Engine revs then completely goes dead...

[YooperXS]

took my new bike on a ride. thing was workin really nicely. a bit of stumble right off idle but perfect after that... after a shakedown test I put her back away... when she was goin in I revved her up a bit and she died.

no neutral switch light, nothing. fiddled around for a bit. kept doin nothing and then she randomly started up but as soon as she revved up she died again. did this like 3 times or so.

besides a loose ignition switch wire anything else to look for.

thanks

 

[hmusket]

A couple things I can think of to check out. Your new bike's a '78? That's the year they went from a single fuse to 4 fuses, (after engine #2F0-006501), main fuse 20A, the rest 10A, just like on your '81 and '83 . Check out the fuses, and fuse box. Make sure the frame ground is OK. Check battery and charging. Make sure fuel is flowing. I remember an experience where the petcock filters were missing on the XS850 I had, so the reserve warning setup didn't work, so the tank was already out of gas, when I switched to reserve.

Good Luck, remind me to give you a service manual for that year when you get to town.

 

[prairiedog]

I am wondering if some thing went bad from battery charging too much ? I think they are kind of sensative if some thing might be off with the battery . The fuses and old wiring are next .

 

[YooperXS]

bump....

it only has one inline fuse and no fuse box....

ground from battery is secure.

 

[YooperXS]

battery is good..

 

[jedi_]

Bad stator if you have to keep the revs up to keep it running

 

[hmusket]

Still no working right, bummer.
Did you put a new fuse in, old fuses sometimes look good but still be faulty? A loose metal cap could cause intermittent problem. Check out the kill switch also, maybe a loose connection that gets jarred when you rev the bike. If the battery is freshly and fully charged it should be able to run for a bit without shutting down. Other than systematically going through with a multimeter or continuity checker I can't think of any other easy fixes.

 

[YooperXS]

It was a loose connector within the headlight. I didn't even bother to go through and find out what exactly.. opened the bucket and it was right there pulled apart.

easy peasy and got a ride in tonite. stocked!

 

[hmusket]

Good work. Looks like you're having fun with the $200 bike.