frame squawk

[Michael Nelson]

I had a strange problem with my 2003 KLR yesterday that I don't understand. Because it was so filthy after the Sheetiron 300 ride a couple weeks back and because I will be doing the 705 install next weekend and didn't want crud falling off the filthy frame into the disassembled engine, I decided I needed to wash the bike. I also replaced the chewed EBC 320mm rotor with a new one, and the crappy EBC sintered pads with a set of DP pads. After I was all done I started up the bike and took it for a pad-seating ride of about an hour. No issues. Came home, parked it for a while and then went to do some errands on it. No issues. Came home, parked it, and a couple hours later went to get some dinner. Nothing. No lights at all, no clicky, no nuttin'. The electrical system was so stone-cold dead that my first thought was that somehow the main fuse had blown. No, I had not locked the forks and inadvertenly turned on the "PARK" light position. I have an ATO fuse kit installed, pulled the fuses and they were fine. Hmm. PO had installed an Odyessy PC545 battery in the bike, and it is installed on its side, so the terminals are on the left side of the bike instead of on the top. I removed the holding bracket and the plastic cover and measured with my DMM across the + and - battery terminals. It read essentially zero volts, just randomly changing millivolt levels (and yes, it was set to the DC autoranging scale). Hmmm. A lead acid battery even when it's dead will have about 11.6 volts across the terminals, but this thing was reading zero! Disconnected the cables, measured across the battery again, still zero. Removed the battery completely from the bike and hooked it up to the little Yuasa maintenance charger (like a Battery Tender Jr., but badged as a Yuasa), and it gave no sign it even saw a battery out there. Went to an auto supply store and bought an automatic 2A/6A switchable automatic charger, hooked it up to the battery on the 6A range and it started charging. Within just a few minutes I disconnected the charger and measured across the terminals again... now it was 10.something volts. Hooked the charger back up and left it overnight. When I woke this morning I checked it and the charger's green "charged" light was on. Turned off the charger and measured... 13.5V. But I know that voltage readings immediately after disconnecting the charger are unrealistic, so I let it sit for an hour and then measured again. 12.85V, which the manufacturer of the battery says is FULL CHARGE. I let it sit until daylight and then went out to install it. I wanted to measure the current with the key off to see if there was some kinda short in the bike's wiring, but my DMM only has a DC milliamp range, not enough. So I did the old spark test, ie: connected the positive terminal and touched the negative cable to the negative terminal. Usually if you have current flow that will cause a spark. No spark. Tightened down the terminals, pushed the bike down to the end of the block (a commercial area in SF... it was very early on a Sunday morning and I didn't want to piss off my neighbors). Measured across the battery, still 12.85V. Key on, 12.65 (normal, headlight, taillight, license plate light and instrument lights were all on. So far so good. Cranked it, it started as usual, in just a couple revolutions. With the engine idling at 2000 RPM on the choke it was reading 13.2V, so it was charging, but not much (makes sense since the battery was freshly and fully charged). Ran the RPMs up to about 3,000 and it was reading 13.8V. So, the charging system appears to be operating normally. Took it back home, completed all the assembly (seat, side covers, all battery fasteners) and put on my gear to go for a ride. I wanted the engine completely warmed up in case there was some kind of issue with the charging system under those conditions. The ThermoBob warmed the engine up quickly but I rode for about 1/2 hour anyway to get everything up to temp, then I stopped and let it idle until the fan came on. Measured the voltage... 12.6 or so at idle, by 2K RPMs it was 13.8, by 3K it was 14.2, and it held 14.2 to 14.8 all the way up to 6K RPMs. All looks normal. Rode it several times today, started easily each time. Problem is, I don't trust that battery anymore, like maybe it has an intermittent internal open circuit. To measure ZERO volts on a 12V battery is almost unheard of unless it is open circuited internally. So, because my cabling has all been modified to fit the side terminal arrangement, I ordered another one for $139 including tax and 3 day shipping (I need the security of the new battery for my 705 install trip next weekend in Angels Camp). I wish I had found something wrong. Everything checks out normally though. The only explanation I can come up with is that the battery has an intermittent open. Any ideas? -- "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open manhole and die." -- Mel Brooks San Francisco, CA

[Chris Norloff]

I posted a notice to the list a couple weeks ago, about hearing a 'squawk' in the bike at Hatfield McCoy trails, when going from steep downhill to steep uphill. Well ... AAAAIIIIGGGGHHHH!! The bolt holding the lower left side of the rear subframe was missing. Maybe that was it! Torqued and lock-tited, it looks like it lasted only a few thousand miles -- it was the grade 10.9 bolt that came with the subframe bolt upgrade kit. I cleaned everything up, put on some more blue locktite, and put the original bolt back in ... until I can get a 10.9 replacement. I marked the bolt with a Sharpie pen, and will include it in my preflight inspection. I notice the bushed hole in the subframe strut is larger than the bolt - anybody use a bushing to tighten that up? Or get a longer mounting bolt with a non-threaded area where it passes through the bushing? It seems like a good place to use a longer bolt with a locking nut. Or maybe I need to safety-wire those bolts. unimpressed, Chris

[Doug Herr]

On Sun, 2008-06-08 at 19:12 -0700, Michael Nelson wrote:

> Any ideas?

Pretty odd. I have heard that these batteries tend to suffer from "instant death" where you get no warning and then they just don't work. As you say, maybe there is an internal loose connection. -- Doug Herr doug@...