Holy Rat-Feathers!!!

[Condor]

Went to start the '07 this morning after putting the charger on it overnight. The batt registered FULL on the screen. The engine turned over like a jack rabbit, but wouldn't start. Choke out, fuel on, kill switch..not killing..., neutral. Then while cranking I notice that the positive anode on the battery had melted a little and a bit of lead was running down the side of the batt about an inch. The negative was fine. Tried starting again and every time I hit the starter button I got sparks flying off the connection and light wisps of smoke. I did check for looseness of the connection and it wasn't tight, but suspect it was because of the melted lead. The anode was extreemly hot and the rubber boot smelled and was partially burnt. I've chased a lot of electrical grremlins, but this is a first. Before I go tearing into everthing, anyone have any experience with something like this, with the positive getting hot and the negative being OK??? It got me befuzzled...

[Peder_y2k]

Check both ends (battery and solenoid) of the wire terminals (ring connectors) where they attach to the wire for corrosion. I've had to resolder one, and replace another due to connection failures. The high amp load of cranking encounters resistance creating heat that makes smoke.

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

'83,88

[Flyinfool]

What Pete said, sort of.

If the positive got hot and the neg did not, 99% chance that there was a bad connection at the positive terminal. Could be either corrosion or loose. Don't forget the possibility of there being a bad connection between the cable and the terminal.

[Condor]

What Pete said, sort of.

If the positive got hot and the neg did not, 99% chance that there was a bad connection at the positive terminal. Could be either corrosion or loose. Don't forget the possibility of there being a bad connection between the cable and the terminal.

 

Well Jeff there ain't much left of the pos terminal to check. Either way it looks like I'll be calling Bohannon in the AM. But from what you guys are saying it's a loose screw.... Here's a couple of pics.

[Snaggletooth]

Holy Smelter!! I know it's called the hot side but ya done gone overboard there buddy.

[CaptainJoe]

Is it possible the charger over charged your battery?

edit**never mind... I see now it happened while you were pressing the starter button...

Yup a loose positive connection would definately get hot with a fully charged battery...kinda like a MacGyver welder...LOL end edit**

Edited June 3, 2013 by CaptainJoe

[wes0778]

:rotf: you think a little lead is funny, you oughta see what a D8 Cat dozer does to a battery post when you hit the starter and the connection is a little loose!!! Lots of sparks and NOISE to boot!!! :cool10::cool10:

[Condor]

:rotf: you think a little lead is funny, you oughta see what a D8 Cat dozer does to a battery post when you hit the starter and the connection is a little loose!!! Lots of sparks and NOISE to boot!!! :cool10::cool10:

 

I bet that does get your attention.

 

However.... I do have another question being gun shy and all. I've never paid any attention in the past when swapping out batteries, but can we get a spark when connecting the negative side on an RSV?? It wasn't a huge blast, more like a little more than a tickle. I can't remember... I tried using the wet cell batt I picked up in Wyoming after killing my Deka until the new Deka arrives from Bohannon. When I touched the positive it sparked a bit and I immediately separated it because I had the yips!!. After thinking about it a bit I thought there might be a little maintenance flow at the git-go, but wanted to ask just in case I have something serious going on. Clock, off radio, I don't think would draw that much??

Edited June 6, 2013 by Condor

[Flyinfool]

It is possible, to get a small spark when connecting the battery, especially if the battery has been out for a while. There are filter capacitors in the radio and other computers that will pull a momentary surge when being powered up. This surge lasts but a split second and then the power draw drops to nearly zero. There are some things like the clock and radio that pull a very small amount of power to maintain memory when the bike is off, but that should not be enough to make a visible spark.

 

It does not matter if it is the pos or neg, which ever is connected last will make the spark.

[Big Lou]

if it was cranking over, even with all that, it should of started, or tried to,,

[Kirby]

You could have a problem if you let all the smoke out of the system.

[Condor]

Nobody ever said I was quick.... But, finally got the battery from Bohanon installed. This time no sparks on the neg. And... the fuel pump pumped, the carburators carbed, and the pistons....well never mind... The bike did fire the second time and after a rough start it smoothed out and ran great. 1 up 1 to go.

When I came home from Cody in '11 I wasn't feeling all that great. Very tired. So I pulled the bike up on the front sidewalk, turned it off, and never went near it for almost two years because of health issues. I know better, but one of the things I did was run the fuel down into the reserve because I planed on working under the tank fairly soon and figured it's going to be lighter. Never happen. Went out this morning and looked in the tank. Rust. I did stick a rag down the throat and it appeared to be surface rust. So tanked it up with fresh fuel, a blurp of 5-30 oil and half a can of Sea Foam. It fired up but the throttle wasn't free. Almost like it needed a little lube on the cables and Deep Creep on the linkage. Been there and done that a few time before... But..... after shutting it down I could smell gas and there was a big puddle of fuel under the bike. I figured it was coming out an overflow due to stuck bowl valve. Then I walked around to the other side to turn the fuel off, and the fuel valve was leaking like a sieve. Turned it to 'off' and it still leaked. Turned it to 'on' and it leaked. Turned it to 'res' and it finally stopped. The pitcock was were all the fuel was coming from. So now it looks like the '99 is going to get a new one....and I'll need to drain the rest of the fuel out of the tank so I can work on it..... Grrr!!

Or... has anyone ever replaced the pitcock while the tank was still on the bike???

[Rich99]

Why doesn't this happen while we're young while we have the energy to fix things. I hate to see you having so much trouble Jack; it was a bummer for me with the electrical problem I had and had to be towed in twice and almost a third time. One shop gave me the run around twice, but when Vic told me to take my bike to where he gets his worked on, even though then, they ended up breaking my seat and losing one of my covers for one of the bolt's on my gas tank, they finally found the electrical problem, and it's run like a new bike ever since. Even wound up with better gas mileage going from 42 to 45 mpg. So good luck Jack as it's got to be a little more frastrating, because you own several more bikes that I do, so it's not fun trying to keep them all running. Maybe you should downsize a little bit, take care.

[Condor]

Why doesn't this happen while we're young while we have the energy to fix things. I hate to see you having so much trouble Jack; it was a bummer for me with the electrical problem I had and had to be towed in twice and almost a third time. One shop gave me the run around twice, but when Vic told me to take my bike to where he gets his worked on, even though then, they ended up breaking my seat and losing one of my covers for one of the bolt's on my gas tank, they finally found the electrical problem, and it's run like a new bike ever since. Even wound up with better gas mileage going from 42 to 45 mpg. So good luck Jack as it's got to be a little more frastrating, because you own several more bikes that I do, so it's not fun trying to keep them all running. Maybe you should downsize a little bit, take care.

 

Yep, getting old is a biatch... So I'm out running the '07 a bit, and I hear it drop a cylinder. Crap!!! Then it wouldn't idle.... until I turned the fuel on and everything was fine... Duh!!

Been thinking seriouisly about down sizing lately. MOF I'm about ready to put the '91 on Craigslist.