digest number 10315

[Mark Harfenist]

I've had two similar experiences with my 2007. The first time I was cruising happily along a freeway in France near dusk at about 13k miles when my electrics died. I had just enough time to notice that my turn indicators seemed faint and pull off an exit ramp to check things out. When I (somewhat foolishly) turned off the ignition I could not get started again: no sign of electrical life at all. I pushed the bike through the toll gate and sat around feeling depressed for a while. Then I started pulling stuff apart, getting only as far as checking battery voltage, which was excellent, and shaking the usual wires around looking for a loose connection or obvious short. I found nothing, but something compelled me to try starting it again, and it started and ran flawlessly. The bike now has another 10k miles or so without a repeat, but I am always aware of the possibility. Note that this was an electrical issue, and that it seemed to fix itself permanently with a bit of random fiddling, like your first experience. The second time near 20k miles I stopped to look at something on a local road in southern Morocco. When I got ready to leave the bike started and ran fine in neutral but died when put into either first or second gear. This happened regardless of sidestand position (other safety switches are disabled). The feeling was of a mechanical, not electrical issue: I would pull the clutch lever and try to gently shift, but I could clearly feel gears clashing as they tried to engage, with the engine dying immediately as the gears began to mesh. This happened without releasing the clutch; it was, in fact, as if I had no clutch, although the cable was not broken and appeared to function normally. I did try adjusting it in both directions, since the feeling was much as if it was failing to do whatever it is that clutch cables do within the right case. This last sentence will make it obvious that I am no mechanic (although learning fast). I had a guy tow me into town, fortunately just a few miles away, and found a hotel room and someone to work on the bike. In less than a day, my bike was fixed, with a substantial bill. The explanation from the mechanic was in Berber or Arabic, with a few French words thrown in. I do not speak Berber or Arabic, and can barely ask for food or lodging in French, so I never found out what had been done to repair my bike (except that the man claimed to have replaced an un-named piece in the boite de vitesse, i.e., gearbox). I write because my two experiences seemed to closely parallel yours. I'd be interested in hearing explanations which do not involve petcocks or other aspects of fuel delivery, since these were not at fault for me and there is no indication that they were related to your two failures. Of course, mysterious electrical failures are not unheard of in cars, motorcycles, computers or houses, so perhaps I should cultivate an attitude of indifference to this. I have put another several thousand miles on my bike, but every time gears clash slightly I wonder whether I'm due for another complete failure. This is not comforting at night, in traffic or during torrential rains. enjoy, Mark In a message dated 2/12/2008 8:19:29 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, mjmc335@... writes: Have been lurking for a couple of years and posted a few times, but here's a long one. After spending 6 months rehabbing my shattered elbow from a dirt ride on my 03 KLR last August, I'm back on the bike riding to and from work. Tonight my 05 KLR failed me a second time, stalling in the middle lane at 65mph after coming off the Dumbarton bridge here in the Bay Area. The bike has been ridden a few times and charged up so it didn't sit the whole 6 months. It also was filled with gas on Sunday and has 130 miles on this tank. The first stall was probably 10 or more months ago when the bike died with no lights or electrical power. After fiddling with it for about 10 minutes while standing about 18 inches from Freeway traffic, it started up and was fine for a few thousand more miles. I suspected it was the petcock because when it stalled, I turned on the reserve and even though it didn't' start up right away, it eventually did. Tonight the bike just died at speed. I immediately turned to reserve and barely made it to the right shoulder, which was about 3 feet wide. Luckily it had all electrical power (so the battery connection is not likely), neutral light, turn signal, brake lights, tail light, headlight, and starter. After trying 4 or 5 times it was turning over but not starting. I began pushing it to the exit, about half a mile away, hoping to get it started. I left the ignition on so the left turn signal would flash and I could hit my flashing brake lights for extra "attention". All the while thinking, "this is such a stupid way to die", on the side of the freeway pushing my bike in the dark waiting for someone not paying attention to plow into to the bike and me". In retrospect I should probably have just let the bike sit while standing on the outside of the barrier and then tried to start it later. After pushing a while the bike would start but when I dropped it into first it stalled, about three times. After pushing some more I tried it again and it started and held when in gear. I rode it to a gas station to check it, turning it off and starting again, but couldn't see anything obviously wrong and rode home. Total pushing time was about 10, maybe 15 minutes, with the ignition on the whole time. My first thought to the problem was gas; maybe the petcock or the valve is bad. Next is the safety start circuit because it would start and then die when going to first gear even with the kickstand up. Questions: Has anyone had the bike stall at speed and find out it was the clutch lever/side stand safety circuit? Any ideas on the petcock or anything else? I'm losing some confidence in this bike, the 03 hasn't had this problem though it was a slow speed stall that sent me into the dirt with the elbow shattering. That one was my fault but this stalling thing is spooking me a bit. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ