Getting Back on the horse - Aug 1999...
Getting Back on the horse - Aug 1999
8/25/99
I had a lowside in late March and was physically unable to do any wrenching for several months. Once I was mostly healed up, I found myself avoiding working on the bike. I finally forced myself to tackle it again starting in late August. My thought was that the engine was fine in January, and I'd replaced the clutch, so it was time to button things back up and start this puppy and go for a ride.
I took my time working through all the various nuts that I had taken off when I was foolishly chasing a wild goose when the clutch was bad. I was careful to torque each one to the specs listed in the shop manual. I also took this opportunity to have new tires mounted front and back. I was finally close to ready to start and ride the bike in mid-September.
After charging the battery, I was able to start it ok on Thursday Sept 23. It idled, but it wouldn't rev up. Whenever I turned the throttle at all, it died. I wondered if maybe the carbs had gotten gummed up in the months it has sat idle. No problem I have another set of carbs that I've cleaned waiting on the shelf in the shed.
So I got home early on Tuesday, Sept 28 and set about to swapping the carbs. I swapped them out and it started right up when I did that. I was also able to rev the engine up and it didn't die, so I thought "eureka!". Then that evening I couldn't get it to start again(or the next morning, either).
My next thought was that maybe I had a spark problem. I already had put new plugs in the bike..but I pulled them and cleaned them off. When that didn't help the starting, I wondered if maybe I had an flaky coil, starter solenoid or spark box. I tried each in PB97. PB97 worked fine when I installed each component(one at a time).
I think my next step is to check compression on the cylinders. Assuming it's ok on all, continue to pursue the starter/ignition system.
VERY infrequently when I hit the starter button the dash display goes dead
and the clock starts flashing 1:00 (which I wonder why it doesn't reset
to 12:00 like my vcr :).
I wondered if maybe the starter motor was going bad...but I had an extra that I tried out and it behaved the same. Starter button maybe? I'm running out of things to try.
Saturday, Oct 2
After a brief online exchange with ??michael (Thanks, I owe you *again*), I
disassembled the control assembly and clamped the kill
switch leads together. The bike started on the second try - YES!!
Disassembled the kill switch and the contacts were dirty. I cleaned them
and reinstalled the whole shebang and it's working now!
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