Could I have an electical problem?

[senrak]

Okay. Still working on the 82'XJ1100J. I thought I was dealing with carburetor problems, and I was, but I have run out of things to check and fix. Done all the cleaning, replaced throttle shaft seals, worked out any possible vacuum leaks, triple checked the float levels, adjusted the valves. Synched carbs. I finally have an idle that is smooth, balanced and stays were you put it. It's to the point where I can ride it enough to check on my tranny repair. Tranny shifts good and doesn't come out of gear. Hurray and thanks for the tech tips.
So, now the bad. It is still very undriveable. Bogs bad when you open the throttle off idle. If you can get the RPM over 3-4 grand it will run like a raped ape, pulling hard right up past 7000. But let it drop to 2000rpm, open the throttle again, and you have to pull in the clutch to keep it running. My thought was that it's not getting enough gas in the transition above idle, going lean, so I checked the float levels again, but they are all right at the 3mm spec.
Reading on XJ4ever site last night, a guy brought up power loss due to corrosion in the wiring.
Could I have a electrical power problem causing this? The coils are new and check good. When I check voltage at the ignition module orange and red wires with the key on I get 10.8 volts, which is about 1.4 volts under under battery voltage. Seems wrong to me. I get battery voltage at the back of the key switch until I turn it on, then it drops 1.2 volts. Huh?
To many things to chase around here. It's making me age very fast. I'd like to ride this bike more than I wrench on it.
Any help is appreciated.
DW

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Senrak,

As Motoman/Brant likes to say, your carbs have an electrical problem!
Yep, you're missing/loosing some of the magic smoke for sure.

I can't recall and you didn't say whether you have the OEM fuseblock or the newer solid ATCO fuses and holder? If still the old type, that's your first step towards getting some of the smoke back!

Secondly, you didn't say how new your battery is? If it's a standard lead acid battery and over 2 or so years old, then it may be getting weak. You need to give it a good charge and then load test it.

Next, if you haven't done it, take all of the harness connectors apart, clean, dielectric grease and reassemble.

You can also take apart the ignition switch, clean, dielectric grease and such.

T.C.

[MPittma100]

Electrical Problem

Many electrical problems are the result of a poor ground. Check, clean/repair all ground terminations. There are posts here on improving the factory grounds by changing all grounds to direct battery grounds. A chassis ground is a poor ground. A steel frame is a poor conductor when compared to a copper (wire) conductor. Lots of resistance in a frame (chassis) ground.

Mike

[Dylano*]

One suggestion that no one has mentionede yet; try taking apart your gas cap and cleaning it. I had a problem very similar to that, as soon as I get one or two blocks away my engine would start to die, like it was running lean. It ended up being my gas cap was holding a seal, so after running the bowls dry it would pull a vacuum in the tank and no more gas could flow. But in the same way as yours, it would stay running a little more if I kept it in really high RPM's, I'm assuming because of the relatively extreme vacuum pulling just enough gas to keep it running.

[senrak]

Thanks for the Suggestions

No question about the lack of magic smoke. I can see where this engine makes big power. My 750 Seca used to scare the hell out of me. This thing has almost hideous power. But, at the moment it's no so good.

I have replaced the fuse block with the newer style ATC. TC, didn't I get that from you? Battery is brand new and hot, holds 13 volts. I have had the ignition switch apart, cleaned and reassembled with dielectric grease. Still, it acts so weird electrically that I'm about ready to replace it with a toggle switch. I have had every connector apart, and have used dielectric grease on most. I'm about ready to open the harness completely to hunt down the cause of this voltage drop.

The bike was stripped to the frame, sand blasted and repainted, but I will go back and re-scrape all grounds. There is hardly a part on this bike that hasn't had some kind of TLC from me. Like Mike suggests, maybe I should make them all cooper grounds. Have you a thread link?

It's not the tank. Engine acts this way even on an open to the atmosphere tank. Good to know though.

Question: Should I have battery voltage at the orange and red wires at the TCI. Yamaha manual is no help on stuff like this.

[James England]

I'm about ready to open the harness completely to hunt down the cause of this voltage drop.

If it's any consolation to you, you're not the only one considering this! (See my 'potential new project' thread). I HATE electrics

[senrak]

Yes, I know what you mean about the electric stuff. Always a PITA. It's not bad if you break it down into one circuit at a time. There is just so many for what could and should be a simple bike. Still, I can't live with this the way it is. I have to much time and money invested in this project to push it into the corner, and if I can't fix it that's where it would go.
Keep your chin up and keep telling yourself that fixing these bikes is fun.

Where are all the electrical guru's out there?

[motoman]

If you haven't went thru EVERY electrical plug-in on bike and cleaned contacts, a dab of dielectic grease in every connector........then that NEEDS to be done first before any REAL diagnostics can be done.

[senrak]

Okay. Will do. I'll get back to you with results. Thanks.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey again,

Okay, the Red/White wire should have 12V, the Orange and Grey wires will have some battery voltage, but should be a bit less...the 12V goes thru the ignition coil and ~3 ohms resistance(~9V), then back out thru the Orange and Grey wires for each coil, and then to the TCI where the TCI then switches them on/off by grounding the Orange or Grey wires to build spark potential energy, and then when it breaks the circuit, the coil's magnetic field collapses releasing the high voltage out put of the coils to the spark plugs.

T.C.