My Curvy is possessed!

[Mags]

Help! my curvy broke down about 4 times on me this morning in heavy traffic and I'm not sure if I should risk trying to ride it home in the dark tonight now.

I've noticed recently that my lights and dash pulsate with the engine revs, especially on startup when the engine is running a little rough (its got very high mileage and is past its prime)
I rode about 2 miles this morning, filled up and then the bike wouldn't run at idle with the indicators on, indicators off it was fine. I thought it was odd but carried on. I have a long 50 mile commute on M'way and A roads into London. On the Mway I noticed my dash lights flickered once or twice but that was all.
As I got closer to town and slowed to filter my dash started going mental, the LCD display went off the the rev counter and speedo bounced around from 0 to max and back and forth, the engine was still running but felt as if it was missing now and then and eventually it died and I had to push it to the side of the road. As I stopped it all came back to life, started up and drove off. This happened again about 3 times in as many miles, the 3rd time I managed to keep the engine alive by keeping the revs up and eventually the dash came back to life, only for it all to die again about 100yards later :(
So, where do I start looking to solve the problem? sounds like my battery could be on its way out and my long journey (at mostly high revs) keeps the bike running and the battery charged enough? I never have problems starting in the morning.
My lights have stayed on throughout all this so is this likely to be more of an ECU connection problem?
The bike is 5 years old and gets ridden everyday so its pretty cruddy and corroded, I've been lucky with electrical problems and only had the odd one or two but I'm assuming this may be bad connections, I just need some advice on where to start looking.

Thanks

Mags

[Alpinestarhero]

Have you ever replaced the voltage regulator/rectifer? This might be duff, which could explain the lights pulsing with revs?

Matt

[Mags]

Nope, I'll have a little search on the site about this then.
Ta

[Alpinestarhero]

PM sid squid, he knows allllll about this kind of thing. The reg/rec itself is located on the right hand side of the motorcycle (throttle/brake side), bolted to the subframe, inside the seat unit towards the rear. The stock ones are a bit weak; the new suzuki part i got looks like it was redesigned to stop failing as quickly as the original curvy part

Of course, it could be another problem, but this seems as good a place as any to start if you are having problems like what you describe!

Matt

[r4ce_e3nd]

That could be the problem! Check your voltage next time you start it.

[yorkie_chris]

I've had very similar symptoms with a loose live wire on the starter solenoid.

Funny thing was, it would still crank fine, just when running wouldn't smooth out enough to sustain at <4000rpm.

Hope its something like this.

[Mags]

Cheers, I'll PM Sid.

I have the basic tools under the pillion seat with me, although I'm suited up I can have a quick poke around during the day, any specific areas I can check out?
I did have a problem years ago where the battery main feed rubbed on the frame and kept blowing the main fuse but that was totally different of course.
The symptoms do look like a faulty earth or power connection.

Mags

[yorkie_chris]

Battery connections, connections to the starter solenoid etc is where I'd start (simple stuff..)

[Biker Biggles]

Similar to your old problem with the battery wire chafing on the frame,curvys are prone to the wiring loom chafing under the riders seat where the loom gets pinched by the seat bolt.This can cause intermittant electrical gremlins and can be hard to trace.

[Mags]

Cheers all, I'll have a little poke about when I get some time later.

Mags

[embee]

As above.

Most common problems with electrical stuff is with connectors. Unplug, clean (WD40 works fine usually) and refit. Applies to fuses too.

Also check the known chafing points for the wiring as said.
1 - Behind the rider seat bolts both sides (tape up the harness and/or fit a washer under the bolt head, they are just a touch too long.
2 - under the pillion seat inside the cubby box, towards the back on the left hand side (as you sit on it) th eharness bends round the edge of a frame bracket and can chafe.
3 - around the headstock where the harnesses flex as you turn the bars, just loook generally.

Otherwise could be simply ignition coil connections.

If it's starting OK the battery must be charging reasonably, though it could be overcharging. Simple voltage check with the engine running will tell you (search reg/rec etc)

[yorkie_chris]

Dash pulsating is not coil connections.

That tends to give lumpy running and if its the front cylinder then the tacho stops working/ goes a bit nuts if its intermittent.

[Mags]

What do you mean by the tach going nuts? my whole dash was going bonkers, speedo and rev needles flying from stop to stop and lcd not working at all which I could understand being just a dash connection problem, but it seemed to affect the bike running as well, if the battery connection was duff somewhere, would the power from the generator keep the bike running?

[dirtydog]

I'm with yorkie on this, battery terminals is where i'd start. Souinds lime the exact problems i had when i forgot to tighten up the terminals after fitting a new battery

[yorkie_chris]

What do you mean by the tach going nuts? my whole dash was going bonkers, speedo and rev needles flying from stop to stop and lcd not working at all which I could understand being just a dash connection problem, but it seemed to affect the bike running as well, if the battery connection was duff somewhere, would the power from the generator keep the bike running?

Generator can run the bike but only at higher revs, even then not well because its not smooth power, IMO the battery acts as a big damper on the system to give nice DC rather than pulses of DC from each phase on the alternator.

The tach takes its feed from the coil -ve and reads the frequency, at least on the curvy anyway, maybe pointy gets digital from the ecu, but still the whole dash going nuts doesn't indicate a coil connection is wrong.

[Mags]

I've had a tinker and I think I've found the prob. On top of the large fuse housing, the one with 2x30A fuses and the main +ve power in/out there is a small 4 pin male plug with 3 pins in use, when I wiggled this the power cut in/out, pulled the plug and the connecter with the red cable (looks like ign switch on/off) isn't staying in the plastic housing, I've pulled it out and tried putting it back in but its not staying put.
I've tried to push it in as best I can and I'll see if it gets me the 50 miles to home, I'll have to stick to the inside lane in case I lose power on the M'way.
Does anyone know if I can replace only the plastic housing? it looks like the housing isn't locking the pin in so maybe a new one will resolve this, otherwise I'll have to try glueing the pin in or getting a chopped loom and replacing this piece.

Ho-hum, fingers crossed for the journey home.

Mags

[yorkie_chris]

Sorry mate its about the only spare bit of loom I haven't got.

If you could find a bit of wire then put a bit direct to the +ve and skip the starter relay out of the equation as a temporary bodge up.

[chris8886]

That tends to give lumpy running and if its the front cylinder then the tacho stops working/ goes a bit nuts if its intermittent.

had this exact problem recently when the front cylinder wasn't sparking properly!! quite disconcerting. all sorted now though

[northwind]

Hmm, me neither I think. I was going to point the finger at the starter relay, which it turns out it just about is, shame I'm too late :rolleyes: Your symptoms are identical to mine when the relay itself broke. Now I think of it I originally thought that was a wiring break on or near that socket, but after spending ages taking it to bits it turned out I was wrong.

I think the easiest fix might just be to chop off that section and attach one from another loom, if I'm understanding you right and the fault is in the wiring side not the relay side. But luckily, that relay is a very standard Suzuki part (31800-21E20 (http://www.ronayers.com/browseparts.cfm?searchstring=31800-21E20)) so there's millions of loons you could cannibalise, if you go here:

http://www.ronayers.com/search/whereused.cfm

and put that part number in you'll see 71 bikes whose main looms would make a perfect donor. Not the GSXRs, seemingly.

There's other alternatives, you might be able to find the parts to rebuild the plug, or you could hard solder that connection to the relay I suppose, but I'd do the loom thing.

[northwind]

Ah, no wait, I do have a loom spare... I got an extra one as part of a job lot. Want it? I can just chop off the bit you need if you like, or I could send the whole thing, it'd cost more though.

[Mags]

Well it looks like I've been lucky after all, I got home without any probs and then I pulled the connector to have a proper play with it and it seems the pin is now locked into the housing OK, I checked all the pins and they are all locked in fine. I cleaned up the whole lot with electrical contact cleaner plugged it back in and it's fine, no problems when wiggling the plug and I got to work fine this morning albeit absolutely f***ing soaked to the bone!

So thanks for all the reply's, been very helpful.
Northwind, I'll pass on the offer for now as it all looks fine now but if it happens again at least I know straight where to go.

Cheers
Mags

[gerbrox]

Northwind, any chance of some assistance, I seem to have a similar problem as Mags and have no idea about all of this and booked into Mickey Oates on THursday this week.

[northwind]

PMd ya

[gerbrox]

Some news, I know found out that I was running with only 1 cylinder, and the ignition coil has to be replaced which has fixed the problem.