oem what is it? defined?

[Scott Blakney]

I just acquired an electrical problem that has me baffled (not difficult to do). First off, the battery is fine. The problem: I turn on the ignition to ON, all lights work, nice and bright, then hit the Start button. Immediately there is no juice to anything. I try again a few minutes later and not a hint of a problem, it lights up and starts normally. I shut down and try again. Headlight comes on and idiot lights just as they should. Hit the Start button and all electricity is lost again, the instant the button is pressed. Repeated attempts of turning on the ignition and attempting to start are fruitless until a few minutes pass, then everything works just fine. Is this some kind of capacitor problem? A short? Any ideas appreciated. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

[k650dsn@aol.com]

--- In DSN_klr650@egroups.com, "Fred Hink" wrote:

> I would suspect a loose connection at the battery terminals,

solenoid connections or at the starter. Make sure your battery is fully charged and your terminal connections are clean and tight. There has also been problems with the starter push button that you might check if everything else checks out good.

> > Let us know if this fixes your problem. > > Fred >

Do you really want electrical advice from a guy who owns nothing but kick start bikes? Just kidding. Fred is right on. Also check your side stand safety switch and clutch safety switches while you are at it. The are most likely not the cause of your current problem, but worth by-passing nonetheless. Gino

[EXT-Dave.Svoboda@nokia.com]

Hi, folks, I recently bought a new-to-me 13Kmile 98 KLR650 from a friend. It looks to be in good shape. It died yesterday, in a small cloud of smoke. Okay, it's not that bad. I was droning down the freeway and got off on an exit, and when I stopped at the bottom the bike emitted a hiss and a bit of smoke from under the seat. At first I thought something is burning on the exhaust pipe (maybe me) so I killed the engine, hopped off and pushed the bike to the side of the road. Looking at the muffler, my pants, my boot, etc showed nothing, but when I turned the key back to ON I got no lights, no ignition, no nothing. I pushed the bike off the road and took off the side-covers and seat. (What kind of idiot designs a seat with bolts!?!?) The problem became obvious when I lifted up the fuse holder. Coming from the positive terminal of the battery is a big cable, no doubt going to the starter solenoid, and a little cable, going to the fuse block. (I'm doing this from memory, so sue me if I get it wrong.) The insulation on the small cable was peeled back and burned, missing a connector or connection back to the fuse block-it was just hanging in space. (The fuses were all fine--what, the wire disintegrated so as to protect the fuse?) I took the unconnected barrel connector and touched it to the bare wire with the ignition on, and only got a little spark, indicating no short circuit. I found that if I touched the wires together with the clutch pulled in and pushed the starter button (with my third hand) the bike would start, and it didn't die when I broke the connection. So I started the bike, set the seat on the frame (making sure the bare +battery wire was not shorting on the frame) and bungeed the sidepanels to the rack, and rode 25 miles home that way. I noticed the battery looked low on water. Now, I'm sure that two weeks ago I checked the battery (from the side) and it showed full. It takes either a lot of heat or an overvoltage to bring a battery below the plates in two weeks. I can check the overvoltage easily. And I'll just replace the unknown battery on general principles. Is there a maintenance-free battery available for the KLR? All the battery references on the KLR web pages seem to be gone. So what is that smaller wire connected to the positive battery terminal? Did I damage anything by running off of the alternator, with no battery on that line? (I didn't tie the wires together, because obviously some short fried them in the first place, and I didn't want it to happen again on the way home.) Is the battery charged through that wire, and perhaps a shorted-plate battery let the wire carry WAY too much current? (Note, the battery started the bike just fine, though.) Last, unrelated Q: is the KLR petcock supposed to have ON-PRI-RES positions, and vaccuum actuation? Mine has the OFF-ON-RES of manual actuation. It also has trouble running down near reserve. Makes for a short range. I'll have to figure that one out, as well as clean/jet the carb (I've got a lean knock sometimes) AFTER I fix this electrical glitch. While I'm there (electrical work) I'll also likely replace the glass fuses with spade fuses, and put them under the sidepanel. --Dave Svoboda, Sandy Eggo 90 Concours "Audrey III" -- FEED ME! 98 KLR650

[Lujo Bauer]

FWIW, I had pretty much the same thing happen to me with my Vulcan 750 (which has the same battery and some same or similar parts of the charging system). I ran for 80 or so miles (stupid thing snapped in the middle of a road trip) with only an intermittent connection to the battery. 3 or 4k miles later, no ill effects. My petcock is also of the RES-ON-OFF variety. As was the old one on my Vulcan, *and* the brand new one I got for the Vulcan -- and they were all supposed to be PRI instead of OFF. Go figure. -Lujo

> -----Original Message----- > From: EXT-Dave.Svoboda@... [mailto:EXT-Dave.Svoboda@...] > Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 2:00 PM > To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [DSN_klr650] Electrical problem > > > Hi, folks, > > I recently bought a new-to-me 13Kmile 98 KLR650 from a friend. > It looks to be in good shape. It died yesterday, in a small > cloud of smoke. > > Okay, it's not that bad. I was droning down the freeway and got > off on an exit, and when I stopped at the bottom the bike emitted > a hiss and a bit of smoke from under the seat. At first I thought > something is burning on the exhaust pipe (maybe me) so I killed > the engine, hopped off and pushed the bike to the side of the road. > Looking at the muffler, my pants, my boot, etc showed nothing, but > when I turned the key back to ON I got no lights, no ignition, no > nothing. > > I pushed the bike off the road and took off the side-covers and seat. > (What kind of idiot designs a seat with bolts!?!?) The problem > became obvious when I lifted up the fuse holder. Coming from the > positive terminal of the battery is a big cable, no doubt going to > the starter solenoid, and a little cable, going to the fuse block. > (I'm doing this from memory, so sue me if I get it wrong.) The > insulation on the small cable was peeled back and burned, missing > a connector or connection back to the fuse block-it was just hanging > in space. (The fuses were all fine--what, the wire disintegrated so > as to protect the fuse?) I took the unconnected barrel connector > and touched it to the bare wire with the ignition on, and only got > a little spark, indicating no short circuit. > > I found that if I touched the wires together with the clutch pulled in > and pushed the starter button (with my third hand) the bike would start, > and it didn't die when I broke the connection. So I started the bike, > set the seat on the frame (making sure the bare +battery wire was not > shorting on the frame) and bungeed the sidepanels to the rack, and rode > 25 miles home that way. > > I noticed the battery looked low on water. Now, I'm sure that two weeks > ago I checked the battery (from the side) and it showed full. It takes > either a lot of heat or an overvoltage to bring a battery below the

plates

> in two weeks. I can check the overvoltage easily. And I'll just

replace

> the unknown battery on general principles. Is there a maintenance-free > battery available for the KLR? All the battery references on the KLR

web

> pages seem to be gone. > > So what is that smaller wire connected to the positive battery > terminal? Did > I damage anything by running off of the alternator, with no > battery on that > line? (I didn't tie the wires together, because obviously some > short fried > them in the first place, and I didn't want it to happen again on > the way home.) > Is the battery charged through that wire, and perhaps a > shorted-plate battery > let the wire carry WAY too much current? (Note, the battery > started the bike > just fine, though.) > > Last, unrelated Q: is the KLR petcock supposed to have ON-PRI-RES > positions, > and vaccuum actuation? Mine has the OFF-ON-RES of manual > actuation. It also > has trouble running down near reserve. Makes for a short range. > I'll have to > figure that one out, as well as clean/jet the carb (I've got a lean

knock

> sometimes) AFTER I fix this electrical glitch. > > While I'm there (electrical work) I'll also likely replace the glass

fuses

> with spade fuses, and put them under the sidepanel. > > --Dave Svoboda, Sandy Eggo > 90 Concours "Audrey III" -- FEED ME! > 98 KLR650 > > Checkout Dual Sport News at > http://www.dualsportnews.com > Be part of the Adventure! > > Visit the KLR650 archives at > http://www.listquest.com/lq/search.html?ln=klr650 > > Post message: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Subscribe: DSN_klr650-subscribe@yahoogroups.com > Unsubscribe: DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com > List owner: DSN_klr650-owner@yahoogroups.com > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

> >

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[klrz4ever]

> I recently bought a new-to-me 13Kmile 98 KLR650 from a friend. > It looks to be in good shape. It died yesterday, in a small > cloud of smoke.

It sounds like maybe your rectifier is frying things for you. The rectifier itself fried on my A1 years ago at about 20K miles. I'd get it checked out before putting things back together and toasting another battery. I also had one go bad on a CBR600F2. It cooked the maintenance free battery, but the bike died before anything got melted. Arden Kysely

[Ted Palmer]

EXT-Dave.Svoboda@... wrote: [...]

> Did > I damage anything by running off of the alternator, with no battery on that > line?

[...] If you believe the wiring diagrams, the ignition system does not need the battery or alternator output. Mister_T Melbourne Australia

[The Mule]

Greetings all you fine people in KLR land- Yesterday, I got on my KLR, drove a few blocks, and was informed at a stoplight by a nice(!) truck driver that my headlight was out. I fumbled for the Hi/Lo headlight switch, finding it in the INBETWEEN position(!!!). After flicking it Hi and Lo, there was still no light. After further investigation, I found the meter lights were all out, as was the running tail-light and plate light, while the ignition is in the "on" position. The brake light works fine. The running tail-light and plate lights DO come on when ignition is switched to "park". I've started looking through the drawings in the manual, but haven't found the answer yet. Anyone have an idea where and what the problem may be? TIA, Steve Miller The Mule [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Dennis R. Eastman]

Sounds like you been hit with old "Switch in the Middle" problem. When this happens it will blow out one of the fuses under your seat. I am of course assuming that you haven't already done the blade fuse mod and upped the amps on the headlight fuse. Some folks try to run the high and low beams at the same time by possitioning the switch in the middle as you describe but if you do it with a stock fuse (I think 3A) it will blow. Hope this helps. ~Dennis~ A15 Concord, NC -----Original Message----- From: The Mule [mailto:KLRMule@...] Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 4:58 PM To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_klr650] Electrical Problem Greetings all you fine people in KLR land- Yesterday, I got on my KLR, drove a few blocks, and was informed at a stoplight by a nice(!) truck driver that my headlight was out. I fumbled for the Hi/Lo headlight switch, finding it in the INBETWEEN position(!!!). After flicking it Hi and Lo, there was still no light. After further investigation, I found the meter lights were all out, as was the running tail-light and plate light, while the ignition is in the "on" position. The brake light works fine. The running tail-light and plate lights DO come on when ignition is switched to "park". I've started looking through the drawings in the manual, but haven't found the answer yet. Anyone have an idea where and what the problem may be? TIA, Steve Miller The Mule [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Checkout Dual Sport News at http://www.dualsportnews.com List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: http://www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

[The Mule]

Hey Dennis- Thanx for that reply. I thought I'd heard about the "Switch in the Middle" thing here before. Now if I could only get into the archives........... Steve Miller "The Mule"

----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis R. Eastman" To: "'The Mule'" ; DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 5:00 PM Subject: RE: [DSN_klr650] Electrical Problem > Sounds like you been hit with old "Switch in the Middle" problem. When this > happens it will blow out one of the fuses under your seat. I am of course > assuming that you haven't already done the blade fuse mod and upped the amps > on the headlight fuse. Some folks try to run the high and low beams at the > same time by possitioning the switch in the middle as you describe but if > you do it with a stock fuse (I think 3A) it will blow. > > Hope this helps. > > ~Dennis~ A15 > Concord, NC > > -----Original Message----- > From: The Mule [mailto:KLRMule@...] > Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 4:58 PM > To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [DSN_klr650] Electrical Problem > > > Greetings all you fine people in KLR land- > > Yesterday, I got on my KLR, drove a few blocks, and was informed at a > stoplight by a nice(!) truck driver that my headlight was out. I fumbled for > the Hi/Lo headlight switch, finding it in the INBETWEEN position(!!!). After > flicking it Hi and Lo, there was still no light. After further > investigation, I found the meter lights were all out, as was the running > tail-light and plate light, while the ignition is in the "on" position. The > brake light works fine. The running tail-light and plate lights DO come on > when ignition is switched to "park". > I've started looking through the drawings in the manual, but haven't > found the answer yet. Anyone have an idea where and what the problem may be? > > > TIA, > Steve Miller > The Mule

[Jean-Francois Lecours]

Hi! Here's the picture: Bike is new to me. Bought a month ago I've put 1000Km on it since. At the beginnig of the week I notice that the headlight dim as the flasher is on. The dim (about 30%) occures when the flasher lights on. Tonight on my way to work (I work shifts) the problem previously mentioned is still there and the following is happening as well: -the flasher flashes at an inconsistant rate -the headlight now dims even when flasher not operating The starter cranks fine and the bike runs fine too. And ho yhea, it's been raining a lot lately (like tonight). Anything I can do doctor? Tanks for your help JFLecours Ottawa, Canada __________________________________________________________ L che-vitrine ou l che- cran ? magasinage.yahoo.ca