Four Breakdowns, one Bike.

[Grinch]

Well Helga is not a happy motorcycle.

1st - dead battery, Dave kept me company while Ian came with the jump leads.
2nd - On some road on the way to the SELKENT meet, not sure where as I was following Ian. The speedo and rev counter went mental, plus the lights died just like the start relay had packed up. Check the connection and tightened the ones that seemed loose. Bike jumps OK.
3rd - At the Pied Bull as the battery had not had enough charge on my journey there.
4th - Junction 5 M25 everything goes mental again and I'm plunged into dangerous darkness. Manage to pull over and get recovered back here after a hour plus waitin on the bank.

So busy day tomorrow (today now) me thinks.

Night all.

[pencil shavings]

hope its nothing bad! :confused:

[Grinch]

Well at the moment I suspect the Starter Relay or water in the loom, as I loose everything. power, lights, dash, ignition. And everything live goes through that relay... so double check it me thinks. Shame the spare is in Portsmouth.

[pencil shavings]

All weather riding was it? :P

[21QUEST]

Might be the rectifier .


Ben

[Mr Toad]

Damn, we followed you until junction 4 where we turned off as you seemed to be going strong

[Warthog]

urgh, what a nightmare.

[yorkie_chris]

Might be the rectifier .


Ben

+1

[Blue_SV650S]

+1

Why would it be the rectifier causing everything to shut down?? :scratch:

Its the starter relay/main fuse box bit or one of the main lead connections for sure!! :)

[yorkie_chris]

If it's not getting any charge then it'll conk out, or if its overcharging it could have blown some fuses or damaged the main relay by that?

Worth checking in any case, as if something else has shorted, then it could have done further damage.

[Blue_SV650S]

If it's not getting any charge then it'll conk out, or if its overcharging it could have blown some fuses or damaged the main relay by that?

Worth checking in any case, as if something else has shorted, then it could have done further damage.

The reg/rec might be rogered too, but from what he is saying, it is not slowly grinding to a halt, it is just suddenly 'shutting down' - i.e. as if you just cut all power!! No mention of blown fuses, so that is something more sinister/fundamental! ;)

A reg/rec problem is where it doesn't charge the battery (or overcharges), at the point the battery is depleted, everything will still work just be very dim!! ;)

[yorkie_chris]

Yeah you're right.

The gauges going mental thing sounds like a loose connection, I'd be betting on earth, as if it's live then sometimes it will run off the alternator (badly). Quite where the bad earth is I have no idea :-P

[Grinch]

Well I have no blown fuses and the relay is secured correct as I double checked the connections. The only other thing I can think of is the connection from the starter motor to the relay, as if its the amount of rain screwing things up then that would explain it. As must say it wasn't humming it down but there was alot of standing water.

[Grinch]

Damn, we followed you until junction 4 where we turned off as you seemed to be going strong

Thanks though, my next junction was to be 5 or 6, one of those things

Ditto - I had thought you would be with Rictus/Toad till Rictus's so I shot off with Sid and Cazza.

Sorry about that :(

Its OK, I'm glad of everyones help.

[Grinch]

The other things is PJ has the Norovirus and Jax called to say that he's probably going to get admited in to hospital. So might leave the bike here and get a train.

[Baph]

A reg/rec problem is where it doesn't charge the battery (or overcharges), at the point the battery is depleted, everything will still work just be very dim!! ;)

True of curvies (and I know Grinch doesn't have a pointy - but worth stating for anyone that comes across this thread in a search etc) but slightly different for pointies.

On a pointy, when you're not charging the battery, the current given off by the battery gets to a certain (low) point, then the engine dies very quickly, reporting an FI fault (mainly no power to FI ;)). It'll roll to a stop (or worse, engine brake to a stop!), but throttle is non-responsive. At this point, you still have lights etc, and the starter relay/motor work, but the engine won't fire.

Keep the hazard lights on (key in 'park' so no headlights/tail light on) and you've got about 30mins of juice. Not good if you're stranded at the side of a dark motorway!!

Anyhow, good luck Grinch, I'm sure you'll sort it eventually. ;)

[Razor]

I had same pronllem when my battery gave up the ghost, the rev counter started flicking and everything else switched on and off as I ran it, but as revs fell it back fired and died.
So possible rectifier fault that has killed the battery.

[Grinch]

Well I was speaking to Sarj about this and he said it looked and sounded like the earth cable breaking down. In addition to the flat battery I imagine that didn't help, as once the engine gets warm and the load increases the cable just can't take it. Which will also explain why some morning the bike will not start with the lights on.
When we took the rubber cover of it was a right mess, and for a 10mm bolt it no longer fits a 10mm spanner. So for my journey home Sarj helpfully put on some mains cable to help spread the load and I seem to have been able to get home on it. When this rain eases off I will have to pop the earth of the other bike and use that in the mean time while I source another.

[Grinch]

Looks like after swapping the earth cable off the other SV and having rather a fight with the nut, that involved turning a 10mm nut into a 8mm one. I seem to have found another source of the problem.
When tightening up the screws on the start relay I got a whole load of sparks, which was odd as there was nothing that was loose. Then I noticed that live feed was touching the mounting for the relay. Could this have been my problem? So insulated it all up and hopefully it will sort it all out.

[Grinch]

Here's a few photos of the problem -

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t155/lgmdaniel/th_scourchedlive.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t155/lgmdaniel/scourchedlive.jpg)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t155/lgmdaniel/th_relaymount.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t155/lgmdaniel/relaymount.jpg)
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t155/lgmdaniel/th_relay.jpg (http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t155/lgmdaniel/relay.jpg)

[Blue_SV650S]

Those pesky cables!! :D

Glad you got it sorted :)

[Grinch]

Need a new start motor now... in the process of removing the cable from the other one it apears to have split the internal connection.