch to completely clear the lever's contact point.

If you adjust the clutch to engage farther out from the grip, this was not so much of a problem. I like my clutch to engage closer to the grip, and it would not allow me to start until I ground a small amount off the switch's prong.

It's hard to see unless you remove the plastic hand guard, and look up at the switch / lever mating points.

From what I can tell the speedometer, the tachometer, the temperature guage, all do not light up. The turn signal indicator, neutral light, high beams are all working.

I will assume that, since you didn't answer in the negative, your horn, turn signals, tachometer, temperature gauge, and hi and low beams all work, and that you do have a volt-ohm meter.

The three bulbs share a common ground; I would check all the grounds on the instrument cluster for soundness and that they show zero ohms back to the battery's negative terminal.

They also share common power, so check that they are receiving power with the ignition switched on. Check them right at the bulb base.

It's unlikely that they would all be burned out, but a visual inspection (they easily pull out of the cluster when you have the fairing removed) should be done.

does anyone have a good factory electrical diagram for the 09 klr's lighting system? Its a bit of a hassle to take of the front farings due to my crash bars, would it be possible to access the dash light system by removing the wind screen? After looking around it looks like its just the speedo and the rpm gauge that do not light up, I took the seat off and looked around at some of the wiring but am not quite sure what to look for that would lead to or from the dash. Think I will need to remove the tank? thanks