Ole Betsie's transplant--very ill--She keeps dying.

[wilcoy02]

I did the 4 inch pulley conversion. The pulley is beautiful and very well made in USA. I rode Sunday around the area for 5 miles a ride. Did Well.
Monday rode 25 miles one way did well.
Tuesday rode 70 miles one way with betsie's new tail (trailer)Did well. Battery read 13.2v (by volt meter from neg to pos)after every ride.

Did not ride wed at all.
Thurs wanted to ride 120 miles one way. Would not start. battery read 11.5 v Had to put the charger on for about 10 min. Rode 100 miles and my plug for the gps aqnd fuzz buster died.(in the left fairing pocket). Stopped for gas and finished the rest of the 20 miles with no problem.

Started for home and got about 15 miles and stopping for a light. Bike went stone cold dead. Like somone pulled the electric plug out of the wall. Coasted into a parking lot. scratched my head. No idea what to look at.
Tried to start it and started right up. Got to the next light same thing -dead. Tried to push it into a lot and lo and behold a cop right behind me- I dumped the bike--big gash on the left leg. The cop was a very big guy and helped me pick the bike up and get it into the lot. Bike started right up let it sit running and 3 min later it dies again.

We talked about where a shop was at so they could look at it.There were no more stop lights to get out of town so I elected to ride toward home 100 miles. Rode for about 50 miles and again just dies. Pulled off to the side of the road and sat for 5 min. Tightened the battery cables tighter. Started up and rode about 15 miles and stopped at a retail shop that was on my agenda. Turned the bike off and BANG the first back fire I have had out of this bike in 15 years.
Sat for 20 minutes.started right up and rode about 30 miles into a traffic jam and dead again. Waited 5 min and it started up . Rode the rest of the way home with no more DOA.

Monday and tuesday it was about 83 degrees today it was 93-91.

ANY IDEAS of what I need to look at? I have no clue . It can not be fuses as it restarts. Could be a bad ground. any suggestions?

 

[slabghost]

sounds to me like coils going bad warmed up.

 

[wilcoy02]

any way to check coils? If so how?
Thanks for reading such a long post.

 

[AApple]

Don't know if you have modified your "dogbone" main fuse for a blade type fuse, but mine did the same thing. Would just die at the weirdest times. Usually would start right back up, but sometimes would take a little longer. The dogbone fuse was bad, but it had enough touching to flow voltage most of the time, When it would eventually heat up, it would break contact, and everything would go dead. Once I figured it out, I immediately modified the set-up, and went to a 30 amp in-line blade fuse. Haven't had an electrical problem since.

 

[dan filipi]

It's definitely an electrical problem.
Ive read of coils doing this, I've had the same happen on a car once, but it could also be a loose connection in the ignition circuit as well. Also could be a flakey kill switch.
I think the only way to test the coils is by swapping in a different set.
Say does ALL the power die or just the engine?

 

[wilcoy02]

I have replaced the dog bone with a blade years ago.
The whole bike goes dead. engine, radio, lights, everything. While coasting to a stop it won't even try to start or keep going like when you push start it.

dead all the way around

 

[joedrum]

hmmm well its got to be simple then id say ...sounds like one of those curit breaker fuses that weak and blows and comes back on ...i had that one on a car that drove me crazy for awhile ....but in this case it has to be somewhare where it can shut down all power ...im not sure the altinator switch can do that in anyway ...but its changing rate being better may have cause a problem else whrer

 

[dan filipi]

Ok then there's a loose connection in the main power supply.
Check over everything at the battery and starter relay.
I had a blade fuse holder overheat, they are not perfect either. Might try a new one

 

[danf]

guy's he has a conversion do you think his fuse 50 amp fuse in the main line is bad or loose ? what about the exciter wire, where did you run your exciter wire out of the alternator? Did you check it? You unplugged your Regulator- Rectifier before you set up your conversion didn't you?

 

[joedrum]

im clueless here as i havnt tried this beav but it has to be something ...ckeck the battery for water if its wet battery ....might be cooking off the water ....and cell to go bad and sort from heat cool off and work ...then short again maybe just guessing

 

[dan filipi]

In the first post you said the battery was down below 12 volts after sitting a day. Sounds to me like something is using power when the ignition is off.
The exciter wire will drain the battery if it's not hooked in after the ignition, meaning it should be hot only with key on.

 

[jerryinmich57]

I agree with Dan when you said your battery was down it could be your alt. draging it down after it sits. I put a one wire on Stella and could hear a humm comming from the alt. after shutting her down so I put in a relay in the main charge line.
But I do not agree the alt. has anything to do with it shutting down as you can run a long way on just the battery ( I did last year for over a hundred miles on just the battery) and your alt. must be working right or you would not power enough to restart unless you wait a few hours with a really good battery and pulls itself back up to 12 volts.
I think it must be a loose connection in your main power line or key switch or just a bad key switch if it was the kill switch unless my 1200 is different but with my kill switch to stop I still have power to starter lights and gauges.
When I come up to a stop I take weight of the seat and if there is a loose connection under there you may be slightly moving it to lose power.
I take it you must have got of the seat when you were waiting to restart. I would take off the seat start it up and try moving all the wires around just a little not much and see if you can cause it to stop.
Jerry

 

[Anonymous]

its easy to eliminate the coil as a culprit by using one of those voltage indicators (cost about $20) hold it to each coil wire and you can see when it fires.
When the bike is hot and dead meter the (low) voltage across either coil (they are in parrellel) if it present then hold the volt probe near each wire as you crank it over if it fires you will be able to see it. If the low voltage is not present at the coil the first thing I would be looking at is what joe said the fuse .

 

[wilcoy02]

Thanks you all I will check every suggestion.

Yes I disconnected the plug from the rr. I used the red wire from the rr plug to connect the alt.
I ran the exciter wire directly to the battery--which is why it must have drained while sitting for a day. I will change that. Where did you connect it to?

The bike died while sitting on it running down the road also. After the second time it stopped at the light i started it and let it idle while the cop and I was standing away from the bike talking it ran for about 3 min and died.

I took the battery cage out and cleaned the gizmo where the hot wire goes directly to the battery and cleaned that plug. cleaned the ground wire at both ends. replaced the fuse holder at the dog bone connection. and cleaned the other connection to the left of the battery--not the stator plug as it was removed a couple of years ago. So far everything has looked good.

After sleeping on the coils--I got to looking at the cost of coils. Found that the 80 -82 coils are different than the 83 coils. I got to thinking-yes at times i do that-- 3-4 years ago I put my 80 engine into an 83 frame. I do not remember changing the coils. Could this have caused me to burn batteries up every year and causing my current problem?

Does not feel very confident with this to go out to Sturgis in South Dakota from Ohio.

 

[joedrum]

yes thats the problem the coils are probably heating the system up big time ...with the new power sorce the poor boy its made it worst ...i think the 83 is 1.5ohm system 80-82 are 2.2 ohm i think higher for sure this is the bad mix ...higher ohm coils would be okay to run ...but lower causes damage to entire ignition sysstem ...do something before it just quits altogether

 

[slabghost]

Doesn't inspire much confidence at this point for sure.

 

[danf]

I don't think the coils are the problem, because you stated you lost everything, all power lights and all, the coils won't make you lose all your power like that, will it..It's a connection issue, I ran that exciter wire to the black wire on the male side of the RR plug, I used a plastic covered female spade thingy to connect it, Dan suggested just tieing into the headlight wire with your exciter wire, either way when the key is turned on/ off the power is turned on/off.. did you use a 50 amp fuse in the line to the battery from the alternator? It's something simple, you'll find it..Redo your cable from Alt. to batt. and check those joints..And make sure your ground to frame is good too.

 

[wilcoy02]

are the coils the only thing I need to change? Any ideas on where to order coils from? Really want to stay away from flea bay. I need two correct?
Thanks for solving this riddle.

 

[joedrum]

well im not completely sure but it sure fitting good ....dyna coils are good coils and i know three ohm greens will work ...call dyna and talk to teck department ...there quite helpful ...tell them everything and see what they say ....

 

[joedrum]

gee weez wilcoy .....AND GOT TO THINKING BACKWARDS....CHANGING THE MOTOR DOSE HURT ANYTHING THE IGNITION IS NOT ON THE MOTOR ......so disregard what i said its all wrog ....its when you change coils they coils the problem starts ...as long as the wiring and all is the same yr your fine and changing the motor dosmt hurt anything.....and if your bike is 83 wiring the neon coils will probaly do fine in thinking .....but if your is a 80-81-82 you might have problems heat ....

your bike ran fine for yrs like that ....sometimes i have to watch when i get thinking off and dont relise it till later.....you need to look hard at the altinator job to see if everything there is right and or if there is something else going on ......