Rough running and electrical problems.

Hey everyone,

Basically the bike (2002 sv650s) isn't working- had to ride the bike when I already knew it was ill- but before I wheel it in to whoever I can find to fix it I'd appreciate a second opinion on what the underlying issue(s) might be.

Firstly the bike, in idle, was running a little irregularly but around the 1450rpm mark, which it was doing when it was healthy.

However the pressure off the exhaust was weaker than normal and also irregular, with what seemed like timing issues (misfiring) from the sound & feel of it. The misfiring and occasional backfire was occurring when the bike was warm too and was especially noticeable at low speed & deceleration.

The speedo hadn't been working at all last week, I thought it was the rotor but it started working again on and off (only when the bike is first started up, it never started working when the bike was already running)
No light on the rev counter either but I didn't think much of that, worth a mention though..

The throttle was becoming more and more unresponsive on the drive down, sometimes dropping off for a split second before kicking in.

Very poor performance, got slowly worse until I was forced to pull in.

By the time I had to pull over the right hand indicator was flashing at double speed, left hand one was normal. That was with the lights on, didn't try it with no lights.

At that point also the bike wasn't idling under its own power, it just cut out & didn't want to restart. That had happened from cold a few times (after a warm up with choke & a minute or two on the road) but I thought it might be a combination of cold weather affecting the battery & starting from cold.


That's all I can think of. Now I had tried changing out the spark plugs when the only real problem was the misfiring & occasional backfire, I figured the initial drive down from Dublin got the front spark plug damp and it was the main issue. Both plugs seemed fine though, plenty of life left, clean & dry, tested them and both still sparking etc, still changed them out as I had new ones with me.

Same problems continued. So after all that's now happened I think the electrics might be a bit gaga. Not surprising in a Suzuki I suppose. (oh as for the lights they won't always come right on if I flick from no light to full without being at the 'parking' setting for a few seconds)



I'd really like some feedback before bringing it for repair. No tools myself yet so I can't really do much

Thanks for reading this mad long post.

[Taipan]

Check your earth lead on the battery and just generally clean the battery terminals and wire connectors. Also have you checked your choke plungers? Sounds like one maybe sticking.

Thanks Taipan, will do.

Does anyone else think it might be a problem with the carbs too? I only recently got the bike & got it restricted, could the restrictors have caused any issues?

[Biker Biggles]

Other known wiring faults on curvys is loom chafing around the headstock and under the riders seat where the seat bolts prod into the loom.