Engine cutting out

[Pete R]

Hi guys,

I went for a blast today and had this wierd intermittent cutting out. I first thought it was just me shutting the throttle when hitting bumps.

I did a bit of on the spot experimenting - I watched the tacho and shut the throttle and the tacho needle slowly fell with the engine revs. Then I waited for the cutting out to happen and watched the tach...when it did cut out the tach needle dropped instantaneously, like a switch. Most of the time it cut out for only a second or so, however once it cut out for several seconds - long enough to have me looking for somewhere to pull over

It would seem I'm losing power or spark, naturally it's as intermittent as buggery. I remember a couple of guys here saying they had intermittent cutting out caused by a loose fuse so I had a look at my fuses this afternnoon, they all seemed tight however fuse #5 pushed in a bit, no more than 1mm or so. Maybe? Hopefully?

Thanks for any ideas or tips

 

[RumRunner]

Pete,

I don't have any suggestions other than checking your electrical connections everywhere, but I was wondering what type RPM it's happening at? I know all of our Tachs seem to have a bouncy spot in them in the low to mid 4000 Rev range, and was wondering if that might have anything to do with it?

RR

 

[mark66]

Let's hope you found it. Fuse 5 is your ignition control unit, which you probably know by now, and if that was loose it could have caused a momentary drop out of the circuit. Now you've got a reason to take another long check run!!

 

[Pete R]

Yeah Mark, any excuse to feed the missus for another blast!

Sometime ago I moved the ignition switch from the headlight brackets down to the frame, just in front of the tank. On the weekend I modded my headlight brackets to drop the headlight as low as possible. I just noticed that the loom from the switch to the plug inside the headlight is pretty taught on full righthand lock...I think I best lengthen that sucker a bit.

I'm not sure if that's the problem but it ain't going to be doing things any good.

So maybe I should test run it before lengthening the loom to see if it was the fuse - then test run it again after modding the loom. "Oh the pain Will Robinson, the pain!" (so long as it doesn't die completely )

 

[RumRunner]

Yeah Mark, any excuse to feed the missus for another blast!

Sometime ago I moved the ignition switch from the headlight brackets down to the frame, just in front of the tank. On the weekend I modded my headlight brackets to drop the headlight as low as possible. I just noticed that the loom from the switch to the plug inside the headlight is pretty taught on full righthand lock...I think I best lengthen that sucker a bit.

I'm not sure if that's the problem but it ain't going to be doing things any good.

So maybe I should test run it before lengthening the loom to see if it was the fuse - then test run it again after modding the loom. "Oh the pain Will Robinson, the pain!" (so long as it doesn't die completely )

Well if you want to be thorough about it you could re-loosen the fuse, and shorten the loom after the fact to see if the problem comes back if it does in deed go away

 

[LINDY]

Pete,
double check the battery terminals are tight. I remember reading somewhere your exact symptom was fixed by tightening the battery connections. Good luck w your repairs.

 

[Pete R]

Well if you want to be thorough about it you could re-loosen the fuse, and shorten the loom after the fact to see if the problem comes back if it does in deed go away

Now there's some good thinking! The things we just have to do to get things 'right'

BTW the rpm was around the 4g mark when it was doing it's thing, however I've never had needle bounce issues. Could be a resonance/vibration issue with a bad connection :chin: Nothing for it but lots of experimenting and upteen test rides!

 

[Pete R]

Pete,
double check the battery terminals are tight. I remember reading somewhere your exact symptom was fixed by tightening the battery connections. Good luck w your repairs.

Cheers Lindy Just had a squizz and there's some ugly white stuff inside the negative battery terminal!

Another need for a test ride...:up:

 

[Pete R]

I think the problem's solved - it seems it's the sidestand switch.

I fitted a centre stand a few months back (I can't believe they're not fitted as standard) however the c/stand fouls the sidestand by just resting on it and holding it up...can't get the bloody side stand back down. So if the bike is on the c/stand I've been in the habit of putting the the side stand down, rocking her off the c/stand then lifting the side stand up - and having the side stand just resting on the c/stand.

This has been causing the sidestand just to sit low enough to trigger the switch. This causes the ignition to cut out if the bike is in gear and clutch lever out (which they usually are when yer belting down the road!) Also the side stand pivot could do with a grease...

 

[mark66]

Hey Pete, thanks for letting us know. Glad you found it. I'll have to file that one away in my memory. Of course remembering it again will be another story.......did I say remembering.......remembering what!
:chin: