electrical contact cleaner

[davseidman]

It may not be a good idea to bypass (jump out) the switch at the clutch lever. Some say that the switch almost always fails, and to bypass it now to avoid future problems. But by doing this you get a problem that no one is mentioning: the sidestand engine cutoff feature stops working--which may not be something you want. When my clutch switch failed to the point that I couldn't start the engine I bypassed it, jumping the blue/red and back/yellow wires. It worked. The engine now starts with the clutch in or out; in neutral or in gear. But I then discovered that the sidestand engine cutoff no longer worked. When the clutch switch is functioning, if you had the sidestand down and put the bike into gear from neutral and let the clutch out, the engine stopped. Now nothing happens. You can ride away dragging the stand (bad news). I'd like to keep the bypass and still have sidestand cutoff working. Any ideas how? Dave

[Eric Wesselman]

I saw reference to using WD-40 to clean electrical contacts. I've never used it for that purpose, but I know what works great: Corrosion-X. It's not cheap and you have to get it from Aircraft Spruce, Wag Aero, or Chief Aircraft Parts, but it is the *heat* for killing corrosion on electrical connections. FWIW... Eric