"My frozen battery" wasn't frozen today since it was 80F and sitting in the sunshine a good long time. So, I tried starting it. It turned over lazily with no joy. Once or twice it started to hit when I let off the starter.

The battery didn't last long so, I broke out the battery charger. With a lot more grinding it finally lit off on full choke. It finally warmed up and was idling at 4K RPM with a miss when I turned the choke off and it died. It hasn't started again. [>:]

I was grinding on the starter when I caught a wiff of smoke. Starter? No, but it was prettywarm. I removed the seat and started looking. I finally traced it to a black wire with a yellow stripe on it that runs back to the negative terminal of the battery if you trace it all the way out. It didn't burn through but, it got pretty hot. All the insulation from the bullet connector back into the wiring harness bundle was stuck to other wires and stuff. Does anybody have a manual handy that can tell me what that wire is?

Right now, I'm wondering if I have a short in that wiring harness. If that wire was hot enough to melt the insulation off behind the frame under the seat, I'm afraid it might have burned insulation in the wiring harness to unknown wires. Heck, one of those wires may have shorted out to this wire and the negative battery terminal.

[sm=boohoo.gif]Much sadness with another missed weekend of riding and unknown electrical and mechanical problems.

 

sorry to hear it, glad mine was resurrected today

 

Sounds like a bad ground.

 

That wire is just the ground for some small stuff like blinkers, side stand switch etc. Does the neg bat cable (the big one) have a good ground to the frame? If not it would want to feed back through that wire (the small one) & heat it up.

Did you try a new battery all together reguardless of the load test results? So simple for a dealer to try.

For ****s & giggles could try bypassing the side stand switch since its tied into the black/yellow wire in question. Follow the wires up from the switch. Unplug them from the main harness, then plud the two wires coming out of the main harness into each other. To run the wires need to touch. The switch could not be making a good contact between the two.

 

Ditto on making sure the 'fat' ground wire from the battery is making good contact with both battery and frame. Check that first and foremost.

 

Sorry about your bike problem, and I hope it doesn't taint your impression of this great machine. I do have one question for anyone that has posted trying to help you. What does turning off the choke have anything to do with the wiring. I think the wiring is warm/hot because of all the cranking time. I do have one thing to add about the hard starting of the bike, and that is sometimes if the bike won't start, pulling the choke really slow while hitting the starter will cause it to fireeasier. But in your case after the bike is started and it still dies, means you have something wrong probably with the carb, possibly an idle jet? I don't really think it has anything to do with the wiring. Good luck and keep trying, we feel your pain. Oh and I may be waaaaaaaaay off base on this one, so I'm going to admit that right now rather than later.[8D]

 

Yes, I cranked on it a long time and I'm pretty sure that's what did the wire in. However, it may have a rub in it somewhere too. It's hard to tell in all that black wire wrap tape. Since the insulation was coming off outside the harness, I'm sure it isn't any better inside with no air circulation so, I may have melted some addition wiring insulation inside the harness.

Before this all started, it had a real dead spot whenthe motor was cold but, it would start and idle. When I took it in for service, the service counter guy thought the carb was messed up but, the mechanic gave it a clean bill of health and blamed it all on a frozen battery.

At this point, I'm guessing my carb jetting is messed up. Too rich or too lean or there's some crap in it. I think I can add some wiring problems too the mix now with the one wire that's messed up.

I could have a loose ground but, the headlight comes on fine with a good battery charge. If the ground wasn't there, I wouldn't have lightsin the instrument cluster, tail light, or head light would I?



It's been a great little motorcycle for the first 1200 miles. It's this last 100 that has been a total downer for me. I guess my expectations for a brand new ride and gentle treatment with me at the throttle and dealer service were too high. I'm not inclined to sell it right now but, if I can't ride it and can't get it serviced, what good is it to me? I went with Kawasaki thinking I would have better dealer support and parts availability.

The local dealer doesn't even stock basic parts. I can mail order anything myself ..... and get the oil filter somewhere else in town.

 

is it possible that your fuel screw backed out? i know that sounds stupid but if it did then maybe it's getting so much gas that the motor can't handle it. i'm not even sure if that's possible. i thought i asked about the idle **** earlier but can't seem to locate that post. are you sure the idle is set right? did you try to turn it out increasing the idle to see if it would fire up? i'm just trying to think up anything that it might be.

 

this reminds me of that movie appollo 13 where the guy is in the one capsule on the ground trying to figure out how to fix the one that is out in space. i'm sitting here looking at my bike trying to think up why your bike won't run. without knowing what's been done to your bike and not having it here to listen to it's damn near impossible.[:@][:@][:@][:@]

 

So sid,
Sent off the check by the way, but called my dealer to get some news on what's happning with my bike and after going through everything they think they have narrowed it done to the carb. They've ordered a new main jet for me and they are going to see what happens. I think our problems may be a carb issue. It might be worth upgrading to the after market carb (TM-33?) that everyone keeps talking about. I suppose if the problem still exists after that mod than it could be 300 to 400 dollars spent with no fix, but may be better option than the equity you might lose by selling it.