fuel valve mystery

[Chris Norloff]

I've never heard of a large battery blowing up a small battery. I've heard of not running the car when you're jumping the bike from the car, as the car's electrical system can provide more current than the motorcycle system can handle. I've heard of connecting the negative terminals last to avoid sparks due to hydrogen gas around the top of a lead-acid battery. Does anybody have first-hand experience, or have a good documented source of a big battery blowing up a small battery? thanks Chris -----Original Message----- From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Dan Bittner Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 7:50 PM To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Battery problems Hello Richard, If your battery is actually measuring 11.2 amps with no load it's pretty much done for. It probably has at least one dead cell and is potentially shorted out internally, which is what your charging voltage is indicating also. With the short or dead cells the charging voltage is slowly bled to ground and could be the reason why your measured charging voltage is so low, your may be just fine with yet ANOTHER new battery ( yes batteries are a pain ). If this is the case, DO NOT jump it with your car battery ! Your car battery will be more than willing to pump 60 or more amps into your bad motorcycle battery with potentially catastrophic results. I usually don't critique someone else's advice but I'd hate to see anyone blinded by flying battery acid. It can and does happen so if you do it at least wear some good eye protection. Good luck with it, Dan Bittner Sacramento, Ca.

[Horton Oliphant]

Don't have any personal experience but I would think that if the bike battery was internally shorted hooking it up to any high amperage source might cause the battery to blow up. Alan A13 Iowa Chris Norloff wrote:

> I've never heard of a large battery blowing up a small battery. > > I've heard of not running the car when you're jumping the bike from the car, > as the car's electrical system can provide more current than the motorcycle > system can handle. I've heard of connecting the negative terminals last to > avoid sparks due to hydrogen gas around the top of a lead-acid battery. > > Does anybody have first-hand experience, or have a good documented source of > a big battery blowing up a small battery? > > thanks > Chris

[Mike Frey]

First hand experience (with disclaimer). I exploded the battery in my car in 1978. But (this is the key word)... I had connected the jumper cables backwards. Doh! The battery went POW, the top flew off and hit the hood and I saw battery acid fly. Luckily, I was 8 feet away at the other car. I also had a nearby garden hose to quickly rinse things off. Mike "It blowed up real good" Frey Chris Norloff wrote:

> > I've never heard of a large battery blowing up a small battery. > > I've heard of not running the car when you're jumping the bike from > the car, > as the car's electrical system can provide more current than the > motorcycle > system can handle. I've heard of connecting the negative terminals last to > avoid sparks due to hydrogen gas around the top of a lead-acid battery. > > Does anybody have first-hand experience, or have a good documented > source of > a big battery blowing up a small battery? > > thanks > Chris > > -----Original Message----- > From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com > [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com > ] On > Behalf Of Dan Bittner > Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 7:50 PM > To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Battery problems > > Hello Richard, > > If your battery is actually measuring 11.2 amps with no load it's pretty > much done for. It probably has at least one dead cell and is potentially > shorted out internally, which is what your charging voltage is indicating > also. With the short or dead cells the charging voltage is slowly bled to > ground and could be the reason why your measured charging voltage is > so low, > your may be just fine with yet ANOTHER new battery ( yes batteries are a > pain ). > > If this is the case, DO NOT jump it with your car battery ! Your car > battery > will be more than willing to pump 60 or more amps into your bad motorcycle > battery with potentially catastrophic results. I usually don't critique > someone else's advice but I'd hate to see anyone blinded by flying battery > acid. It can and does happen so if you do it at least wear some good eye > protection. > > Good luck with it, > Dan Bittner > Sacramento, Ca. > >

[Jeff Saline]

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:03:07 -0400 Mike Frey writes:

> First hand experience (with disclaimer). > I exploded the battery in my car in 1978. > > But (this is the key word)... I had connected the jumper cables > backwards. Doh! The battery went POW, the top flew off and hit > the hood and I saw battery acid fly. > > Luckily, I was 8 feet away at the other car. I also had a nearby > garden > hose to quickly rinse things off. > > Mike "It blowed up real good" Frey

<><><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><> Mike, Thanks for sharing your story. Those backwards cables can sure get you. : ) I remember in 1976 at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland I was working in the auto hobby shop. A battery blew up across the shop. Unfortunately the guy working on it was leaned right over it when it blew. The only reason he lived was the hobby shop was only 1/4 mile from the post hospital. I don't know what he was doing but the battery wasn't frozen as this was the middle of the summer. That's the only time I've ever seen a battery blow up. Mike, I'm just making some comments now and they aren't generated to your above post. Years ago it was considered fine to keep the jumping vehicle running while trying to start the jumped vehicle. Electronics were much simpler then. With the more complicated electronics involved in all of today's vehicles, voltage spikes and other goofy electickery can wreck electronics. Sometimes it's immediate and sometimes the problem doesn't show up for a while. I've never heard of a large battery blowing up a smaller battery. If you hook them together properly (properly is a key word here) all they will try to do is equalize. The larger/fully charged battery won't try to stuff all it's amps into the smaller/dead battery unless maybe it has a dead short. Leaving the good vehicle off protects both vehicle's electrical components and allows the dead vehicle to be started using the good battery. Once the dead vehicle is started you disconnect all the cables and can then once again start the good vehicle. Sometimes it takes a few to maybe 15 minutes to charge a dead battery with jumper cables before you can get the dead vehicle to crank. That's ok. If you want to have the good vehicle running when charging (charging, not starting the dead vehicle) the dead battery that's usually ok too. Make sure the dead vehicle is off and so are all the electrical components. Then make sure you turn the good vehicle off before trying to start the dead vehicle. Using a multimeter to check battery condition is pretty easy and can tell you a lot. If you have a battery with only 2 or 3 volts in it you should probably use a charger instead of jumping it. And to save a lot of problems you should test the battery before reinstalling it. Our KLRs are easy to install and remove batteries. Some bikes it takes an hour or more to get to the battery. On some vehicles I've worked on the batteries weigh more than 75 pounds and they used 4 or more. Figuring out which battery was the bad one took a bit of work and experience. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT

[Dan Bittner]

----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Bittner To: Chris Norloff Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 11:16 AM Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Catastrophic Battery ? Hey Chris, I've heard of it of because I did it on a 1972 Honda CB350 that had sat under a tarp during a long Ohio winter. I was a youngster at the time, but at least (fortunately) had enough sense even then to hook the cables up to my car last. Blew the top off the MC battery and no I didn't reverse polarity on the cables. Sorry, but I have no good documented evidence of the episode as they were no digital cameras, or internet forums for that matter, at the time. So at least you've heard of it now, but of course it is undocumented. Dan Bittner Sacramento, Ca. ----- Original Message ----- From: Chris Norloff To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 8:14 AM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Catastrophic Battery ? I've never heard of a large battery blowing up a small battery. I've heard of not running the car when you're jumping the bike from the car, as the car's electrical system can provide more current than the motorcycle system can handle. I've heard of connecting the negative terminals last to avoid sparks due to hydrogen gas around the top of a lead-acid battery. Does anybody have first-hand experience, or have a good documented source of a big battery blowing up a small battery? thanks Chris -----Original Message----- From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Dan Bittner Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 7:50 PM To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Battery problems Hello Richard, If your battery is actually measuring 11.2 amps with no load it's pretty much done for. It probably has at least one dead cell and is potentially shorted out internally, which is what your charging voltage is indicating also. With the short or dead cells the charging voltage is slowly bled to ground and could be the reason why your measured charging voltage is so low, your may be just fine with yet ANOTHER new battery ( yes batteries are a pain ). If this is the case, DO NOT jump it with your car battery ! Your car battery will be more than willing to pump 60 or more amps into your bad motorcycle battery with potentially catastrophic results. I usually don't critique someone else's advice but I'd hate to see anyone blinded by flying battery acid. It can and does happen so if you do it at least wear some good eye protection. Good luck with it, Dan Bittner Sacramento, Ca. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Horton Oliphant]

Go to a farm store and get a syringe, no needle needed. Pull off the vacuum line at the engine and hook up the syringe to the tube. Pull a vacuum with the syringe, and drain the tank. If you don't have a farm store go to the drug store and get an ear irrigation syringe or something like it that you can pull a vacuum with. Pull just enough vacuum to open the valve. Alan A13 Iowa davseidman wrote:

> I wanted to drain my tank. Since the fuel valve has a vacuum shut off, I thought I'd just > turn the valve to "reserve", put a hose on the vacuum port, suck on the hose to create a > negative pressure, and the fuel would come pouring out. No luck. > Any ideas on how to drain the tank without removing it? > Dave > 2007 KLR650, > > >