Overheated, cut out, now lumpy between 1-2k :(

[karl BKK]

Thank you DX4 that has boosted my confidence with regards to the engine, sorry to hear about your accident mate
Cammo, i'll try my friends Regualtor (as he's had a new one fitted) fingers crossed and thanks for all the help guys.

Karl :)

[karl BKK]

Just noticed today that the rear right hand side cylinder (closest to the rear brake peddle) was cooler than the left handside rear cylinder when touching the down pipes, so that cylider isn't combusting as it should be.
Cleaned all my earths today but need to go get a multi meter to check the Reg and Gen, maybe i'll buy another set of plugs while i'm out, just incase i damaged the one in that cylinder, although it looks ok and sparks when i tested it....???

[Cammo]

maybe i'll buy another set of plugs while i'm out, just incase i damaged the one in that cylinder, although it looks ok and sparks when i tested it....???

The plugs on nc's are quite fragile, and often when flooded or old they will spark out of the bike but have trouble under cylinder compression. Flooding the bike when starting it can kill them very easily!

They're pricey little buggers.

[karl BKK]

I think this could be the case, as the voltage on the reg and gen seem fine, also the battery is holding charge fine (with lights on and a total of 40 miles now)
But occasionally once the bike is warmed up it will judder between 1-2000rpm, the lights will dim also. It's so intermittent i'm thinking maybe it's the regulator, but would that make the lights dim as well as making the engine lumpy between 1-2000rpm?

[superlite]

i'm thinking maybe it's the regulator, but would that make the lights dim as well as making the engine lumpy between 1-2000rpm?

A dud reg/rect will definitely make your dash/headlights dim or change brightness with different revs.

[karl BKK]

Well i decided to run a new earth and clean up the existing one and so far the bike has been behaving well. :)

[karl BKK]

Well it's been a week or two now and the bike is running fine EXCEPT for the odd occasion when i can feel an electrical current through my hands, seems to be a pretty high current but it's so occasional that it's hard to trace it.
It would happen on both the clutch and break levers and when this occurs the bike would idle very low and cut out.

Now if it was a single spark plug, the bike would be a little lumpy but it would idle ok(ish) at least not cut out....
So would i be correct in thinking it's one of the coil packs, or could the regulator cause this too?

Sorry for continuing with this thread, but i hope all my layman questions can help others in future :)


Karl BKK :)

[Cammo]

bike is running fine EXCEPT for the odd occasion when i can feel an electrical current through my hands, seems to be a pretty high current but it's so occasional that it's hard to trace it.

It's very hard to find these sorts of faults.

It will be a positively charged (+ve) wire contacting an earth wire/frame causing the shock. Not good!

Check all of the wiring very carefully to see whether you can see any wiring that is contacting other metal (either wiring or frame, bars etc). You may even need to unwrap the wiring loom to see if there's any damage to the wiring. Take your time and look at all connectors etc.

If you think there are any specific events associated with the short (e.g. pulling the clutch in, using indicators etc) then you may be able to narrow it down to only a section of the electrics.

This will require a lot of time and patience searching for the fault, but you should find the issue.

[karl BKK]

I'll pop out and buy some insulation tape at the weekend and then strip the fairings off to see what's going on. Could a damaged spark plug fire outside the cylinder, as the bike ran out of water and got very hot prior to this fault popping up.

Karl :)

[ozracer]

A short in the 12V system wouldn't give you a shock. But if you had a short from the generator windings (50V AC) or from a spark plug lead (8,000V) you would definitely feel it.