slowrideCX Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 My baby got me home safe yesterday but the last 1.5 miles was on 1 maybe 2 cylinders. She seemed to hick up and stall out about 12 miles from home. Clock reset to 1am all dash power went away then came back. Volt meter stayed lit and never stopped charging so I know the charging system is good. I tried thumbing the starter but nothing so I bump started it and it sputtered and then ran fine till thenlast 1.5 miles. It hick upped and stalled out again but not totally. Still ran on what seemed like 1 maybe 2 cylinders. No dash power except the clock. No head lights or blinkers. I limped it home and when I shut it down and tried to start it it had NO power. I pushed it into the shop and started to remove the tail fairing . Checked all battery connections and related connections. All seemed tight. Turned on the key and thumbed the starter and she fired right up and everything worked fine. Ran like a champ for about 10 mins in the shop while I tested things. She is charging at 13.8-14.2 volts. When I had it outside the shop and turned the key on there was no headlights but they would flicker like they were trying to come on every couple of seconds. Once in the shop everything worked as normal. I am scratching my head on this one. After work today I am going to dig into it a little more but wanted to see if the minds that be had any suggestions for me. I NEED to figure this out before the weekend because I have the ACS Bike a Thon on Sunday and that is a very long grueling day for the bike as it is a slow day and the bike tends to run hot all day. Thanks in advance for any ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmeupto125 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Where's your voltmeter connected? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Connection and heat related? Seems that it might be an intermittent ground? I'd strip the tank and the plastics. Grab the manual and start at the rectifier and work your way out. Unplug every connection, clean coat with dielectric silicon and remount. On to the next spot. Anything that is grounded by it's mount, unmount, take a tap and retap the mount hole, and take a wire brush and clean the bolt, re-attach. It'll be a pain, you only have a few days. Most likely it was two cylinders as the packs power two cylinders each. The chance of only one firing seems slim. But you can take an ir thermometer and hit the cylinders every little bit until it starts coughing up. Sprits some water on the headers for a bit (full hose) and then test the temps. You should find 2 significantly cooler than the other 2 and that's your non firing cylinders to help narrow down the glitch. Keep in mind the inner two cylinders run slightly hotter than the outter two anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmeupto125 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 How old is the battery? I'm thinking a bad internal connection in the battery, or something in the right handlebar switch. If I recall, you have HID's. They draw a lot of current when they are starting up before they settle back to 35 watts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowrideCX Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 How old is the battery? I'm thinking a bad internal connection in the battery, or something in the right handlebar switch. If I recall, you have HID's. They draw a lot of current when they are starting up before they settle back to 35 watts. Joe yes I have HID's the battery is a few yrs old. I will have to check my records for exact date. It is a yuasa AGM not some cheap wally world battery. I will look into the right side switches. Would that cause the bike to o ly run on 2 cylinders though? I have never run across anything like this. It's very wierd. Thank for the idea Joe Ill look into it when I get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowrideCX Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 Connection and heat related? Seems that it might be an intermittent ground? I'd strip the tank and the plastics. Grab the manual and start at the rectifier and work your way out. Unplug every connection, clean coat with dielectric silicon and remount. On to the next spot. Anything that is grounded by it's mount, unmount, take a tap and retap the mount hole, and take a wire brush and clean the bolt, re-attach. It'll be a pain, you only have a few days. Most likely it was two cylinders as the packs power two cylinders each. The chance of only one firing seems slim. But you can take an ir thermometer and hit the cylinders every little bit until it starts coughing up. Sprits some water on the headers for a bit (full hose) and then test the temps. You should find 2 significantly cooler than the other 2 and that's your non firing cylinders to help narrow down the glitch. Keep in mind the inner two cylinders run slightly hotter than the outter two anyway. Mikey I will start doing that today. Joe my volt meter is connected to my exteral fuse block u der the seat and that pulls power right off the battery. The wierd part is it ran fine after I removed the tail fairing. Thanks for the tips Ill look into it tonight. I'll let you know what I find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmeupto125 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I'm not approaching this from the standpoint of losing power to one coil set and therefore running on two cylinders. Rather, I'm thinking of a low voltage condition severe enough to cause your clock to reset, not to mention not having lights or dash power. If there's that few amps (milliamps) available, the CDI will not work properly and you could certainly have sporadic and inconsistent ignition. It sounds like there is a near complete disconnection of the power connection, perhaps just to the point where the only power is arcing across wherever the disruption is. OR something is inappropriately hogging so much of the available power that there isn't anything left for the rest of the bike. The only thing that makes sense in that regard is a faulty HID. As far as a connection....where could it be? The ignition switch, the right hand control pod, inside the battery..... Your voltmeter reads volts. That's it. If all your available current is arcing across a poor connection, it can still read appropriate voltage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowrideCX Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 I'm not approaching this from the standpoint of losing power to one coil set and therefore running on two cylinders. Rather, I'm thinking of a low voltage condition severe enough to cause your clock to reset, not to mention not having lights or dash power. If there's that few amps (milliamps) available, the CDI will not work properly and you could certainly have sporadic and inconsistent ignition. It sounds like there is a near complete disconnection of the power connection, perhaps just to the point where the only power is arcing across wherever the disruption is. OR something is inappropriately hogging so much of the available power that there isn't anything left for the rest of the bike. The only thing that makes sense in that regard is a faulty HID. As far as a connection....where could it be? The ignition switch, the right hand control pod, inside the battery..... Your voltmeter reads volts. That's it. If all your available current is arcing across a poor connection, it can still read appropriate voltage. Make total sense. Thanks Joe.. I will start looking for issues when I get home. Do you think a load test o. The battery will show it? If that is the problem. I hate things like this. I would rather find a burnt connection or wire. 😀 Well at least I have plenty of beer to keep be company while I trace the wires and check connections....lol Thanks Joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Do what Joe's saying, it lines up with mine as well. Unplug the HID and run the bike around for a bit...if Joe guesses correctly, you are all set, just pop your normal bulb back in and you'll be good until you replace the HID setup. Load testing your battery certainly wouldn't hurt and it'll take it off the checklist. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowrideCX Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 Will do thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmeupto125 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Yeah, its nice when there's a big flagging saying "i'm the problem." Load testing the battery probably won't show anything, but it might. If the output isn't linear, but sporadic and jumping around when load is applied, that might be an indication. Otherwise there's really no way to test it....yeah, that sucks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superhawk996 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Being that it fixed itself after removing the tail would indicate a connection that was disturbed when removing the tail, a heat related issue, or just plain luck. Can't address the third so start with any connections in/around the tail. I don't think it'll be a battery/charging system issue as these should have shown fluctuations on your voltmeter. Since it seems to be effecting every part of the bike it'll likely be a main power or ground connection. If your volt meter is grounded to the chassis it mostly eliminates a ground issue causing the problem, if it's grounded to the battery then it could well be a ground connection at fault. An overload condition should blow a fuse. If your HID is wired straight to the battery, both + and -, that's not the cause even if it's drawing more than it should. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowrideCX Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 Being that it fixed itself after removing the tail would indicate a connection that was disturbed when removing the tail, a heat related issue, or just plain luck. Can't address the third so start with any connections in/around the tail. I don't think it'll be a battery/charging system issue as these should have shown fluctuations on your voltmeter. Since it seems to be effecting every part of the bike it'll likely be a main power or ground connection. If your volt meter is grounded to the chassis it mostly eliminates a ground issue causing the problem, if it's grounded to the battery then it could well be a ground connection at fault. An overload condition should blow a fuse. If your HID is wired straight to the battery, both + and -, that's not the cause even if it's drawing more than it should. My HID's are wired into the factory headlight wiring . My volt meter is hooked to the external fuse block and both + - that feed it are hooked to the battery. Everything has a fuse and all fuses are good. Ground sounds like a good place to check. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John01XX Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I agree with what has been suggested - something is shorting out and applying a big load intermittantly I just had a similar thing happen to me at the end of a 100 mile run on my way home when I stopped for fuel. After starting the bike and riding off as usual, it started to stutter and I lost my low beam HID. As I was approaching a red traffic light, I switched on the high beam HID. The bike then shut off completely and I coasted to a stop at a gas station. My volt meter showed 3.8 volts reading right off the battery. Key on, no dash lights at all. Turned out the HID ballast was the problem. Replaced the HID set up and recharged the battery - sorted. Hope yours is as easy to fix as mine was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcePrick Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I agree with all of the previous suggestions. Given the symptoms, my troubleshooting flow would look like this: If at all possible, swap in a different (known good) battery before doing any other troubleshooting. That's a huge variable eliminated right off the bat. If it still has issues, disconnect all accessories, including the HIDs as suggested. Test. If it runs fine, test and re-connect one at a time until you find the culprit. If it still has issues after disconnecting all accessories, start tracing wiring (sucks to be you). Look for pinch points, strain points, and abrasion areas. Definitely investigate any wiring that may have been disturbed with the movement of the tail cowling first. Ideal that you find the smoking gun (well, hopefully not actually smoking), but sometimes with a stray short or bad ground, you clear it when cleaning contacts, tightening terminals, or moving harnesses around to inspect them. Sometimes they return, sometimes they don't. Intermittents suck to diagnose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmeupto125 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 And if you have any paper clips, bend them into a loop and replace the fuses with them. If you can get the guilty component to smoke, not only do you know where the problem is, but you get style points as well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcePrick Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I was going to say use starter fluid to check for any arcing. But I feared offending anyone as this may not be the time or place. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoWhee Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I'll bring my tools on Friday if you don't get it sorted by then. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TuffguyF4i Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Does the 1997 model have a test loom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowrideCX Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 Ok so far I have not found the so called smoking gun. The battery is a Yuasa YTX14-BS approximately 4 yrs old. I have the battery in my truck so I can take it to work and use our fancy expensive load tester. My cheap harbor freight 100 amp tester showed it to be good at 200 cca which that batterybis rated for. Now on to the wiring. I cheched everything and nothing seems pinched. The fact that my volt meter never dropped below 13.8 amps except when the motor was off is making me think I have a bad ground. So I started cleaning and putting dielectric grease on all the plugs/connectors, many of which I had done many years back when I had replaced the stator. I did however find a few more that were not done. I pulled the main ground from the battery to the starter and cleaned and put dielectric grease on it as well. I pulled the CDI unit out and made sure that was clean andadded DEG to it also. Tomorrow I will finish pulling the dash out to check that and install my new LED dash bulbs. While I have the ole girl stripped down I figure no better time to service her also. Cleaned the air filter (K&N) tonight. Going to flush the antifreeze and change the oil also. Then I will install the summertimevair in the tires... Before I touched anything tonight I tried starting the bike and she came right to life with no issues whats so ever. Voltage never dropped below 11.5amps while cranking all lights fired right up blinkers blinked 4way flashers all worked on board air compressor fired right up and the voltage barely dropped to 13.6 volts full load@4500-5000rpm. I do have some wiring I want to change around while I am in there. I will let you know how the battery tests out tomorrow. My last battery (also a Yuasa) lasted almost 6 yrs. If it is time to repkace it I will. I have seen a shorted battery still start a vehicle but make the computer do some funky shit and the car ran like shit. Thanks for all the knowledge. JOWHEE NO need to bring more tools I have plenty. I am hoping to have it squared away by Friday. We could however go for a nice little ride and test it out though. Worst case I have a bike lined up to borrow for Sunday if need be. 7fiddy shadow baby... or a KLR 6fiddy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackhawkxx Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Then I will install the summertimevair in the tires... Just make sure that you don't do it before the 21th. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John01XX Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 You can not touch the ground on a KLR! You will have a pair of Bird wheels delivered to your door on Thursday according to the tracking info from USPS. Joey needs some wheels I guess. And drag his butt down to RacerXX next year, will ya? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmeupto125 Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Alright, your volt meter is through the fuse block direct to the battery. That would tend to decrease the probability of the battery as the culprit because we know the voltmeter stayed steady (measuring volts not amps). So we're back to the bike, and that means connections. You're servicing all the friction fit connectors. I'd still check the right control pod. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowrideCX Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 Joe I will make sure to pull that apart tonight while I am working up front . I did click the kill switch off while I had the bike running last night and it worked normal also bumped the start switch while running to see if the HID'S were giving any issues firing up, everything worked seemlessly. No major drop in voltage (maybe a couple tenths of a volt). I will still pull the switch apart and check it out. I did find that over the winter Fival started making a nest in my air box. It was not enough to cause any issues but just enough to make a mess. Guess I need to hunt that little bastard down 😠as I told him as long as he didn't mess with my stuff I would leave him alone. 😃 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Krypt Keeper Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Joe might be correct with the switches, as they are not really water tight and remember someone catching a shower or two heading and coming back from the Ozarks. You might have found the problem and fixed it just by going over all your connections. Go easy with the DEG, a dab or light film will do you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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