riddle me this

took a ride to town to get a new flasher relay. (it's so nice to work on something other than carbs for a change . . .)

in the parking lot, i was trying out different relays, so i spent a fair amount of time with the lights on and the bike not running.

but, before we get ahead of ourselves, a little back ground info:
i have been spending a great deal of time trying to tune my carbs (see other thread). i've put in 124 main jets and 2 little washers to shim up each needle - i think i'm going to leave it that way as i am no longer running lean - however, this set up seems to make the bike stumble a little bit at ~2500 rpms - and, much like picking a scab, i was spending a lot of time at this rpm range in town trying to decide what, exactly, is going on. pulls great everywhere else, though.

at any rate - i pulled up to a light after spending a fair amount of time cruising at low rpms and the bike died on me. and by died, i mean it acted as though i turned off the key, even though i hadn't. everything on my instrument cluster was blank and it would not start. i could, however, turn the bike over (but be aware that, due to PO wiring, the starter button will turn the bike over no matter what position the key is in, whether it is gear or not, and it doesn't matter if the clutch is in or if the kick stand is up)

i pushed it to the bike shop that i was heading to anyways. i was able to start it once on the way there but it died as soon as i tried putting it in gear.

i checked my charging system this spring and all voltages were what they should be.

after letting it sit for awhile, i was able to start it up and i kept the rpms up above 4000 as best as i could for the drive home and made it home ok.

what's weird to me is that for the first 4 miles or so, my instrument cluster was acting really weird - like it was stuck in the preliminary "check" mode and my tach was way out of whack. reading way lower rpms than what i could "hear" i was doing.

does this all jive with, "maybe your brushes need replacing and you probably just killed the battery by spending too much time in low rpms" or is there something else going on?

 

YES and maybe.

 

that's what i thought

 

Sounds to me exactly like what happens when I take my friends to the parking lot down the street and let them practice for a half hour or so.

I bet you a billion million dollars that if you give it a nice charging you'll be right back to where you were before it happened.

 

If you hooked-up the Battery Sensor to +12Volts ON Always ... you are draining the Battery 27/7.
You need to Splice the Battery Fluid Level Sensor to a +12Volt Switched Source.
(The BLUE Wire running back to the Tail Light is OK for this. Plus you need to have 2.4 ohms of Resistance between the +12Volts Sw and the Sensor Lead)

Make that Mod right and forget about it and focus on the Carbs. and Ignition.

Visit the Bike after Dark.
Start it and look at the Spark Plug Wires arcing to Ground all along their length.
If they are arcing ... you need to apply Insulating Tape or a long length of Heat Shrink.

Flush the Main AIR Passages on the two Carbs that needed shims.
(How much shim?)

Buy two 4-Packs of Spark Plugs and Chop.
If you did NOT do a Running Sync --> Do it!

Stuff the YICS Passage full of a long skinny length of old t-shirt that you soaked in Marvel Mystery Oil.
YICS Passages Blocked.

One Gauge Sync.
Hose
Restricter
4 Valve Fish Tank Set-up
Badda Bing ... Badda Boom.

Make sure you clean these:


Vacuum Restricter:
Hose "Coupling" Union with Carb Cleaner RED Tube Epoxyed inside to reduce pull and let Vacuum Gauge NOT wildly fluctuate.


Pet Store Short-Cut Device -- 4 Valve Air Rail.

 

thanks for all the input - i don't have a battery sensor so i don't think that's the culprit.

i have shimmed all 4 carbs with 2 washers apiece. seemed to run better at low rpms with only 1 washer, but the plugs looked a little bit on the lean side after a 5000 rpm plug chop, i turned out the pilot screws 1 full turn apiece and that didn't seem to make a difference so i put them back and added another shim. the plugs look better and the bike seems "happier" at cruising speeds with 2 shims in there.

i'm trying to decide if i should up my pilot jet one size, too. or if the extra shim is causing too rich condition and i need a different needle or 1 and 1/2 shims. i'll do a little inspecting with the colortune to make up my mind i think. that, i think, can wait though - i'm so happy to not be running lean, i kind of want to leave well enough alone (for awhile, at least).

lesson learned here is: IF YOU LIKE TO RIDE YOUR MOTORCYCLE, DON'T MESS WITH YOUR EXHAUST AND AIRBOX OR AIR FILTER.

the stumble at 2500 is only an issue if i take off from a light and there's a cage in front of me. if i have room to "get up and go" i don't even notice it. but if i have to accelerate slowly, i definitely feel it.

after i rode it home i put it on the charger and the charger indicated the battery was fully charged after 3 or 4 minutes - so i'm thinking that i just killed the battery running at low rpms.

i bought a set of vacuum gauges and did a running sync, but i haven't done it again since i put the larger jets and shims in. i was planning to re-do the sync (bought a YICS tool from chacal, too) - but sometimes life gets in the way.

 

Some times you can take the battery into your local hardware/automotive store and have them run a test on it to see if it is ok. It is always good to know whether the battery is dead or not.

 

""the stumble at 2500 is only an issue if i take off from a light and there's a cage in front of me. if i have room to "get up and go" i don't even notice it. ➤➤➤ but if i have to accelerate slowly, i definitely feel it.""

This indicates that the Bike is begging for some Power Supplying Mixture.
A solution would be to INCREASE the VOLUME of Main AIR.
It would involve INCREASING the SIZE of the AIR Metering Ports on the Emulsion Tube.
The Air Metering Holes drilled in the Emulsion Tube would have to be ENLARGED. Possibly, incrementally.

///---a---b---c---d---e---/// with "a" left Stock and "b" thru "e" drilled to allow more Main AIR to pass and lift-up and atomize more Fuel.

The Main AIR Jet itself might need enlarging.

Obviously, this will be of interest to those who run Pods.
Pod users face the situation of the Main AIR Passage being able to to allow a finite amount of Air ... regardless of how large the Emulsion Tube was altered or the Main Air Jet Enlarged or even omitted.