Idle Symptom: Is there a problem?

I finally got my idle to be steady! Turns out I had to reset my pilot screws. I'm not sure where they were, but I turned them to 3 turns out. Now I warm up MUCH quicker (but not too quick). I used to ride 10 miles on the freeway and still not be warmed up. But I digress....

I was stopped this morning at a light, and I heard my engine surging, ever so slightly. I also noticed that it was very rhythmic. I soon noticed that it was EXACTLY in time with my blinker! I turned the blinker off and the surging stopped. I don't yet have a working tach, so don't bother asking what the rpms are at. The bike is far from being well tuned, and the idle is almost certainly high, but I don't know how high.

Now, this is could a normal operation of the system as the turn signal adds a small amount of load the engine drops in speed in response. Or it could be a bad battery or alternator.

I simply don't know....so, can someone with experience help?

Thank you!

 

My first thought is to check the lengh of your generator brushes. I forgot the length but it's in the manual, or search the forum. Maybe attach the batter charger to the battery while it's ideling and check then (this will probably tell you if your battery is on its way out)

 

after you check your brushes, be very careful when you put the alternator cover back on that you don't pinch any wires between the cover and the engine.

 

I'm one of the ones that goofed this up recently. To make sure you put the cover back on right, disconnect the two plugs (near the battery) for the wires that come out of your alternator (it may take some time to follow them). Feed the plugs around the battery box, frame, etc. Do this to give you some slack so you can actually pull the cover out and make sure the wire from the stator fits into the gommit coming out of the alternator cover properly before putting the cover on. Doing this for the second time I had everything unpluged, and it was much easier to work with.

 

So it's not normal, I take it. Oh well, that was on the list of things to do anyway, I figured the generator probably needed rebuilt. Who knows how many miles on it, but the odometer stopped at 46000.

 

Does the engine do weird things when other lights are turned on or off? Brake light, plugging and unplugging the headlight, or high beam etc? If you generator checks out (there was a set of instructions for testing it out here) and only the turn signals cause a problem, maybe there's a short in that circuit?

Do make sure your battery is good and charged. At idle, the electrical system is running off the battery, as the alternator doesn't produce enough voltage until about 2k rpm.

 

to reinstall the cover, i found it was much easier (and worth the extra effort) to remove the starter to give a little more room to work and see what is going on.

 

No, when I said a slight variation in idle, I meant VERY slight. I have not seen any other symptoms, and if I hadn't have caught that light at the very beginning of being red, I probably would never have noticed. I didn't notice anything yesterday or this morning, other than a slight dimming of the headlight when at idle, which I think is normal.

Come to think of it, the wires on that particular side in the front are far from professionally done. Maybe it's just the poor wiring.

I still need to check my brushes. The manual doesn't seem to be all that clear. Do I just take the cover off, measure with a ruler at least 11mm, and then carefully put the cover back on?

That doesn't SEEM too hard.

 

yes, to check the brushes you just pull the cover off. there should be a mark on them. it's the "if you can't see this mark you better replace your brushes cuz they're too worn out" mark. also known as the "if you can see this mark, your brushes are good" mark.

i'd check the charging system with a volt meter before i worry about the brushes. i can't remember exactly what readings you're supposed to have - i think around 12.5V with everything off, over 11.8V at idle maybe?, should be able to rev the engine and get over 13.5V or something like that.