something has failed miserably

[Black wing]

ok so i have no idea whats going on with my bike i have never seen any issue like this, i took the bike out for a run a night ago and left with my battery fully charged. the bike ran like a top but a few km down the road i noticed the voltage gauge was reading almost 16 volts and the bike would fail trough some ranges which to me seemed like a failing tci but i got about 10 km and it began acting like it was low on fuel. it died and flipped the key a few times to get the fuel pumping but there was nothing, tried to crank it over and nothing but a few lazy spins and the battery was dead!! reading 16 volts and now im seeing that the bike was actually running like it was running off battery only. so now ive pushed the stupid thing down the road for an hour and some one finally gives me a boost the bike fires right up but will only idle or go crazy so i take off like a bat outta hell for home and make it maybe 500m before i dies again. now another hour of pushing i come to a gas station for another boost. fires right up as usual but now will only idle as soon as i give it gas it dies.

 

so im at a total loss as to whats going on to me it seems like my rectifier and my tci have died simultaneously and for some reason unknown to me my battery will not get a charge . im off to home now to run some tests ive had the bike on charge all night and will see what i can learn but does anyone have a clue as to whats going on?

 

 

on slightly related note does anyone know of a good muscle relaxer?? gotta put the old girl on a diet

[Flyinfool]

First thought is the 16V.

That could be a failed RR.

The high voltage could have damaged the battery, TCI, and most anything else electric.

[onenut]

What is the normal reading for the voltmeter mine is about 3/4 up normal all the time turn on the radio it might come down just a little

[frankd]

The first think I'd check would be the battery. It sounds like it may have a bad connection internally. Connect a battery charger across it and measure the voltage across the terminals. I suspect it'll be pretty high (16volts or above). Also make sure the electrolyte level isn't extremely low.

[Black wing]

ok so the battery checks out, the rest of the electrical is operating normally and the voltage on the gauge now that i can see it properly is up to the line in the green ( looks to be 15 volts) which i assume means top of operating range or normal i'm not sure, though it never has gone over that line.

 

ive tested the fuel pump and it seems to have failed. when i connect a 12v source to it, it runs for a few seconds most of the time then peaters off stops or it just clicks a few times and stops. (note the fuel line is off and pumping into a jerry can so it should just run continuously )

 

now when i connect the test tank right to the carbs i seem to be getting the same result idles or revs high with the choke on, why would it be that the bike can rev up with the choke and die as soon as i move the throttle no matter where on the range it is?

 

is there a way to test the tci or is it a remove and replace peice?

[MasterGuns]

The fuel pump will only click until the carb bowls are full. Once full, there is no more clicking sounds.

[Squeeze]

The Fuel Pump Relay won't allow more than five Seconds if there's no Signal from the Pickup Coil, so what you see is normal Behaviour.

 

To me it sounds very much like the R/R is shot and probably fried your Battery. Other Electronics may be hurt also, but that would be a bit out of the ordinary.

[Condor]

First thought is the 16V.

That could be a failed RR.

The high voltage could have damaged the battery, TCI, and most anything else electric.

 

I had the same problem a couple of years ago. Show'd 17vdc on the multi-meter, and sucked that baby dry in a couple of days. The problem was the rectifyer. High volts and no amps. Replaced the RR and it ran great all the way back home. Some folks have had a problem with corrosion of the connectors to the RR, but in this case the wiring was fine. The rectifyer on a 2ndGen is located at the botom of the engine pan at the front. Put the bike on the sidestand and poke around from the high side. It's held on with a couple of 10mm bolts.

[Snaggletooth]

Yep, the high reading sounds like a failing R/R. Mine did that about 30 miles from home.

 

Barely made it back.

[Black wing]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLeljihD-08]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLeljihD-08[/ame]

 

so this is a video of what the bike is doing to give you an idea of the problem

 

also the way i tested the fuel pump was to unplug it and disconnect the fuel line from the carbs, then jumped the pump with a constant 12 volt source, it would pump and fail speratically so it is no good unless it can be rebuilt.

[bongobobny]

OK seeing as you hot wired the fuel pump to a direct 12 volt line it could very well be the fuel pump. You can try disassembling and cleaning the points on the fuel pump but usually once they fail, they fail!

 

I would not trust the stock analog dashboard voltmeter as being accurate, especially considering it's age. Buy yourself a cheap $5 - $10 digital VOM and be done with it. Monitor the battery voltage directly across the battery with the DVM...;

[dingy]

Some pictures attached of fuel pump dissected.

 

Gary

[jfoster]

My '98 Chevy truck did the same thing when the alternator went bad and started overcharging which in turn made the truck shut down to an idle.

 

I know totally didn't animals.

[Dano]

I had the same problem a couple of years ago.

Replaced the RR and it ran great all the way back home.

 

Hmmm, brings up a couple fuzzy memories from Cody "a couple of years ago".......

 

Sumthin' I helped ya with??

[MasterGuns]

Alex, When you say that you got a boost from someone; what did they use to give you a boost? Was it an automobile? I am beginning you may have two problems one before the boost and either another issue made worse by the boost. Not to alarm you but when I had my last Harley and hadnt ridden it for some time, it had a almost completed dead battery when I finally one day decided to start it. Keep in mind that this HD I am talking about had a 45 amp charging system. Your 86 has only a 28 amp charging system. Anyway, I had company and left for a few minutes to assist my wife with starting a lawnmower, and my buddy used some jumpers from my Toyota Tacoma to the HD. I took about 1 second for the high voltage to fry both the stator and rectifier. My buddy paid for the repairs too. About 500.00. So where I'm going is perhaps you did have a r/r failure causing the high voltage and when you connected the boost from whatever you may have fried that 27 year old TCI. Just thinkin out loud.

[dingy]

Never jump a motorcycle with a running car/truck.

 

Bad things can happen if you do.

 

If car is not running you are fine to jump from it.

 

Its not the size of the battery, its the capacity of the cars charging system to overwhelm the R/R in the bike that does the damage.

 

Gary

[Black wing]

worst part is i knew that but just wanted to get home, oh well. live and learn. so i got the tci out but i cant figure out how to get the board out to look for burnt circuits. do i have to unsaulder the pins first to get it out?

[timgray]

If your Regulator failed and dumped 16V + some AC components into your electrical system, I know what happened.

 

At that point it fried several systems on the bike because the reading of 16V is what that meter could read, it was probably around 40-60Volts AC This will boil the battery as it tries like heck to get rid of the AC voltage, the TCI will probably start losing components and a lot of other things will start going.

 

Did you notice the Headlight getting very bright? That is usually the first tell tale that the Regulator went as all lights will get insanely bright and typically start dying as they pop from over voltage.

[Black wing]

no the headlight did not get super bright and the radio was not acting up or going super loud, i think the tci went cause the poor thing was just that close to going it was not the strongest thing last summer and i knew it was coming just wasnt expecting the rectifier to kill it and the fuel pump to go at the same time.

 

the fuel pump apart and its wrote, the contacts are worn right off. turns out you pump alot of gas over 200,000 km

 

so tci, rectifier, and fuel pump ahla toast.

[dingy]

no the headlight did not get super bright and the radio was not acting up or going super loud, i think the tci went cause the poor thing was just that close to going it was not the strongest thing last summer and i knew it was coming just wasnt expecting the rectifier to kill it and the fuel pump to go at the same time.

 

the fuel pump apart and its wrote, the contacts are worn right off. turns out you pump alot of gas over 200,000 km

 

so tci, rectifier, and fuel pump ahla toast.

 

I have all three, used R/R and fuel pump !!!

 

 

Gary

[Black wing]

well pm me a price for all 3 and what it will cost for expedited shipping.

 

just take it so far over budget at this point its almost cheaper for me to buy another venture ha