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yeesh, my bike just left me stranded in the rain

  • Thread starter Thread starter donimo
  • Start date Start date
D

donimo

Guest
I got off for 2 seconds and it wouldnt start... I had a trouble light on me, run/start switch are fine, power to the stuff behind the headlight (what a mess).

Only one I didnt check was power to the stareter solonoid, BUT the wire has perfect continuity.

Going to check out more soon, but I figured out you an just short across the solonoid and it starts just fine (didnt know that).

I was soaked, really late and really reall ****ed.

Nothing looked wet so why would the second it starts raining cause this?
 
Would it turn over but not fire, or just not do anything at all? I had a plug boot literally disintigrate on me (yeah, it was old, I neglected to change it, so my fault) when i got caught in a rain storm. I guess the wetness getting into the boot, combined with the electrical charge fried it. I pulled it off and parts of it were still attached to the plug...bummer. Ran all the way home on 3 cylinders.
 
Ditto

Ditto

CaffeKid has it right,I had the same problem. 28year old plug boots and rubber seals = not a really good seal, because of the heat and dried out rubbers. I got stranded on my maiden voyage 5 years ago in a downpour and it was due to bad Plug boot rubbers. They are easy to replace and just screw off the plug wires.
 
Ya, I agree first thing I did for my bike was to get a nice set of NGK plug caps, the old ones looked their age:rolleyes:
 
Not the plug boots, like I said in the OP I shorted the solonoid and it started just fine, wouldn't do that if the plug boot was shot.

It does nothing, no click nothing.

I went down to try to figure it out and, of course, it works fine so troubleshooting is shot. I did find a perfectly severed oil pressure light wire, resoldered it on there and it seems to work fine now. Not sure why it was cut?

All wires ohm out fine, all connectors look good, nothing is even wet by one drop, everything is bone dry and tight.

I can't have my bike leave me stranded everytime it rains, weird that both times it had JUST started raining, nothing on the bike was even wet by more than a few drops. Is it the humidity?

So solinoid? only think I can think of. has this happened to anyone else?
 
DPage said:
Somebody needs to do a film documentary on this donimo guy.
Click to expand...

sure :rolleyes:

sorry if I was a bit dramatic (what I assume you are commenting on) but being stranded on a back road in the pouring rain when I was late coming home already, tends to upset me.
 
So, let me get this straight. When you pushed the starter button, nothing happened? but, when you shorted the solenoid it turned over and fired up? So, when you pushed the button did it make any noise at all? If so, I would take my starter switch apart and clean the contacts and check the wire leading to the soleniod for any areas where it could the wire casing is bad.
 
donimo said:
sure :rolleyes:

sorry if I was a bit dramatic (what I assume you are commenting on) but being stranded on a back road in the pouring rain when I was late coming home already, tends to upset me.
Click to expand...
Not sure how its set up on your bike but all the Zooks are FAIRLY similar once you get into the 80s models. On the connector that plugs into your fuse block, you will find (provided they used the same colour coding, which on MOST of them they did) an orange wire with a white? maybe red? tracer. This feed power from your ignition switch to the fuse block, and then on to the rest of the bike from there via their particular wires. Over time, that wire gets HOT, and starts to melt the connector in the harness, making it wiggle and jiggle out of place from time to time. Might check that, as what you describe are the symptoms of that particular problem. I had that problem on my 1100ES, and it first cropped up in the middle of a nice fast 80mph curve. Nearly shat myself when the bike when cold stone dead while i was layed over in that turn. Made for a lil squirmage when that weight transfered. I had to stop obviously because the bike had croaked, but once i got it running again, i had to sit for a minute and collect myself...it caused me to pinch some leather...lol
 
Start/run switch all checked out fine like I said, the only thing I forgot to check was whether the solonoid trigger was getting 12v.

I checked it all later and it was fine of course. I will try to find some time to take apart the wiring harness and check.

But in my head it could only be the solonoid, or the trggier wire as otherwise it wouldnt run when shorted across, if the ignition or run switch was borked it wouldnt run when I did that.

Just not sure how rain factors in, only time it has done this are the only 2 times I have ridden when its raining, too much of a coincidence, but the weird theing is it had JUST started raining both times, bike wasnt even wet, just sprinkled...

My bike doesnt have a fuse block, just harnesses and connectors. I did check them all, no heat marking, connections seem fine. They all tested perfectly when it wasnt working. The first time is started working all on its own after the rain stopped, 2nd time i shorted the solonoid.

when it does it it doesn nothing, no click from the solonoid nothing, but ALL other electrics work 100%, plus it runs when shorted
 
It's in the ignition switch or the start button. Rain could just be coincidental.
 
The ignition switch and the start button both tested out 100% but the bike still didnt start.

12v present and accounted for, other side of all switches tested 0v and 12v when switched, that isnt the problem.
 
Run a ground wire from your solenoid ground to the ground post on your battery, it should work fine. Back to the poor grounding issues again.
 
OK I will do that tonight, it tested fine, but it sounds plausible at least. At least it will rule that out.
 
My thought

My thought

If when you turn the key and you get 12 to the starter cylonid's input side, and you can short it across and start the bike, sounds like the windings in the cylonid has an open condition in it and the cylonid needs replacement.

Van
 
So I just went to buy some stuff for work, started raining, came back out to the bike and it was doing the same thing, lights came on everything else works fine, no click or starting from the bike whatsoever.

I tried shorting the ground pit to the frame, still no go. Shorted the relay terminals, fired right up.

So unless I can catch it at home when its doing this I am stumped, I still think the coil, but why only when it rains? its not getting the least bit wet...

3 for 3 failing in the rain, 5-5 starting just fine when not raining (since this started happening)
 
donimo said:
So I just went to buy some stuff for work, started raining, came back out to the bike and it was doing the same thing, lights came on everything else works fine, no click or starting from the bike whatsoever.

I tried shorting the ground pit to the frame, still no go. Shorted the relay terminals, fired right up.

So unless I can catch it at home when its doing this I am stumped, I still think the coil, but why only when it rains? its not getting the least bit wet...

3 for 3 failing in the rain, 5-5 starting just fine when not raining (since this started happening)
Click to expand...
Don't try grounding to the frame. Where the solenoid grounds to the frame (with a screw) it isn't making a good ground. unscrew one screw from the solenoid mounting, put a wire with a ring terminal under that screw, screw it back down, run the other end of the wire with either a ring terminal or open ended terminal to the negative post of your battery, screw it down and it should be fine. I had the same problem with mine several years ago, I thought the solenoid had gone bad, etc., and all that was happening was it wasn't grounding properly.
 
I will give it a try, but if the frame isnt a good enough ground then nothing would work would it?

Mine has spade connectors but I gotcha
 
The problem here on your bike and many others is that the frame is corroded where it grounds to the solenoid, where the grounding strap is attached from the battery, and probably other spots. Without going through and cleaning all the corroded areas up, your best bet is to ground the solenoid direct to the battery ground. It's doing exactly what the frame would do, but doing it directly. That's what I had to do to make mine work, it was doing just like you describe yours, I wired in a momentary switch to use as a starter button until I figured out what was happening.
I've since grounded many more things to the battery via a terminal strip that has a wire from it to the neg post of the battery.
 
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