Hey,
For the last two months, I've been having trouble starting my 1984 V45 and it's progessively been getting worse. Initially, with the choke disengaged, I could hear the starter running but the engine wouldn't turn over. Typically when the bike did start with the choke disengaged, the idle rpm (in neutral) would hang around 500 rpm and any throttle movement caused the bike to stall. Engaging the chock initially fixed this problem. After letting the bike run for 1-2 minutes with the choke idling the bike at 3000ish rpm, I could disengage the choke and the bike would idle just fine at 1500-2000 rpm. Usually this problem only occured in the mornings for the first start of the day, but the bike usually sounds and runs great once it does get going.
Then about a month ago, it started getting to the point where even with the choke engaged in 80-90 degree F weather, I would have to roll on the throttle a small extent to get the engine to turn over.
For the last two weeks I've been having to roll on the throttle to higher and higher levels to get the bike started. This morning, I had a fair amount of difficulty getting the bike to start even with the choke engaged. When the engine did start, it sounded fairly weak and was idling at 1000 rpm with the choke fully engaged. After riding 2-3 minutes with the choke on, I could hear and feel the engine start to spool up and pick back up to normal power, at which point I disengaged the choke and the bike ran fine, idling at 1500 rpm.
Rode it to work, let it sit for about half an hour while I took care of business. Got on, and it started fine. On the way to the gym, the fuel light and the tailight would simultaneously but intermittently illuminate (I did drop the bike off the center stand last week which crunched my tail light). I had only put 40 miles on it since my last fillup, so I pulled over to verify the fuel level, and sure enough I had well over half a tank left.
Got back on the bike, but even with the choke fully engaged I couldn't get the bike to start at all for a good 3-4 minutes. Finally, I rolled the throttle as high as I could while holding the ignition and the engine turned over (RPM jumped to 7-8000 rpm on startup, to give you an idea of how much throttle I had). After that the bike ran great on the way back home. When I got home I shut down and restarted the bike several times with the choke disengaged and it started just fine.
If anyone has any insight on how I can start to troubleshoot and fix this, it would be greatly appreciated it. I should also emphasize that the bike only seems to have trouble starting/running at/around startup, but runs great after the bike has been running 2-3 minutes. I tried to include as much information as I could think of, but please let me know if there is any other kind of info that might help track down the problem ;-)
Warm Regards,
Dave
Dave, I have no knowledge of the first gen Magnas, but have two '96 models. Especially the second one was very hard to start and warm up when I bought it. If I didn't live on a hill, where I could start it in gear at about 25 mph, I am not sure I could have made it run. Took lots of "choke", for a long time (like 3-5 minutes). So I cleaned, rejetted, and shimmed the carbs. (It has aftermarket pipes, and I installed a K&N filter at the same time.)
Once I learned not to flood the poor beast, it starts like a dream. I turn the key, leave the throttle closed to idle, and touch the starter switch. Starts on first or second cylinder, and idles at ~ 500 rpm, without missing a beat, while I put on my gear, which takes about a minute, by which time the engine has picked up to normal idle, 1000 rpm. It is still a little sluggish for the first minute of riding, but then runs great. It does not stall. This with temperatures in the 50-70 deg Fahrenheit range. Don't know about colder, as it hasn't been much colder since I overhauled the carbs.
Have you tried a gasoline additive carburetor cleaner, such as Seafoam?
I haven't, although that'll prolly be my next step. I also want to learn how to work on the innards of the bike, so I'm thinking about buying a used carbeurator on ebay, figure out how to rebuild it, and then swap it out with my current one and see if that helps.
be sure you get 4 of them...
Slow speed jets are clogged more than likely, this is a symptom that I have seen to be associated with clogged jets.
After talking to a buddy I decided I'll start working on cleaning and rebuilding the carbs... While I'm there I figure I can take a look at these slow jets Greg mentioned.
The extent of my experience so far has been working on the brakes and cluch master cylinder, so this will be my first time working on the innards of the bike. Any advice? And is there any place I can find rebuild kits for the carbs so I can go in prepared and have minimal down time on the bike?
Thanks,
Dave
Hardest part is removing the carb bank and reinstalling the carb banks onto the engine.
Well, I did get some Seafoam in today although I haven't been able to ride it much. After filling up with gas, had a hard time getitng it start and held the ignition longer than I should have while playing with the throttle to get it to start. It did start (eventually) but after my next errand at office depot, the bike will not start at all. While holding the ignition I can hear some kind of faint turning noise coming from the what I assume is the starter, but can no longer hear the "ch-t-tch-t-ch-tch" noise which I'm accustomed to hearing with normal starts.
I'm hoping I just drained the battery too much for starting recently and I can hook up the battery tender tomorrow - if that doesn't work I'll have to rent a trailer and bring it back while I start to trouble shoot. While riding after the gas fillup I noticed the turn signals would blink erratically, and wouldn't blink at all whenever the fuel/tail lights were illuminated. Also, the fuel light and the tail light light are still coming on and going off simultaenously; surely that has to be a code of some sort, or am I just reading too much into it?
Need Battery....or Bad connection...maybe not charging...Take your cables lose and clean terminals and recharge battery...With motor running you should see your headlight get brighter when reving engine up from idle to about 3500rpm if charging system is working...Good Luck..I'm sure you'll get plenty of help here...
Ok, sorry for all the questions ;-)
In the event I can actually turn the engine over now, it starts up with little to no problem. Think the Seafoam helped alot.
However, now the battery seems to keep dying. Am I correct in assuming if the battery will charge from a battery tender and the bike will start fine, but the battery is completely dead after an hour worth of riding, that the battery itself is good and the problem lies with the motorcycle's charging system? I also tried the reving up and watching the headlight as mentioned by Capt. Howard, and the light did not get brighter.
Thanks,
Dave
Dave..How old is your battery? Do you have a voltage test meter? If your light does not get brighter when you rev the motor I would say you need to check your charging system. A poor mans way to check your battery. You could charge battery til charger said it's charged. Then start your motorcycle. Run for about 2 or 3 miniutes then shut it down. Then disconect your battery. Leave battery disconnected for at least twenty four hours. Now hook it back up and see if your battery still starts the bike. If starting is weak replace your battery. You still may have a charging problem...I hope this helps.
Well, not sure how old the battery is to be honest, since I picked the bike up second hand from my buddy back in July. Though the battery seems to pick up a full charge from a battery tender.
I was doing the voltmeter check on the battery today per the haynes service manual and got a good reading whith the voltmeter set at 15V. However, there was a noticeable amount of smoke coming from the electrical system, and I traced it down to roughly the connection between the alternator stator coil wiring and the regulator/recitifier. The wires on the alternator stator coil end of the connection seemed to be somewhat melted and the connection case itself seems to be a little melted. The wires on the regulator/rectifier side of the connection point didn't seem to be in that great of a shape either. Initial efforts to disconnect the connection where unsuccesful. I haven't been able to get this connection apart yet to test with an ohmeter/multimeter, but I'm wondering if this connection is blocking the current going from the alternator and having all the components drain straight from the battery, thus why a dead battery after an hour of riding?
And if this is the case, is it possible to replace just the coil running from the stator, or is the coil an integrated part of the stator? The manual isn't really clear on this.
Thanks again,
Dave
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Why not just replace he connector, whether you get a new col or not this will need to be replaced, correct?
Well, the wires running from the stator are melted/shorted for sure. The smoke wasn't coming from the connector, but about an inch down the wires from the connector.
Can you replace the wire and check this out to be sure before you buy another stator? Stators (edit) may not be much used, I like to be sure first of the problem. One caused the other unless you have a shorted wire in the coils.
Quote from: TLRam1 on November 22, 2009, 10:31:48 PM
Stators make not be much used
Either you're quoting Yoda or it's past your bedtime Terry :-P
Quote from: drkngas on November 22, 2009, 11:01:27 PM
Quote from: TLRam1 on November 22, 2009, 10:31:48 PM
Stators make not be much used
Either you're quoting Yoda or it's past your bedtime Terry :-P
Let me see I worked on the website all day Saturday and quit at 7:30 am Sunday, that should answer the question, above that I can't type. :-P There is a ton of work in this website stuff and marketing.
That was part of my question actually; is it possible to buy/replace just the wire running from the stator to connection point? I haven't been able to find any online except with the stator.