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LilBeaver

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  1. LilBeaver
    I am not sure if there is a difference between the RSV and the older ventures with respect to this circuitry but on our RSVs, if the sidestand switch is triggered there will be no cranking. I am no electrical engineer either [but I am a Physicist]. All Jeff is suggesting is that we bypass the safety switches - by tying the two sets of wires together and providing continuity the bike's system receives the same signal as if the side-stand switch is in the 'up' position. I too am unclear on how this relay failing could produce a 'crank but no start' condition.
  2. LilBeaver
    My bike cranks just like normal -- all of the lights turn on like they are supposed to, it just does not start. It cranks at the normal speed, sounds normal, normal indicator lights, etc etc. it just cranks/turns over but does not start. If the tip over switch is tripped/triggered, the check engine light flashes a code. The ONLY times that I have ever seen mine flash that code is when I have manually caused the tip over switch to be tripped. Both of us have replaced our TCI modules. Thanks for the input!
  3. LilBeaver
    Phew! That is a relief; I was beginning to think I might be weird or something! Frank: I cannot speak for OutKast, but I have done the best that I can to verify that I do have spark under these conditions. After replacing the ignition module, I do see consistent spark. Thanks Jeff - I will take another look at it, specifically for the relay. I have cleaned and inspected the switch but I may have overlooked the relay. I have been meaning to bypass that pos anyways since my neutral light is intermittent when my bike gets warm - it would be nice to be able to drop the sidestand and not have the bike shut off sometimes.
  4. LilBeaver
    This switch cuts off the ignition in the event that it is tipped beyond a certain point. If all you ever did was end up on the crash bars then it probably was not enough to trigger. For some reason 54 degrees sticks in my head as the angle... (But that might be because it is also half of the bond angle of a tetrahedrally coordinated defect center in a zincblende lattice.)
  5. LilBeaver
    I had another hard start this morning after being run for ~10 minutes. I stopped off to pick up an invoice from a shop that did some work for me, hopped back on with some of the shop guys admiring the bike and then I got to sit there and be embarassed while it just cranked and cranked. :-\ *shakes fist* Anyone want to buy an 01 RSV????? :doh: :bang head:
  6. LilBeaver
    Testing diodes can actually be rather straight forward in these applications, I will have to take a look at the wiring diagram to tell you for sure which combination should yield which but you pretty much have very low resistance one way and high resistance the other way. Some meters have a 'diode' setting -- you are nominally testing continuity.
  7. LilBeaver
    SEAFOAM! Sorry, I could not help it. On a serious note Dan, it sounds like you have plenty of good suggestions here. I know that it can be frustrating but it is quite unlikely that your data is completely gone. As others have said, you may have to rebuild your computer [which I also doubt] but you data should still be accessible (short of a hard disk failure). For this to happen after visiting a single web site, I am highly suspicious of the diagnosis. Before you spend any money on having any work done to recover your data, let us know first - I am sure there are plenty of use here that could walk you through the process of recovering [at a minimum, the data]. Without knowing what kind of computer, version of windows, hardware, etc etc it is really difficult to provide any additional advice - if you want it, speak up.
  8. LilBeaver
    Ahoy: Sorry, I had thought I responded to this right away, obviously I did not. I did inspect my plug wires and they all seem okay. I opened each one, checked resistance and cleaned the springs (only one had a little corrosion build up on it).
  9. LilBeaver
    If you still cannot seem to get it to work, you may want to shoot Brian [Tx2sturgis] a message. I know he has all sorts of idoojiggies and knows a thing or two about them. I am quite certain he is able to post straight to the site from them because, if memory serves me correctly, he managed to do a few while I was standing right next to him.
  10. LilBeaver
    I am having a similar issue. I was able to regain some reliability to the turn signals by tightening up the female connector ends that plug into the flasher relay [behind the right 'battery box cover'. I am now beginning to think that it may be related to either my flasher relay itself or the battery. Sadly, I have been way to swamped with work to focus a ton of time to it but I really would like to get this fixed since while the hazards work (and I use them when I need to alert drivers that I am going to be turning off of a main road and need my left arm for clutch purposes) I would much rather have my signals work properly. For what it is worth, I have a 2001 RSV and my turn lamps are OEM stuff. The only added light-related accessories are passing lamps on the front, LED light bar between the helmet locks (only tied to running lights and stop lamp circuit) and LED cluster in tail light housing. I will let you know if I find a fix and will stay tuned for you to as well.
  11. LilBeaver
    Weaving erratically and flashing the brake lights (without actually braking) seems to work wonders for me. In the rare case that does not work, I just pull off to a side street, parking lot or whatever as soon as safely possible. Remember that if they were to hit you they would be at fault, but as a motorcyclist, you lose every time. ---- As a friendly reminder, in most states it is against the law (at least a misdemeanor) to trow ANYTHING from a moving vehicle. That is totally independent of whether it does damage or not.
  12. LilBeaver
    So I had a problem very VERY similar to this sitting in the parking lot of TRIUMF at UBC a little while back. It turned out to be a loose connection near the main fuse. I am pretty sure it was onto the starter relay, but I could be mistaken. All I know is that behind the left passenger (clutch side) floorboard, near the main fuse, there were a few bolts that hold electrical cables. One was quite loose. What I found is that it was loose enough that when I would hit the starter, it would arc (hence hearing the pop) and I would loose ALL electrical (radio, dash, lights, etc. DEAD). I had suspected my ignition switch, but am glad that it was only this loose connection. You very well could have a problem with your ignition switch as many on here do but, do yourself a favor and give this a good check first. (Although, you may have done it already). Also, make sure to clean the electrical connections with a wire brush or something to be sure that they are actually making good contact. Visual inspection does not always catch everything. As some of the buildup ends up being hard to see. Best of luck to you!
  13. LilBeaver
    Sorry to hear this Jack. Thoughts and prayers to you, your family and close friends.
  14. LilBeaver
    Sounds like either the bag is not seated properly or your latch needs to be gone through, greased, tightened and aligned. When putting my bags back on, I always get the bolts started, then test closing the lid several times to make sure it closes smoothly. If needed, I will slide the bag around a little bit to make sure it is not being torqued in any way as if it is not in its 'natural position' the lid does not close properly and can cause difficulties in opening and closing. Not saying that there is not something wrong with your lid or whatever the 'securing strap' that you mention is not the problem - just throwing my experience out there too.
  15. LilBeaver
    Same here. Works great.
  16. LilBeaver
    Nice. My last check showed that only 6 were within spec. Some were too tight to fit the smallest feeler in. That is, 10 of them were out of spec. Previous owner claims to have done it a little after 20K, and I did mine near ~53K. There was sufficient evidence to suggest that they were checked before (gasket sealer around the top, etc). Valve Clearances: #1: E1 in spec, I1 in spec, E2 0.288 [was loose], I2 in spec; #3 E1 0.280 [was tight], I1 0.260 [was tight], E2 0.288 [was tight, now loose], I2 in spec; #2 E1 0.282 [was loose], I1 in spec, E2 0.286 [max, was loose], I2 in spec; #4 E1 max, I1 0.265 [was tight], E2 0.284 [was loose], I2 0.255 [was tight]
  17. LilBeaver
    http://www.sears.com/craftsman-18mm-easy-to-read-spark-plug-socket/p-00950728000P?prdNo=2&blockNo=2&blockType=G2 :think:
  18. LilBeaver
    Questions answered, thanks for the follow up.
  19. LilBeaver
    Thanks for the update. I have heard them on the radio several times now since seeing them in April. Nice to see that they are doing so well! I even heard "Rain" while passing through Chicago recently. I was impressed.
  20. LilBeaver
    The probability of having two bad ignition modules is calculable based on the number of... Oh, rhetorical question :-P I chose to go with the one that I did (thanks to a generous member here) because it was the original ignition module off of their bike, that was functioning fine when they removed it and replaced it with a Dyna3000 (or whatever it is) wanting the adjustment capability that came with it (I am pretty sure that was the reason, I seem to have lost the original message). There is obviously no guarantee that it is perfectly good, but with how well my bike ran after I replaced MY original one, I am pretty confident that this one is in better shape than mine was. I too agree that any other failure would cause dash lights or SOME other indicator to come up. Although, that being said, I suppose a battery that is on the way out may exhibit the long cranking behavior but I certainly could not explain the intermittent cut outs. For what it is worth, I have NOT had the bike randomly CUT OUT after replacing my ignition module. I sure hope we can get to the bottom of this soon. Over the last ~3 weeks, I was on my bike (rode ~4k miles) and half way into my trip the long cranking symptoms started to reappear as stated earlier. It has not done it more than a couple of times and those times WERE correlated to large changes in temperature in rather humid conditions, so it IS possible that moisture/condensation collection in the float bowls could lead to the long cranking symptoms...
  21. LilBeaver
    Agreed about the depreciation, hence why I did not bother attempting the estimate. Sorry it took so long to get it up here. Had I not had a ~4k mile/3 week detour it would have been up much sooner.
  22. LilBeaver
    Ahoy all: I have decided to not publish my entire maintenance and operational history but just summarize. I will report the operational cost and not the cost of ownership as I have not sold my bike yet. This means that I will NOT include a calculated depreciation value in the first number as this will change depending on original purchase price and when the bike is FULLY depreciated or sold (as one can calculate the depreciation by ([Purchace price]-[selling price])/[miles driven]. Parameters, assumptions, additional notes: - Amounts calculated over the last 35,000 miles of operation and expenses therein - Amount includes ACTUAL cost to end user - I do all of my own maintenance EXCEPT for mounting and balancing of tires (I remove wheels from bike and take it to my nearby dealer that does each for $15/wheel off bike) - Insurance NOT included since this varies WIDELY for each person - to calculate your insurance cost per mile take your annual insurance premium and divide it by your annual mileage: that is: [Average Annual Insurance premium/Average Annual Mileage] - Fuel is almost exclusively "Regular" from 'name brand' stations (BP, Mobil, Phillips 66, Speedway, Shell and Valero) - Oil changes (Mobil 1 Fully synthetic Motorcycle oil with Mobil 1 or Bosch filter) done on 3,000 to 7500 mile interval depending on conditions (really dusty where I live) - Only purchased 2 sets of tires but have had a total of 5 different sets on bike (First set was Avons, Avon replaced both front and rear a total of twice before buying me Dunlop E3s, which I wore out and replaced 4k miles ago). - Valve clearances checked near recommended mileage - Includes addition of: Driver backrest, Hopnel Tank Bib (bought used), Saddle bag liner bags (thanks Beer30!), Highway pegs, Butler cup holder, 2 Stebel air horns, Carbon_One lift adapter (with legs), Carbon_One crash bar braces, Yamaha Star Trunk rack and rack bag (bought used), Digital voltmeter, and possibly a few other items - Significant costs associated with parts replacements that I consider possibly 'abnormal' include: Replacement OEM Regulator/rectifier, replacement main radio amp (300 from pinwall), ignition module (used for a very good price, thank you VR.org), WORKS rear shock (~$800), 3 windshields (OEM taken out by bird, Clearview that snapped off, OEM replacement still working - used [thanks SilvrT]) - Texas Yearly registration and safety inspection fees included I think that covers it all: Final Cost per mile on 2001 RSV (not including insurance and depreciation) is ~12.6 cents per mile Insurance cost per mile (for this 'young punk' with a spotless vehicle record; ie. no citations, crashes or claims) comes out to ~2.5 cents per mile Now, as for the specific question of comparing my bike to the cost of operating a small economy vehicle, I have not done that calculation. In order to do that, I would go ahead and add in the cost of a hotel/camp site for nights on long trips as I would NOT spend money on one of those if I were traveling by car. I own a 2002 F-250 so my bike is far cheaper to operate than the pickup which runs about 25 cents per mile NOT including insurance or depreciation.
  23. LilBeaver
    Agreed entirely. I too have NOT been able to reproduce the symptoms WITHOUT triggering the check engine light (tried with various resistors and direct bypass). This is what is strongly suggesting to me that the tip over switch may not be the problem. :-/
  24. LilBeaver
    For what it is worth, I did do mine (well, I helped goose do mine - learned a ton while we were at it too!) within the last 20,000 miles. This behavior started 'recent' as of the first post of this thread. BUT, as OutKast described... Good to know. Now if we can just coerce someone with a 'healthy' bike to do that measurement for us...
  25. LilBeaver
    Good info here. Thanks for taking the time to write up your experienece. Now when can SWING by for my adjustment???
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