Bike died after riding in heavy rain - won't start

Technically this isn't a XJ, it is an XS400k, but it bears the badge of "maxim" and resembles a XJ.

I was riding this thing everyday about 20 miles round trip for 2 months. It never had any issues. It was summer so I pulled the fender off the front wheel.

In very heavy rain on the freeway, I had her wide open for 10 miles, and when getting off the freeway at my exit, she sputtered and died. My first thoughts were carbs/air filter. I cleaned the carbs, checked the air filter, etc. No luck.

The next thought was water on the electric bits. I let it dry, but it still won't turn on.

I ran a jumper from the battery to the starter, and it cranks, but so that much works, but short of wire brushing every electrical connection - I am out of ideas.

Is this common with motorcycles? Am I missing something obvious? (I will be the first to admit I know nothing about bikes/mechanics, but I am very eager to learn / DIY)

 

sounds like battery's charged but it's not sending the signal to turn the engine... kill switch, kick stand safety switch? Starter button? triple check wiring, look for rocks/wasp that cut a line somewhere. don't be so quick to assume water was the cause, might have happened on a dry day too so think logically.

 

You may have gotten water in the sidestand switch or safety circuit somewhere, or up under the instruments and into the ignition switch assembly itself, or into the headlight shell where a lot of that stuff interconnects.

Guess you found out the hard way why most serious road bikes have front fenders...

PM me with your email address and I can get you a wiring diagram for that bike. You got water in the harness somewhere, or popped a fuse or two.

Meanwhile, pull the battery out and get it on a slow (less than 2A/hr) charger.

 

Classic symptom of cracked coils. Especially since you have the front fender off and it was raining heavily. Check the coil bodies closely, I'm betting dollars to doughnuts you have cracks. They tend to radiate out from the iron core (the square metal rod) and are primarily found the front (opposite the high tension lines) of the coil. Grab your WD40 and get those areas cleaned/dryed off. I've used liquid electrical tape as a temporary patch but you can even use RTV to get home.
Good luck!

 

I'm still voting sidestand switch full of water, which is why it won't even turn over until "jumped." It thinks the sidestand is down.

 

That's wot I was thinking, or the starter's not sending the signal, or the kill switch is sending "kill" signal....

 

or water somewhere burned out a fuse.

he said the bike won't turn on.

or is he talking the bike won't start?

 

koi, there are no "signals" being sent (or not sent) there's no data buss on these bikes; it's simple case of open circuit/closed circuit.

Starter is a motor, operated by current supplied by the solenoid. It sends no "signals."

"Kill" switch has nothing to do with this (unless it got soaked, doubtful) more likely something is still wet somewhere. I think the sidestand switch got full of water; or it could be cracks in the coils as Robert suggested. It could also be a fuse or two popped.

snowwy I believe from his description it switches "on" but wouldn't even crank until he jumpered directly to the starter. Which is why I'm thinking safety circuit. If it were spinning but not firing, then I'd have a different suggestion.

 

Thanks Fitz, I just use the term Signal to describe it, I understand it's not a BMW, but some people don't understand electricity to the point that circuit open circuit closed makes sense. Pressing a button and in your mind, thinking of that button sending a signal to the starter.... might make sense to some people, that's all I meant.

 

Let me chime back in, for there are two issues but happened at different times.

@bigfitz52: when it first happened, the bike would still crank and try to start, sputter a bit, and die. That is when I checked the carbs/filter.

Now, however, it won't do anything. Checked the battery charge, checked the cable connections, etc., and it just does nothing. The cluster lights come on, but the headlight does not (used to by default when key was turned).

Coils - where am I looking for cracks? I am thinking of a car style coil with the distributor and cap and all that jazz. I am not 100% where to find/what to look for on a bike.


Thanks,

Phil

 

Re: Coils: Follow your plug wires back up under the tank; you have two individual coils, one for each spark plug wire.

Here's a good online parts fiche; look up your bike. The coils are illustrated under "ELECTRICAL - 1."

Where to look for cracks is all over the surface of the coil. Quite often they develop surface cracks following the "puddling" of the plastic in the molds. Also check where the screw lugs come out of the coil.

I still think your sidestand switch got full of water.

 

Pulled the coils (not easy to get to, and I am afraid of the task of putting them back), they look fine except that one of the mounting studs is sheared off (probably has been for a long time). I will replace them anyways, along with plugs and wires.

Fuses (both of them) look good.

Didn't test the kick stand switch but battery is on the charger.

The fact is that the bike doesn't have a dual bulb brake light, turn signals, horn, and is "without" a number of other electrical bits. I think the most obvious thing to do is to pull out the harness, and recreate a simplified version of it without all of the "open" ends exposed from connectors now gone.

I will pick up a few spools of wire, a box of connectors, and a voltammeter, and will go nuts. At the same time, I will order pods, clean the carbs, relocate the battery, and scrap the airbox. Shop down the street has a dyno, so I might as well get a 2to1 exhaust and the pods, and have them rejet based on that.

 

Here is a question: the part number on the coils is 12V CM11-55 203 (L), 12V CM11-55 204 (R)

I can't find these online, is there an alternative? More specifically, can I replace these with a single unit and relocate it a bit to ease access?

Mikes XS has a few options but I don't know anything about compatibility.
http://www.mikesxs.net/products-27.html


Thx,

P

 

Rebuild it? You can install new wires but that is about it. If your mounting "ear" (I am assuming that you are referring to the iron rod in the middle of the coil) is broken off, I don't think you can. You can order up a new unit from Dynacoil, Accel, or stockers from Chacal. For capatibility, you need to match, as humanly as possible, the input resistance. I don't know what it is for your 400 but your link shows some good candidates at Mike's.

 

The 400 has two individual coils, mounted on what appear (from the fiche anyway) to be a pair of studs coming out of the sides of the coils. They don't look anything like the 4-cyl bikes' dual-lead coils.

 

I wish I had bothered to dig out my XJCD... I might catch more of these little details. I'm glad you are around Fitz! I ought to load them up on my laptop so they are around when I'm futzing around here.

 

Does the XJ-CD even cover the DOHC XS400 "half an XJ" bikes?

Those things seem to have been almost forgotten about by everybody except the folks who own one. I've got a whole bunch of info on them because I was looking at buying one for my kid a couple years back.

LOTS of stuff is only similar, but not the same as, the 4-cyl XJs.

 

Well good news - maybe, I think I found the problem. I pulled the plugs, wires, coils, and a couple other pieces. Brought them home to research replacing them. Bad news, I work a crazy 60+ hours a week at a software company so I get less time to research than I would like.

The coils are sitting on my desk. Wires too. I looked at the coil end of the wires just now and noticed a difference - ones clean, ones covered in rust and the hole enlarged. Looked at the coils where the wires attach, one is sparkly and clean, one is a little rusty. I will attempt to first wire brush this out and get new wires for both sides. If that doesn't do it, time to replace the coils. Found the OEMs on bikebandit for $263, seems like I should be able to find aftermarket a bit cheaper.

Any thoughts?

Lesson here is this: if it feels like a fuel delivery issue, but you check the air/fuel system and find no issues, it is likely an ignition issue. Similar symptoms.

Let me get back "under the hood" this weekend and I will report back.

I am still interested in a simplified coil that I can relocate - they are very hard to get to without lowering the entire engine on this bike.



Thanks,

P