[Othello]

I bought this bike used from the original owner, and he let it sit for 6 years. Cleaned the carbs and it ran fine. I've just started having an intermittent electrical problem. The bike will be running fine and if I happen to be looking at the tach it will fluctuate wildly (just the tach, not the engine) then the engine will die. A friend who was following me told me when this happens I loose my tail light at the same time. After a few seconds the bike will come back to life and come back to idle without my having to hit the starter.

So, I've poked around a bit, and can't find any loose or broken connections, all the fuses are good, and all the connections I can find I cleaned. Still no good. So, could a failing part, such as the CDI cause all of this?

I appreciate any help.

 

[Dieder]

odd...

dunno what could be causing it but I'll bet I got what you need in my garage.

I just stripped my parts bike of its wiring harness, so if you need anything, or all of it just shoot me an email.

[email protected]

I had a weird lil electical gremlin show up last night too.

Hard launch in first, the dash go out! :confused

hopefully its just a connector, is that a common problem

 

[BIKE]

Voltage regulator?

I was having some similar issues with my '89 EX500. My bike would occasionally die and would not start and then it would start and run fine. When it would be just sitting and not running with the ignition on the tach would bounce around.

If you have the Clymer manual, I suggest that you go to the electrical section and do a few of the tests.

But I must say it sounds like you may have a loose wire?!? Good luck.

 

[Othello]

Thanks for the help.

I've checked the grounds, and I don't seem to have any problems there.

The other thing I forgot to mention is that my starter stopped working as well. The bike died as described above, and didn't start back up on it's own. It went through a few iterations of starting and then it dying again witin a few seconds and then the starter stopped engaging the motor. I can hear it spin, but the motor doesn't turn over. I initially thought I had killed the battery, but when I bought a new battery (It needed it anyway) that didn't solve the problem.

The starter relay clicks over hard (indicating to me that it's ok) and the multimeter tells me I'm getting 12v to the starter. I just assumed whatever was causing the above problems caused my starter to go out as well. Any thoughts?

 

[espresso]

Hm, no, not really. Unless you have a bad solenoid and it sometimes shorts V+ to ground, but that should destroy the electrics... Seems much more like an open than a close.

I have a hunch about the ignition switch.

 

[patrickwelch]

check the ic igniter, located on the right rear of your bike, to the right of your leg. try switchin it out with another if you have it :mad , otherwise they run up to 350.00, had the same problem with my bike, it would drop down to almost 0, and still run, then jumping back up to 3,000-7,000, and picking up and did small wheelies, or tried to lose control. This may be your problem. Try to find another bike and switch it out quick

 

[qkenuf4u]

does the starter turn over if you jump the posts on the solenoid ? if it just spins over then the starter is goin. could be it went open/shorted inside the case.

 

[v65rider1]

I would check the ignition switch and the kill switch.
There could be something loose and or dirty contacts.