Oh man, there was smoke and all

[danf]

Ah man, I'm such a half ass mechanic I swear, at least that's what my mechanic friend and I call each other..I went to start my bike after it sat in the garage for about a week and the starter just went slow like the battery had lost some umphhh...or power for a better word, so I charged the battery and filled the water level proper as I always do..I notice the starter cable at the post in the starter was kinda loose so I tightened it then put the battery in and nothing but clicking sound, ah man... I'm thinking the battery is dead so I pushed the button again but this time there was smoke, oh my... smoke at the cable...oh my... at the post to the starter, oh my.. so this was about midnight and the lighting in this garage needs to be brighter, today's when I saw that the insulated washer that keeps the cable from touching the casing of the starter had broken into...thus allowing the cable to touch the case, there's your smoke...I'm surprised I didn't blow any fuses, but the worst that happened was it clicked and smoked a little... :shock: so I tried finding that little insulated washer but nobody seems to have it..Hummm, time to start thinking ....hummmm, I remembered that jb weld is an insulator so I mixed up a little and put a piece of plastic down and dropped some jb weld on the plastic, about the size of a dime, I let it dry over night, the next day I drilled a hole in the center, there ya go I made my own flippen insulated washer..Crazy right...it works good..JB Weld will hold up to the heat and is strong as all get out..A custom fit too..Bike is all better now...There's always another way, just gotta think about it..

 

[toytender01]

That is just plane "GOOD OL "ENGUITY" Way to go :Egyptian: :Egyptian: :Egyptian: opcorn: :salute: :good: arty:

 

[joedrum]

we all have our moments beav ....good end around run for the score :smilie_happy: :mrgreen:

 

[Omega Man]

Nuthin get the ole ticker hummin like electrical smoke.

Omega does his best Duvall, "I hate the smell of electrical smoke in the morning, it smells like....defeat."

~O~

 

[Omega Man]

hey my feet dont smell like that :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy:

I knew it, someone was going to say that...

~O~

 

[toytender01]

they beat me to it :Egyptian: :Egyptian: :Egyptian: :Egyptian:

 

[slabghost]

It could have been easier and faster to make a washer from the cap of a milk jug.

 

[cmonSTART]

Don't forget to refill your starter smoke.

 

[dlslick]

I wonder how long that JB Weld washer will last. I would be worried about it cracking and causing you problems some time in the future. The milk jug material was a great idea. Make a couple of them out of it and double them up.

 

[skiri251]

Well I am not a mechanic so I am allowed.

I put the probe in DC amp post on my multimeter the other day to measure this Dan's LED H4 bulb current draw. I forgot all about it and tried to measure battery voltage with that yesterday. 0V? Huh? The next moment I hear huge pop noise and see a little spark. The probe cable is really hot. Luckily no damage to the motorcycle. I haven't checked the multimeter's current measurement circuit but I guess it's fried. Oh well, it's a cheapo one from HF.

 

[danf]

It could have been easier and faster to make a washer from the cap of a milk jug.

Yep probably faster, I don't know how the plastic would hold up with all that heat down there from the exhaust pipes below.. I know JB Weld can handle it.. Any other remedies?...Will the plastic cap work or will it not work, have you actually tested it...What's that insulated washer that broke on me made of..Does anyone know...?

 

[danf]

I wonder how long that JB Weld washer will last. I would be worried about it cracking and causing you problems some time in the future. The milk jug material was a great idea. Make a couple of them out of it and double them up.

It's pretty thick, probably thicker that two plastic caps put together, I will carry a milk cap in the bag just in case..ha ha...

 

[danf]

Guy's ...hey guy's... guess what...??? I think it's shorting inside the flippen case.. when I tighten the nut up against the plastic cap lids it smokes still so i think it's shorting inside the case, I think the stud bolt is making a slite contact with the casing when I tighten the outside nut, I think this because when I moved up the nuts and took pressure off the stud it didn't smoke any more..This starter must be removed and the stud area must be shimed with a insulated washer of whatever type in the inside, I like the bottle cap idea, vinyl siding works too I guess....I knew that if I thru out the JB weld idea I would get other ideas, it's like fishing.. and it worked...ha ha [slabghost got caught] watch out for me I'm a tricky guy...Oh, the starter works fine and all, it's cranking right up and all but I know that the stud will get worse in time and it will be a problem later so I guess I will remove it and fix it right...

 

[joedrum]

good beav ...im sure this is the way to fix it ...it can diffinitly short on both sides outside and in opcorn: a little more work to do beav stay cool as you can down there :mrgreen: