dontarantini
XS650 Member
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Hey guys,
I recently took a trip down from New Jersey to Florida on my 1980 XS650 Special, during the beginning of the trip I was having trouble with my turn signals, neutral light, & horn not working (all of which are powered by the same fuse), when I shook around the fuse under the box they would start working again (no fuses blown).
Somewhere halfway through the trip I would put the turn signal on and the engine would cut out whenever the signal would blink, so I stopped using the signals.. a while after that I started noticing that in 1st gear the bike would refuse going over 3,000 rpms, I'd shift to 2nd gear and it would make it through. Little while later trouble in 1st AND 2nd.. then it was just completely stuck at 3,000 rpms (I could go about 30 mph in 5th gear tho! ) Stuck.. I took apart the carbs and cleaned them out, checked fuses, looked inside the headlight for shorted wires, looked inside the turn signal switch. Nothing helped.
Stuck somewhere in Virginia I camped out for the night, when I get up the next morning I checked the Valves (which I adjusted before I left) and they were fine. I started it up and was surprised to find that it was working, I took to the road again hoping the mysterious problem had gone away.. about an hour or so later it came back. Stuck somewhere in North Carolina now somebody stops by to help, we head over to a bike mechanic he knows and we look at EVERYTHING, we checked the fuel filter, the gas inside the carbs, removed the rotor, checked plugs, swapped ignition coil, checked turn signal wiring and could find nothing.. absolutely nothing.
He comes back the next morning and we start to try again, he gives the battery a charge (charged for 15 minutes maybe?) with an expensive bike charger and the bike is working again (which it does when cold). I head out again and decide that if its the battery I should keep up high rpms to make sure it stays charged, I hit the highway and it pretty much worked fine til I hit Florida, near the end of Florida it was acting up again with the 1st gear rpm limit but thankfully I made it to where I was goin.
Now I'm home so I've got a bit more time and not such a rush but am still puzzled as to what it can be, I took my battery to Autozone and had them test it there, they said it was bad so I bought a new battery.. but the problem still hasn't gone away.
Anybody know what could possibly be causing this? I changed the Rotor before leaving and the resistance is still good, the Stator resistances between white wires seems good and the Pickup resistance as well. The strange part is that the Regulator seems to be charging, it gives me a 14.5 Voltage at the battery when revved up at a standstill. I have no clue anymore.. hopefully its not the TCI box because I can imagine that will be expensive.
I bought the Chrysler Regulator since the Red wire coming from the original regulator seems to be heating up and starting to melt the connector, I'll put it in tomorrow (I checked the Rectifier and the diodes seem to be intact so I'll just switch the green and brown wires to the new Regulator).
Btw, where do you guys suggest mounting the chrysler regulator since it needs a good ground?
If the regulator doesn't work do you guys have any suggestions on what it could be?
Keep you updated on whether its fixed or not.
Any help is better than none,
Thanks,
Matt
I recently took a trip down from New Jersey to Florida on my 1980 XS650 Special, during the beginning of the trip I was having trouble with my turn signals, neutral light, & horn not working (all of which are powered by the same fuse), when I shook around the fuse under the box they would start working again (no fuses blown).
Somewhere halfway through the trip I would put the turn signal on and the engine would cut out whenever the signal would blink, so I stopped using the signals.. a while after that I started noticing that in 1st gear the bike would refuse going over 3,000 rpms, I'd shift to 2nd gear and it would make it through. Little while later trouble in 1st AND 2nd.. then it was just completely stuck at 3,000 rpms (I could go about 30 mph in 5th gear tho! ) Stuck.. I took apart the carbs and cleaned them out, checked fuses, looked inside the headlight for shorted wires, looked inside the turn signal switch. Nothing helped.
Stuck somewhere in Virginia I camped out for the night, when I get up the next morning I checked the Valves (which I adjusted before I left) and they were fine. I started it up and was surprised to find that it was working, I took to the road again hoping the mysterious problem had gone away.. about an hour or so later it came back. Stuck somewhere in North Carolina now somebody stops by to help, we head over to a bike mechanic he knows and we look at EVERYTHING, we checked the fuel filter, the gas inside the carbs, removed the rotor, checked plugs, swapped ignition coil, checked turn signal wiring and could find nothing.. absolutely nothing.
He comes back the next morning and we start to try again, he gives the battery a charge (charged for 15 minutes maybe?) with an expensive bike charger and the bike is working again (which it does when cold). I head out again and decide that if its the battery I should keep up high rpms to make sure it stays charged, I hit the highway and it pretty much worked fine til I hit Florida, near the end of Florida it was acting up again with the 1st gear rpm limit but thankfully I made it to where I was goin.
Now I'm home so I've got a bit more time and not such a rush but am still puzzled as to what it can be, I took my battery to Autozone and had them test it there, they said it was bad so I bought a new battery.. but the problem still hasn't gone away.
Anybody know what could possibly be causing this? I changed the Rotor before leaving and the resistance is still good, the Stator resistances between white wires seems good and the Pickup resistance as well. The strange part is that the Regulator seems to be charging, it gives me a 14.5 Voltage at the battery when revved up at a standstill. I have no clue anymore.. hopefully its not the TCI box because I can imagine that will be expensive.
I bought the Chrysler Regulator since the Red wire coming from the original regulator seems to be heating up and starting to melt the connector, I'll put it in tomorrow (I checked the Rectifier and the diodes seem to be intact so I'll just switch the green and brown wires to the new Regulator).
Btw, where do you guys suggest mounting the chrysler regulator since it needs a good ground?
If the regulator doesn't work do you guys have any suggestions on what it could be?
Keep you updated on whether its fixed or not.
Any help is better than none,
Thanks,
Matt