Can't get my XJ to run

[Bonz]

I’ve been told jumping a motorcycle from a car or truck should be done without the car or truck running. Don’t know if it is accurate or not, but something about the alternator can be feeding much more charging power into the system than a motorcycle is designed to handle.

[DAVINCI]

Urban legend, ignore it. You wont need to run the truck anyway.

[motoman]

Urban legend, ignore it. You wont need to run the truck anyway.

+1...very true.

[BillyRok]

Well I hooked up jumper wires from my pickup to the XJ to see if the bike would fire, still no luck. Truck battery reads 12.7v without the motor running, 14.7v when it's running...it's less than a year old. So I stuck the red probe of my multimeter into the connector from the harness to the coil on the Red w/ White stripe wire (is this procedure correct?)...I have 10.5v just with the key on, but then only 7.5v while starter is engaged if the truck is not running or 8.5v with starter engaged if the truck is running.

So then I took apart the right side handlebar control where the kill switch, starter button, and 4-ways are housed. The kill switch has 2 red w/ white stripe wires soldered to the side of it. With the switch in the "run" position, I show zero ohms resistance at those 2 wires. But with the switch in the "kill" position I show 667 ohms resistance. Doesn't this mean the switch is functioning properly and I'm not losing any voltage across it? I was going to take it apart and soak in Evaporust but it doesn't come apart. Motoman warned about losing the tiny spring in there...it must be behind the small steel ball the sits in the detents to keep the switch in position. The pin that the plastic switch rocks back and forth on is peened over on both ends so there is no way to take the switch apart, but I'm thinking that the switch is not the cause of my voltage drop.

I have a wiring diagram (which I only vaguely understand). Looks like a red wire comes off the battery, goes through the main 30 amp fuse, and then to the keyed ignition switch. It looks like power leaves the ignition on the brown wire and goes to the ignition fuse, leaves the ignition fuse on the R/W wire which runs to the kill switch and then to the coils.

Someone with electrical expertise correct me if I'm wrong please. I have good voltage when jumping using a known good battery as the starter spins the motor over faster than I've ever heard it spin with only the bike battery supplying juice. But with only 7.5 - 8.5v to the coils, I have to be losing a ton of voltage someplace, but where? Oh the mystery of electricity!

[DiverRay]

Back to basics!!!!
CLEAN all your connections, and this INCLUDES the ground wires. Use the DVM to check your voltage once again. I am thinking the ground from the frame to engine isn't doing it's job. Pull the negative wire from the battery, clean both ends, and then do the same for the wire that goes from the frame to the engine.
Retest the voltage after your done and report back.

[BillyRok]

I followed DiverRay's suggestion (command!) and pulled the 2 ground wires and shined up both ends, also shined up the frame and engine where the wires fasten. Then I took the 3 wires loose that ground the regulator/rectifier (running Geezer's unit)and cleaned up the ends of those. I noticed there was still black paint on the R/R where the 3 wires connect so I cleaned the paint off down to bare metal for better contact. Should also mention that I've been running a ground wire from the R/R to the frame ground that the negative battery terminal runs to.

At this point I did some more checking for resistance. When touching the multimeter probes to any 2 of the 5 spots I cleaned -- either end of the battery ground wire, either end of the engine ground wire, and the R/R -- I would get a reading of .3 or .4 ohms to start with but would gradually drop to .1 or 0 ohms after 2 or 3 seconds.

So now I jump the bike battery with my pickup again (to eliminate possible weak battery variable). With the key turned on I get 8.3 volts on the R/W wires going to the coils, then after a couple seconds the numbers would jump to 10.7 volts. At this point I hit the starter and the bike finally starts, but it's running pretty rough and quits several times. Each time I'm able to restart it (even after unhooking the jumper cables from the pickup) but I'm only showing 13.3 volts at the battery when running about 2k rpms so it appears I have a charging issue or more dirty connections? What do you guys think!

Oh, and lastly, I see a bit of smoke drifting up from the left header as it got hot. Closer inspection and I find a bit of oil that has dripped on the floor off the pickup wires running out of the bottom of the left side engine cover and along under the tranny cover. I've replaced that left side crank seal 3 times now with no success. I do have a speedi sleeve for it, guess that is the next step.

[Radioguylogs]

I don't have the manual in front of me, but 13.3V @2k RPM seems reasonable for the charging voltage.

I wonder what would happen if you disconnected the motorcycle battery and and ran the bike off of the truck battery. I still wonder if that jump in voltage is caused by a problem in the motorcycle battery.

[BillyRok]

Service manual says generated voltage at 2,000 rpm should be 14.5 volts + or - .3 volts so it appears my numbers are low.

[DiverRay]

I've not owned an XJ, but doesn't it have brushes? If so, try cleaning the area up with crocus cloth, and make sure the insulation between the copper is just below the level of the copper on the armature.

[BillyRok]

Ray, I guess it does. The service manual says to replace them after the first 8,000 miles and then every 10,000 after that. No telling how many miles the current ones have on them.

I'm a professed electrical idiot, but here is the XJ wiring diagram for anyone interested and/or trying to help me.
http://www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com...s/XJ1100WD.PDF

I found a couple other issues today. Starting checking some other connectors and found a poor crimp on the brown wire in the 5 pin connector to the regulator, the wire pulled right out of the crimped metal pin. All the connections were clean a few years ago when I stripped the bike down to the frame and had the harness in my hands. I put dielectric grease in many of the connectors when I plugged them back in, this was before so many people started saying it wasn't the best idea, now it's pretty hard to clean that stuff out. Then I found a bigger problem -- the 4 pin connector with the 3 white wires from/to the generator has gotten hot at some point. The plastic is bubbled and the wires look scorched. I'm smart enough to know that heat did the damage but what specifically could cause that excessive amount of heat in the charging circuit? I want to fix whatever the root cause was and not just the end result damage.

I did a search and found that BA80 had the same issue some time ago.http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...hlight=crimperLots of interesting things in this thread.
1) Maybe the connectors in the ignition and charging circuit need to be replaced with ones rated at 30 amps...FYI I'm running Geezer's regulator, not the stock unit.
2) Can buy repair parts from Geezer or cycleterminal.com, need a crimping tool also.
3) In post #27 of that thread is a solution for doing away with that 3 white wire stator/harness connector, anybody ever tried it?

On a brighter note, turns out that the left side crank seal I replaced isn't the source of the leak. I took the side cover and pick up unit off and the seal is dry as a bone. Looks like oil was seeping out around the tranny cover, was able to tighted each of the hex head fasteners a bit more so hopefully the leak is gone...won't know until I can get the darned thing running again

Thanks a ton everyone for your continued help in fixing all this!

[MPittma100]

Electrical Gremlins

Hi Billy,

As connectors corrode over time, they create resistance. Resistance = Heat. That is what you are seeing at these plastic connectors. Sometimes better to remove the connectors and splice the wires together depending on the amount of damage. Resistance prevents electrical flow. Poor grounds, such as frame/chassis grounds, also cause resistance. Improve chassis grounds to direct battery grounds.

[bikerphil]

+1 on hard wiring that alternator connection. I have done that 10 years ago and never a problem. <knock> YMMV

[BillyRok]

Hmm, the link to the thread I referred to in my last post didn't work...try it again.
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45785

[justme1100]

???

Did you get her running? The suspense is killing me!

[BillyRok]

Did you get her running? The suspense is killing me!

Sorry about that , I didn't mean to be torturing anyone!

No, it's not running yet but I'm making progress. I have a heck of a time getting things done when I'm not exactly sure what to do and/or how to do it! I got new connectors from Geezer but it took me a while to find a good set of crimping pliers to make the repairs to the stator connector. Then the dielectric grease "to use or not to use" debate put the brakes on until I could sort that all out in my mind. I've cleaned up all the grounds again but need to double check the ignition circuit to make sure I have good contact everywhere. And I'm also running the original stock coils that should probably be replaced with something new...the complete kit that Marty bought from Len at XJ4ever.com looks like a good way to go. I also noticed the faint smell of gas around the bike and the carbs were getting "grimy" so I'm pulling the carbs again to replace the fuel T's with some brass ones I got and then put on new lines, in line filters, and clamps to hopefully remedy that. I'll post updates on the progress as I make it...Thanks for staying interested!