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Hello from Oregon!

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by StarGeneral, Jul 2, 2020.

  1. Dan Gardner

    Dan Gardner Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    I concur! Great work!
     
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  2. Toyobaru866

    Toyobaru866 Active Member

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    Wow you've done a lot more than I realized before. Respect!
     
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  3. StarGeneral

    StarGeneral Active Member

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    Last night was coming back from my second "bike night" (The XJ has been getting a lot of love btw!) and on the way home I noticed my turn signals were intermittently not flashing. As I approached home the turns signals stopped flashing altogether, instead staying solid until manually deactivated. I've never seen the bike do this, and as you know I went through the entire harness while the bike was torn down...

    When I parked at home the display backlights and headlight started to dim incredibly low to the point I thought the battery was totally dead. Turned off the bike for a few seconds, popped the ignition on (not running) and my lights were normal again??

    From what I've read here there could be several things at play...charging the battery now as it is low. I'm guessing there is an issue with the stator/alternator. I'll be pulling the cover to check the brushes and clean the slip ring surface. Hopefully I can get this sorted before my ride on Sunday!
     
  4. StarGeneral

    StarGeneral Active Member

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    Long story short, issue seems to stem from me running a 55 Watt Aux light. At idle, with the aux light, headlight and turn signals on, voltimeter is reading about 12.1 volts (probably less with brake light applied). If i turn off the driving light, jumps to about 12.4ish. My guess is with everything on the draw is just a little bit too much. At 2,500 RPM (which I've been told is when the alternator really kicks in) I read no higher than 14.95 volts with only headlight on, and around 12.8-13 with all accessories on + turn signals.
     
  5. StarGeneral

    StarGeneral Active Member

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    Went on another group ride this past weekend. Did another 80 mile round trip. Man, the XJ really screams if you want it to :D. I mostly prefer to cruise though so we rarely break 65...

    During that ride my starter clutch issues continued...however I did find a new possible smoking gun for the issue. When I cranked the starter repeatedly, I saw a puff of some come from where the terminal on the side of the starter. I remember when re-assembling the bike that the starter terminal-post felt "loose", and could not be tightened down (just spun). So it's very likely that the "starter clutch" issue could be due to a bad connection at the starter itself. I'll get the starter off this next weekend and have a look.
     
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  6. StarGeneral

    StarGeneral Active Member

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    VERY late update, but I rebuilt the starter, which slightly improved the hot start issue but not completely - good enough until it's time to do the alternator chain guide and replace / rebuild the starter clutch. The starter itself (particularly the terminal post) was basically 98% severed from the internals (looks like it'd been shorting out or making a poor connection for many years). Haven't had ride able conditions here in about 3 weeks so thinking of winterizing the bike and resuming riding in the Spring.
     
  7. StarGeneral

    StarGeneral Active Member

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    Will upload some pics of last summer once I figure out hosting.
     

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