Bike broke down, PHOOEY

[nevadazx12]

This morning the Connie started very quickly, ran great for the trip down the mountain.  Got to a ski area at about 8000' and everything died.  No lights, no instrument lights no nuttin.  After awhile the instrument lights lit and it made a couple feeble attempts to start.  Waited about 15 minutes, roared to life and I made it to the next ski area down the mountain.  Figured that whatever was wrong I was running off the battery and not charging it.  Called a friend and he brought up the battery from the Z1 which had been sitting on a work bench on a float charger for the past year.  Installed the battery, made it to Reno, just went off the freeway and it died at the stop sign on the end of the exit.  Pushed it across the street and waited as I called my buddy again to pull the battery from his ATV and bring it down,  again after 15-20 minutes, the bike started and we headed off again.  Made it pretty far considering I had to take short cuts through parking lots, illegal turns, just to keep moving.  Made it to within a 1/4 mile of my house and it died again.  He showed up with his other battery and I couldn't hook it up as cables were too short, wrong position etc......,..Later this afternoon, after charging the Z1 battery, she fired and we are now in my garage.    So after all this are there any tips out there on troubleshooting the problem, it can be either the altenator or the rectifier if it has a seperate one.  Any hints will be greatly appreciated.

[George R. Young]

A tip for the next time, run without headlights.

[SteveJ.]

You will need a volt or multi meter, got one? Get or borrow one if you don't.

Charge a battery, hook it up. Start the bike, run it up to maybe 2-3 grand, should have 13-14.5 volts.

[RFH87_Connie]

A tip for the next time, run without headlights.

I'm surprised no one asked about or contradicted this yet.

[hitgwn]

A tip for the next time, run without headlights.

Good advice IMO for a temporary fix to get you home in daylight. Had to use this solution myself when my XS's alt brushes wore too thin to make contact. Bike's don't take a lot of juice to run without lights.

It is risky though since you reduce your visual presence on the road not to mention illegal I'm guessing just about everywhere.

[mjrfd99]

I'm surprised no one asked about or contradicted this yet.

Yeah  When ya hit the stsrter on the C-10 the headlight automaticaly comes on. Guess you'd have to pull the headlight plug to kill it.  On my old bikes you do have a switch and have run w/o lites when the battery was low

[T Cro ®]

I'm surprised no one asked about or contradicted this yet.

What's there to contradict? Pull the headlight fuse in the J-Box or pull the headlight plug from the back of the light.

[T Cro ®]

It is risky though since you reduce your visual presence on the road not to mention illegal I'm guessing just about everywhere.

Your guess would be basically wrong just about everywhere; a safety mandate yes but not quite illegal. Many older bikes that are still on the road today have a switch to turn their headlight on or off at the riders choice just as you do on brand new cars today.

[RFH87_Connie]

To turn the headlight off all you have to do is turn the key off and back on quickly while going down the road.  Just don't hit the starter button again or it comes back on.

[T Cro ®]

To turn the headlight off all you have to do is turn the key off and back on quickly while going down the road.  Just don't hit the starter button again or it comes back on.

Yep dat do be true I do stand corrected..... But if'n I gots a bike with electrical gremlins da last thing I wants to do is goof off with the damed key switch and kill the sum bitch. Ya also stand a real good chance of having a real good backfire when you turn the key back on if you leave the key off too long.

Over on the Ural side of the street the older ones like mine CMSI 03 or older have really $hitty volt makers and a lot of guys run "total loss" no alternator at all and a large marine battery in the sidecar trunk; they turn off their headlights and can run for days on end without a recharge.

[MAN OF BLUES]

DIDJA smell anything burning?
sounds exactly like what happens when the 2 wire harness from the generator melts down at the connector, up near the battery.... follow the wires up there from the gen, and check that connector...it will melt down, and short, and you will be running on battery only, draining the batt. it will restart if the batt sits, but die again down the road.

as for turining the headlight off, with the bike running lift up on the key and quickly turn it to off and back to the run position, it's tricky to 'flick it just right' but it does work, don't try it while piloting the bike down the road though, do it while it's sitting on the stand in neutral, it takes practice.

[nevadazx12]

MOB,

You hit the cause correctly.  I checked that connector and it is indeeed burn up.  OK, now what's the best way to fix???  I can substitute a new type of connector.  Cut the end and butt splice them.  What would be really neat is to be able to get the matching pair of connentors and pins from mother Kawasaki.  Of course I'm dreaming

thanks,

[MAN OF BLUES]

MOB,

You hit the cause correctly.  I checked that connector and it is indeeed burn up.  OK, now what's the best way to fix???  I can substitute a new type of connector.  Cut the end and butt splice them.  What would be really neat is to be able to get the matching pair of connentors and pins from mother Kawasaki.  Of course I'm dreaming

thanks,

Yeah, that would be nice, but ain't happening...
it's a frugal fix, and easily accomplished
un ravel the taped sections of the harness on the bike side (as opposed to the generator side) and expose at least 4 inches of wire on both leads, you will end up trimming some off to get to "unburned copper'. make sure you make a sketch of which wire connects to what color on both sides of the melted connector.
Now, snip the wires and remove the connector. Trim back the wire a bit, maybe an inch on both ends, to get to cleaner copper.
Get some 14 gage wire, color doesn't matter, as you will be adding pieces to each set of wires existing. Strip the existing wires back about 1/2" on all the wires.
now cut 2 pieces of new wire, about 5 inches long, for each lead (you will be needing 8 pieces of 14 gage wire 5" each...)

twist 2 of these new wires with each existing wire, twist them tightly....NOW SOLDER the splice, and wrap with tape, (or use heatshrink tubing if you have some) You will now have 2 pairs of leads on each harness end. you need this because in order to carry the amps, on "faston blade connections" it really requires 2 per line. Now get some male and female, insulated crimp on blade connectors (1/4" blade), and crimp the recepticle ends on the bike side wires, and the blade ends on the generator side wires. Insure they are securly crimped, and not loose..!!!.
Plug and play back together.
I have done this repair on many Conni's and find it works well, and holds up for a long time...
do not take shortcuts though, it will result in failure.
so, to re-cap:
>solder the spliced in PAIRS of wires to harness ends, 2 per wire.
>Use the correct sized wire and blade connectors (1/4" blade, 14 gage, and 14 gage wire)
>trim all junctions to find clean copper before making solder joints
>Crimp connectors tightly!

>>do not attempt to just use 1 wire per connector,or 1 connector per existing lead,  it WILL melt again...crimp on blade connectors are only good for 15 amps max, and you can pull a lot more on those wires...thats why the generator side wires have a fabric braid insulation....

good luck

[RFH87_Connie]

I did mine slightly different.  I just soldered my wires with no connector now.  I figured I probably wouldn't really need to unplug the alt unless it went bad - then I could just cut it loose.  I didn't have the heavy-duty connectors at the time anyway.  There was just enough wire on mine after removing the burnt sections to do it.  Its been more than two years and the shrink wrap hasn't bubbled or distorted.

Edit - MOB is right.  Those connectors are critical when you do them (that's why I skipped them at the time).

[GeeBeav]

What would be really neat is to be able to get the matching pair of connentors and pins from mother Kawasaki.  Of course I'm dreaming

Here ya go.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd=ViewItem&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649&item=260861035933&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT

[nevadazx12]

Wow, what responses.  Afraid I fixed it using a different method.  (finished before I read the responses) Had to cut both wires back  and spliced/soldered new wires to extend the harness out of the main.  Heat shrinked everything and used female push ons on the harness end, I soldered them instead of crimp as I don't trust crimps.  Insolated the red push on with a bit of heat shrink and pushed them into the existing male socket on the alternator end.  Fired the engine up and there is 14.4 volts on the battery terminals.   

Thanks for the neat link on the e-bay kit, may just pick one up for the connectors and terminals.

It could be Miller time, but since I don't drink, I guess I will have a Root Beer

thanks again.

[MAN OF BLUES]

Here ya go.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd=ViewItem&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649&item=260861035933&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT

NICE!!!

I still don't have a lot of faith in that part, I don't think it is any more robust than the stock was, likely not even as robust, but if you want to spend the money, it's all up there.
I can tell you the cure I had was about $4 in connectors, i had wire and solder, and it is twice as high on the rating for the connections.
It is a nice plug assy tho....just gotta buy it, and pay a bit more.

[MAN OF BLUES]

Wow, what responses.  Afraid I fixed it using a different method.  (finished before I read the responses) Had to cut both wires back  and spliced/soldered new wires to extend the harness out of the main.  Heat shrinked everything and used female push ons on the harness end, I soldered them instead of crimp as I don't trust crimps.  Insolated the red push on with a bit of heat shrink and pushed them into the existing male socket on the alternator end.  Fired the engine up and there is 14.4 volts on the battery terminals.   

Thanks for the neat link on the e-bay kit, may just pick one up for the connectors and terminals.

It could be Miller time, but since I don't drink, I guess I will have a Root Beer

thanks again.

if you only used one blade connector per line, I suggest going back in and adding the second ones I noted, the rating on blades is very low, and they still may overheat, also if you did single wire, the wire should be rated for high temps, not generic hook up wire, thats the other reason I said use 2 wires per lead.

[TjTexasJack]

<<Had a Toasty connector here also. Replaced with generic connector from NAPA. I do have a question while I've got the generator out, can the rectifier be tested without desoldering it as decribed in the manual?

Thanks in advance.
Tj

[GeeBeav]

<<Had a Toasty connector here also. Replaced with generic connector from NAPA. I do have a question while I've got the generator out, can the rectifier be tested without desoldering it as decribed in the manual?

Thanks in advance.
Tj

Yes, you can test the diode junctions without unsoldering the stator. Use your meter's diode function if it has one.