I had awesome plans to ride my bike to rochester today. well I get about half way between the 490 and 390 exit and it quits. wtfffffffffff. as it dies I mess with the reserve switch and it doesnt change anything. I come to a stop and check the gas, there is enough in there to rule it out. I sit for a few minutes and it starts right up. sweet. bad gas or something at the bottom of the tank. well 3 miles later it dies again and doesnt start back up, seems like a dead battery kinda. blah blah blah hour and a half later I am loading it onto my uncles trailer and it starts right up no problems.
My assumption is that something is getting hot then causing the electrical system to shit out.
Being stuck in Webster I really dont want to mess around with having anyone give me a ride to batavia so i decide to ride it home figuring I’ll ride it for 20 minutes and sit for ten and be home in an hour. well of course the damn thing starts right up, I let it warm up and it doesnt make it to the end of my uncles road.
cmon now.
any ideas what it might be, or where/how to start looking?
I just changed the battery and got a used stator and magnet ‘drum’ (a magnet had broke off and ruined the stator). It was charging at 13.9 volts which is good enough for me.
The only electrical parts by the motor to get hot are each coil/ spark plug wire. I havent checked the plugs yet, but it runs mint when it does run.
Can a starter relay cause it to stop running?
also, when it first died it would turn over and turn over and eventually the battery started to die. yet after it sat I came back and it started like the battery was fine. BUT I just went and tried to start it and the battery was too dead to turn it over.
Sounds like the same thing that happens with my four wheeler when I start it. Turns over and over then batt basically dies then it kicks on. I might have missed this but have you checked the battery terminals? They may be dirty or have a lot of corrosion causing them to get too hot. Also it’s possible that the wire telling the bike that it’s in neutral is shorting. That’s my two sense though.
Its your petcock on the bottom of your tank. Its a common problem with it not getting enough fuel to your carbs (fuel starvation) Its actually pretty common on these bikes. give me a minute and I’ll pull something up for ya.
Try running it on PRI or RES and your problem should be solved.
---------- Post added at 11:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 PM ----------
I did move the petcock to pri and res while driving and it didnt change anything. The battery seemed dead (slow turning over, dim lights, etc) when I left it and when I came back it started right up and the battery was fine, I didnt touch or adjust anything. just let it sit for an hour or so
The battery terminals are new and clean, as is the battery. I felt the terminals and the negative maaaaay have felt a little warm, but it wasnt hot like a short would be. The negative goes down to the case and it was attached as it should be, no corrosion on either end
and I cross posted basically the same thing on gstwin right after i did here.
why would the neutral wire shorting have anything to do with it not running? I understand where you are coming from, but the neutral wire specifically doesnt make any sense
if it wasn’t turning over and all the lights were dim you have a battery problem/charging system issue. Letting it sit will cause the battery to regain charge allowing you to start it.
So right there we can conclude that it’s got nothing to do with your charging system.
It really sounds fuel starvation from having some shit in your tank and/or carbs. Further, bobbyg seems to have experience with this and knows of a common problem that would starve you of fuel.
I’d pull the tank, throw in some tumbling stones and kerosene, and shake that bitch like it forgot the mayo. Then dump it out and repeat with fresh gas until it comes out clean. Pull the petcock and clean it. Drop your carb float bowls and hose shit down with WD40. You might even have to pull the carbs and disassemble them and clean them to make this go away.
I’m also leaning towards the fuel starvation angle. If you had the tank off when you did the other work, might you have misconnected, or forgotten to connect a breather? Also try running the bike until it quits or almost quits, and then open the gas cap to see if it’s a vapor lock problem.
I will definitely mess with the fuel system, but what i cant figure out and what is detracting me from a fuel issue is how it the battery was ‘dead’ enough to not even click the starter then it sat and came right back to life.
That, to me, sounds like an electrical item is getting hot (internal short, etc) then cooling off, allowing the bike to run. It was atleast 20 miles at 75mph before it quit the first time. then it sat for 5 minutes, started up and drove another 5 miles then quit. sat until we got the trailer and started up again. Then last night it ran fine for 5-10 mins before dieing again. I had to push it back .5 mile to my uncles with the headlight on and the battery was definitely drained after that.
I would 100% say fuel if it wasnt for the battery mystery.
never had the tank off, and I didnt hear any suction after opening the tank (after I messed with the petcock while it was coasting to a stop/dieing I opened the tank to check the fuel level)
You crank the shit out of it until the battery starts to get weak.
Sit for a while.
Bike starts right up and you drive it a little bit.
Bike dies again.
Battery is weak.
Sit for a while, waiting for trailer.
Uncle shows up, bike starts again.
Drive bike a little.
Bike dies.
Drive bike a little.
Bike dies.
Push bike with headlight on for half a mile.
It doesn’t look like a problem with the charging system. You’re straining the shit out of your battery constantly trying to start the thing and never having the bike running long enough to give it a full charge.
Yeah, a little bit.
I had to push it back .5 mile to my uncles with the headlight on and the battery was definitely drained after that.
The bike died “because of the battery” and then you pushed it half a mile (what’d that take, 20 minutes?) with the dead battery driving the headlight? :poke:
I could have, but I was extra careful. ill pull the sprocket cover and double check
fine. its not the charging system. (which is good to hear, actually. lol) (I am just in hard denial since I was just messing with it and changing parts)
had this happen to me with a fzr 600, could be that your carbs are messed up. I bought a fzr600 from a dealer, rode it four 10 miles to a gas station. Bike would not start up, sat started up, then died, over and over. I trailored it back to the dealership and I had a bad carb. could be the problem.
yea, i am going to charge the battery then drain the tank and carb bowls and take the petcock off and give that a once over…
---------- Post added at 03:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:54 PM ----------
WTF. it was so dead thursday night that the high beam wouldnt even turn on all the way and it only had enough power to make the starter click once. I just went to try to start it and it fired right up. I let it run for 30 seconds, shut it off and then it didnt have enough juice to turn the engine over.
this cannot be a fuel issue. I am thinking loose connection some where
I took the tank and air box off. checked all the connections and double checked the fuel lines.
started it.
I was buttoning everything up and was checking the connections again. the three wires coming from the stator are HOTTTTTT after it only running for about 3 minutes. I think I have found the issue, I still dont know what is causing it though.
voltage regulator/rectifier? its charging at 13.9-14.1 volts while running
Keep a volt meter on the battery terminals and rev the engine slowly between idle and about 6500 rpm. See if the voltage drops. Had an issue like this with my fz years ago. It is possible that your regulator is on its way out.
Electrical problems on a bike are not that bad…
It’s much easier than finding them in a car.
Did the wires get hot with a fully charged battery?
If you have wires that are only partially broken, thats when finding electrical problems is fun.
But, if it is a charging system issue, why would it just quit? Usually things degrade then quit.
A coworker had a similar fuel problem, where his bike would run for a few minutes then quit.
He could start it and get it to idle for hours, but if he tried to ride down the street, it stalled.
He had to take out the petcock and clean it. Good as new after than. He even drained his battery trying to get home the 1st time.