damn electrical gremlins!!

[angus67]

Yeah. I'm not really looking for advise, just venting, a few beers in, so.......
Ive got a 1980 sg, Ive bored it to 680cc, it was a multi basket case with a holed piston. Its been running great since about a year ago.
When I got the bike, I ditched the wiring, kept the reg/rec, rotor/stator, black box,. Hard tailed it. Been having a blast breaking in this motor, that I, for the first motor Ive rebiult all by myself, except new valves/seats.
I just replaced the wheel bearings, front and rear, new seals. rolls a lot smoother. Also put in Dyna beads. Now to test ride!!
Get it started, one kick to prime, one kick to start, off I go.
Running strong, first time I hit 60MPH. Felt really good, turn down a loop road, get half way, and the motor starts coughing. WTF!! goes dead, coast to stop. Kick,kickkickkickkick, each kick it coughs.
Poking and prodding connections with my sausage fingers. still, nothing. call for back up, more poking, then, starts right up, first kick. throw my helmet, jacket, gloves on, and romp the piss out of it to get home, pass my backup, get home , turn petcock off, and let it idle out.
Ran fine on the way home, strong, snappy.
I'm thinking I am my own electrical gremlin. I used cheap male/female connectors
I hate electricity. At least I didn't let the smoke out!!
You may think, " out of gas, or vacuum in gas tank." the first thing I did when it died was stick my ear to the cap. it is vented.
OK, " charging? bad battery?" its charging, rotor recently tested at 5.3 ohms, battery is a new motobatt battery, sitting at 12.8 volts, rev throttle, 14 volts.
I'm pretty sure its the cheap connectors I used. Ive got good clean bare metal grounds,
used 14awg throu-out. Wasn't cheap wire either. I used the kind of cord that you would use to re-cord a angle grinder/ drill or whatever. Three conductors in one cable.
Looks great for a minimalist chop
ill figure it out. thanks for listening

 

[tonyc]

Are you sure the gas cap vent is not plugged? I have this happen before.

 

[angus67]

it is not plugged.

 

[gggGary]

Any chance of water in the gas?

And for your out of left field thought of the day: What ever happened to that 71 you worked on for the neighbor?

 

[Fndirtygreaser]

Ahh yes. These damn electrical grimlins. Sometimes it's just the ignition switch that starts to break up inside. These motors will eventually rattle anything loose lol. If it's older than a year I would just replace it. Or carry an extra one around. Or carry extra wire and tools to bypass switch and power the items to make bike run to at least get you home.

 

[peanut]

intermittants are the worse

When it cut did it cut dead like an electrical short/ open circuit ?

Or did it cough and splutter a few times like a fuel starvation problem ? as you tried to keep it going

When you next get it started try pulling all the wiring around a bit to see if you can replicate the fault .

If its minimalist wiring there can't be too much to check

 

[Scrambled]

There was a couple of guys with 1980+ XS at the vintage meet ups last year that were having the same problem , bike running fine , dies , can't figure out why, then a while later they start right up again. Both of those guys have owned vintage bikes for over 30 years and know their way around a bike . Both had stock TCI , could it be the TCI doing that ? Is there a common problem with these things ? Not sure if they got them sorted out last year.

 

[angus67]

Any chance of water in the gas?

And for your out of left field thought of the day: What ever happened to that 71 you worked on for the neighbor?

GGGary, I got it running with a basic pamco, and had it running sweet, except the slight knocking in the top end.
It ran fine, friend hauled ass upndown the street on 30 year old tires, took it home
That was three years ago, its sitting in his basement, Hes starting to remember more about what was replaced when it overheated 30 years ago. cylinder bore, new rings, Rod bearings, Now im thinking the cam lost its temper, has a flat spot, and that is knocking.
Ive offered to open it up and look, waiting for the word.

 

[angus67]

could be the box, idk.
I do know I used cheap bullet connectors, and my grounds are turning green fuzz. Ill prolly have to re-wire and use good stuff.
I have had the kill switch apart, and it doesn't take much to cut the engine. It definitely isn't turn the switch and it kills it, its more like, look at the switch, apply thumb in preparation of moving the switch from run to kill, then the bike dies.
Live and learn. on the plus side, my new wheel bearings are nice and smooth, and the dyna beads I put in smoothed it right out. weird. rolls smoother, and then gremlins.

 

[Fndirtygreaser]

Looks like it's time for new ignition switch. And I do need to replace my rear bearings as well. And just might toss in some dynabeads while I'm at it.

 

[angus67]

I don't think its my ign switch, although it is one of those super cheap ones all over the internets. I might try a different kill switch though.
Could be my coil, but its in the stock location, with a sporty tank makes it rite in the breeze. Its a mike's coil. could be culprit. Its only 3 years old. I barely ride the thing, but this time out, it was riding sooo smooth, I did wind it out pretty good a few times, and the ride back home was a high rpm run home.

 

[Fndirtygreaser]

I just rode my bike. A blast as usual.

 

[angus67]

your bike looks like a blast just sitting there. cool.

 

[DIRTY DOG]

redo the conectors and clean the green fuzz off the grounds and problem should go a way fix one 2 days ago =ran great shut off would not restart let sit 10 min restarted ran great did this a 5 time I cleaned the grounds and replaced a cheep conector retested great restart every time now

 

[ridgerunner1965]

all good advice givin. ill add a bit of my experience. i rode a bike for years that i purchased new. ocasionlly it died and would start rite back up.this went on for years. i did lots of mods and new parts but didnt help. okay one day it died for good. poking and prodding with the test light showed one fuse block,it had 4, was dead.

tracing the wire back that fed that fuse block i found nothing. opened up wire harness with a razor blade and found one wire broken INSIDE the covering of the wire. only found it because i could feel a void when feeling the wire with my fingers.it was a defect in the factory wireing. cut it and soldered it back. no more probs.

not trying to hijak or nuttin but where do you guys get good quality wiring componets?i dont have good luck finding them around here at local auto parts stores. viynal covered brittle wire and cheap pot metal connectors is all i can find. years ago i would strip wire out of older cars to wire my bikes with as it was higher quality. cant do that anymore.

 

[angus67]

I baught the weather pak kit from jegs. Some of the connectors are kinda big, since its meant for cars, but if Its fixes this, ill be happy.
I'll only redo the ignition circuit(blak box, pick up), and the charging system. If the headlight and tail go out, at least I will still be able to get home. There are still good wires in cars, just that those cars are over 40 years old. Grab a hand full from under dashes. Or buy a used up house oven/range. Those wires are good. lots of strands. The insulation makes it look small, but its because the insulation is thinner. I figure, If it can hold 110/240 volts, it can handle a measley 12v. Plus its rated for well over 300 volts, and 30 amps.
No problem with hijack. Its like thinking outside the box. A hijack can remind op of different ways to do things. Give two guys enuf money to build a motor, don't let them look over each others shoulders, and they both come up with a theoretically same motor, just very different in design.

 

[angus67]

I baught the weather pak kit from jegs. Some of the connectors are kinda big, since its meant for cars, but if Its fixes this, ill be happy.
I'll only redo the ignition circuit(blak box, pick up), and the charging system. If the headlight and tail go out, at least I will still be able to get home. There are still good wires in cars, just that those cars are over 40 years old. Grab a hand full from under dashes. Or buy a used up house oven/range. Those wires are good. lots of strands. The insulation makes it look small, but its because the insulation is thinner. I figure, If it can hold 110/240 volts, it can handle a measley 12v. Plus its rated for well over 300 volts, and 30 amps.
No problem with hijack. Its like thinking outside the box. A hijack can remind op of different ways to do things. Give two guys enuf money to build a motor, don't let them look over each others shoulders, and they both come up with a theoretically same motor, just very different in design.

 

[gggGary]

Watch that wire from inside a range, make that don't use it. The inside of a range has very unusual code "allowances". It's a "fireproof" environment designed for heat, the wires are severely undersize and that insulation may contain asbestos or other bad stuff like fiberglass, Other old bike and car wiring? thumbs up.

 

[angus67]

thanks for the heads up, ggary. I'll remember not to chew on it!
The oven I took apart had a majority of the wires 14awg? It was an old whirlpool from the 90's. maybe new ovens are not to be used?