Electrical mystery

I've been having what appears to be an intermittent electrical problem. One day last year after riding for about 10 mins. the bike stalled while at speed and I couldn't get it started again, had to trailer it home. Discovered there was a lot of rust in the tank so I lined it with an epoxy coating, and replaced the in-line fuel filter. Suspecting that wasn't the main cause of the problem I continued with my inspection.

Much to my surprise, While checking to see if I had spark (pulled a plug inserted a spare plug in the cylinder, and grounded the live plug to the case) the bike fired up! Left me very confused as only three of the installed plugs were wired. While poking around I also noticed the old fuse panel was getting very warm so I replaced it with ATC type inline fuses.

By this time it was late in the Canadian winter so not much progress was made. This spring I traced and inspected every visible wire on the bike, and checked and cleaned each connector. The only anomaly I found was that the 3 pin connector from the stator (3 white wires) was stuck together. After some effort I managed to get it apart and noticed that the connector seemed to have melted slightly and fused together. Connector still seemed usable, no shorts. Checked the alternator as per the Haynes manual, it seems okay. While I was at it I also checked the coils and wires, and a couple of the other simple electrical tests involving a mulimeter. Everything seemed okay. So I reassembled everything and she fired up! (started with some starter fluid since it had sat all winter). Checked the charging system while it was running and it looked good. Turned it off got my gear went for a quick ride everything was good.

A week later I went to start it up, didn't start on the first try so I readjusted by grip and hit the starter button again, but all of a sudden it sounded like the battery was dead as the starter motor all of a sudden got very slow and sounded weak. This had happened momentarily once last year but it started fine the next time so I didn't think much of it. After much cranking battery was reading 11.9V and falling, it is about a year and a half old, hasn't got much use but I have tried to maintain it with a charger...

Any ideas as to what is wrong?

 

After you replaced your fuses, are they, or the wires getting very warm still?

 

As far as I can tell the fuses/wires are not getting warm now, but I haven't really had a chance to check it. I'll try and check it again tonight.

 

You'll probably also want to check with a new and/or fully charged battery -- it changes the electrical test results if your battery isn't up to snuff.

 

Check your grounds as well.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I had checked the grounds previously and whenever I found a black wire I checked it with an ohm meter so most of them should be fine. I know the main/obvious ones are fine, but now I remember reading once before about a ground from the TCI or regulator... I should look into that one.

Well, I checked it out last night, the wires/fuses seem to be fine (ie. not heating up). I grabbed a handful of the wires and fuses while cranking it and the sound of the starter changed (improved, got more powerful) so I suspected that there was a loose connection or short somewhere in that bundle of wires. I peeled off some of the electrical tape that PO had used to bundle the wires instead of proper wire loom, and inspection of the wires revealed nothing. But, while poking around the starter relay my positive lead broke off at the battery!

So I'll pick up a new connector today and I'll get the battery load tested while I'm at it, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that this is my only problem...