Help: OEM heated grip issue

[stubble]

Riding my 2014 ES with original heated grips in Nevada today and they quit working. After shutting off the ignition and turning it back on, the grips menu is gone, as though they were not installed at all. I can’t find a fuse that might run them- all fuses in the 2 main fuseboxes are good, and the two plugs where the grips connect near the battery look fine.

I don’t have a multimeter but suspect that maybe one side is bad and therefore the computer doesn’t enable the feature.

If anyone has any advice I’d be grateful- I will be heading over the Sierras in the morning! BRRR!!!

 

[Spider]

I don't know if the 2014 uses the same OEM grips as the 2012. If so, your problem could be in the right grip. It's not unusual for the 2012 OEMs to fail if the wiring loop in the right grip is not installed right or isn't heavily greased. The loop tightens and loosens with each turn of the grip and anything amiss can cause the wiring to fray and break. If you open the housing by the right grip, you may be able to see if there's an issue...starting with little or no grease. Unfortunately, I don't know if there's any temporary fix. As I recall, others scrapped or replaced the OEMs. Mine have been fine, but I installed them myself and add extra grease from time to time. Good luck. I hate cold hands.

 

[stubble]

Thanks thats a good tip- I will pop it open and see if there’s anything visible.

 

[EricV]

Spider is on the right track. When a wire breaks, the grip menu disappears. And he's also right about the most common failure due to the throttle rotation. The '14 grips are the same at the throttle tube, just have different connections to the OEM harness.

Pull the throttle side grip tube and check to see if the wires are damaged. If possible, repair the wire connection and while it's apart, fire up the bike and see if the menu comes back. If so, you should be good. Re-grease and re-assemble.

If it's not repairable, you have options of buying the one side and replacing that, or ditching the OEM heated grips and going with Oxford or something else you like. Non OEM heated grips can not be made to work with the OEM ecu controlled menu. (I think someone may have found a work around, but the resistance is vastly different.)

 

[970mike]

I am having the same problem, my heated grip menu is gone. I will have to investigate this.

 

[stubble]

So I finally got back to check my grips. On my trip I had opened up the housing but could not see anything visually. So I checked the circuits today and sure enough, no conductivity in the gray connector which is the right grip. Left side was ok.

I opened it up again and cut the casing to find that one wire had snapped entirely off inside, just where the wire enters the grip itself. This must have been a stressed movement point.

Now to decide what to do- I have yamaha service plan so I may just hit up my dealer for a new grip.

 

[stubble]

As a final follow-up - I ended up ordering a replacement grip for $110 from Partzila. It got here in two days and I installed it today. I used lots of grease, and routing the wire in there according to the service manual is a pain in the butt so I hope it's routed ok and won't drag too much. Time will tell. Anyway I'm back in business. If it dies again I'll buy aftermarket.

I very much appreciate the replies and advice here. Thanks.

 

[SicDuc]

If you go aftermarket you cant go wrong with Oxford, easy installation and you can still feel the heat through grip puppies. gotta love those grip puppies for old arthritic hands. Less than a hundred beans for the Oxford set up.

 

[Curt]

If you go aftermarket you cant go wrong with Oxford, easy installation and you can still feel the heat through grip puppies. gotta love those grip puppies for old arthritic hands. Less than a hundred beans for the Oxford set up.

I'll echo that, as I always do, after having wasted $350 on the Yamaha accessory ones that have blatant failure designed in, that they have not fixed in 6 years. While it's nice not having the power wire sticking out, it's even nicer not spending extra only to have cold hands and having to replace them every 2 years.

I put these sleek, awesome things on my Zero FX (but maybe they don't get quite as warm):
https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/koso-apollo-heated-grips

 

[Checkswrecks]

The complete Yamaha set of grips and the clip are roughly $220. It's $350 if you buy them as an option or let the dealer install them, but the $220 of parts are an easy plug-n-play.

I've only heard of the things failing because the wire entering the right grip fatigues to death. Sorry that I don't have a photo from when I installed mine, but I used some Plasti Dip (or was it RTV?) to provide strain relief. Since I don't have a photo of mine, here's a similar application. I used a pick to push as much as possible into the cavity and tapered the goo out more than in the photo below.

 

[aroggero]

Hello guys. I have the OEM heated grips for a S10 2012. On my last trip I noticed that the right grip didnt work at all, while the left one gets extremely hot, to the point that even with leather gloves, it was impossible to keep my hand there for more than 3 seconds. It had never got that hot. Any ideas? I am lost...

 

[HeliMark]

Hello guys. I have the OEM heated grips for a S10 2012. On my last trip I noticed that the right grip didnt work at all, while the left one gets extremely hot, to the point that even with leather gloves, it was impossible to keep my hand there for more than 3 seconds. It had never got that hot. Any ideas? I am lost...

You most likely have the same as above. Your right grip has a broken wire. Seems to be a problem with the stock Yamaha heated grips no matter what year you have. Being a Gen 1, best is to replace with the Oxford grips. Cheaper, and work great.

 

[Nikolajsen]

Hmm, why should a broken wire to right hand, give left double up?
Unless there is several broken wires, and they make some kind af "shortcuircet"

 

[Stridey]

Hmm, why should a broken wire to right hand, give left double up?
Unless there is several broken wires, and they make some kind af "shortcuircet"

I don’t know why it heats the left grip up but I can confirm that it bloody well gets EXTREMELY HOT on the left grip until you switch the grips off then you have nothing at all!
I’m sure one of the electrical gurus on here will enlighten us please?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AVGeek]

The OEM kit for the Gen 1 bikes was a completely stand alone system, similar to the Oxford grips. It had that large dial for control, so its possible that there is a short there, shunting all of the current to the left hand grip, and none to the right hand grip.

 

[aroggero]

You most likely have the same as above. Your right grip has a broken wire. Seems to be a problem with the stock Yamaha heated grips no matter what year you have. Being a Gen 1, best is to replace with the Oxford grips. Cheaper, and work great.

Thank you very much. I will try those Oxford grips if the broken wire that I have just had fixed breaks again.

 

[970mike]

I just replaced the throttle side heated grip and my grips are now back to working fine and the menu is back to adjust them. I did find that it is cheaper to order the individual parts not the complete kit. Thank you for all the help with this problem.

 

[LukeDuke]

I'm here to report I've suffered the same failure. I have a 2016 ES model with OEM heated grips. I should have made a video as I just went through the whole process of repairing it. Information below:

As everyone has said it was a broken wire going into the right grip. The extra slack in the wire needed to give the throttle room to rotate must be at a pinch point. And the wire broke. I found it somewhat quickly. I cut and stripped the wire. Slid on two different size shrink tubes. Then soldered wires back together. And covered with shrink tube.

Then wrapped with electrical tape and tried my best to put it all back together with appropriate slack to rotate the throttle.

I hope it’s secure enough and the wire is positioned well so it won’t break. I routed it so the wire won’t break as easily.

If you follow the wires down into the right hand side of the bike where all other wires are you can do some troubleshooting. You can put a multimeter on the right hand grip wire to check if the wire is broken. Find the wires as the enter into the first connection point. The connector is grey in color for the right hand grip. Disconnect the grey connector and check for open circuit (no continuity). If it has no continuity then it's likely a broken wire in the right wire grip.

Hope this helps everyone out. If you suffered this failure just message me or reply here and I'll try my best to walk you through what I did.