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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: College Station, Texas
Posts: 138
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Multi-problemed bike (electrical + ???)
I don't even know where to begin... I have a 2003 GZ250 with 8,046 miles on it that I suspect is having multiple problems. It broke down back in October when I was on my way out to the Texas Renaissance Festival, then some friends who work out there said they'd see what they could do, but they were busy and only got around to ruling out a couple of things before the Fest was over. By the time I got it back it was finals, then I went back to Oregon for winterbreak, so my bike's been sitting around worsening.
The current (haha) most pressing issue is that the battery is losing charge super fast. I had a friend come over to help me poke around at it and he brought a tender over, the tender would charge it up, then we'd stop it and watch the voltage plummet about a tenth of a volt per second. It would always slow down eventually. Before we hooked up the tender, the lights would turn on and it would try to start, but various times after that the lights were barely visible. I started following the service manual trouble shoot guide for battery running down quickly
In addition to that, I've got a fair amount of oil on the cooling fins, much like kongje did in his thread "Source of oil leak?" It looks like the respondents to that thread said to tighten the exhaust bolts (I guess these are the same "EXHAUST PIPE BOLTS" mentioned in the periodic maintenance section of the service manual?) and there was a bunch of talk about gaskets and o-rings which were variously disputed... but would a leak there cause oil loss when the bike isn't running? I could have sworn I had oil back when my bike broke down, but I don't appear to have any now (yes, I checked with the bike upright, I even leaned it to that side.) I haven't noticed any fluid spots of any sort under my bike, where could the oil have gone? :confused: Other than that... the bike doesn't go. Even when the battery seems to have a charge (lights turn on, and start-y noises happen [my friend said it sounded like it was turning over]). Spark plug's new, carb's been cleaned, I believe my Rennie friend said something about spraying starter fluid somewhere and it not helping. His conclusion was that I needed to do a compression test, but I guess first I should get my electric system in order... right? I'd really like my bike to be running when my next job starts in 2 weeks... do y'all figure it would be more likely to happen if I sent it to a shop or can I try to fix it on my own (/with help from more knowledgeable, better tooled friends). My fears with sending it to a shop is that they might take a long time to fix it (since they have other bikes to deal with) and/or, they might cost so much that I can't afford it (I'm tight on money until this job starts up)... my fears with attempting to do it myself is that I might mess it up and/or have to send it to the shop after all anyway. Sorry for being super long winded. Conciseness has never been a strong point of mine. Actual Problem and Lessons Learned (So someone coming on this thread later doesn't have to read all of it [spoiler alert]) The actual problem keeping the bike from starting was that the cam shaft had snapped in half. This was found after running all the basic easy tests (new gas, check for spark, etc), I checked for compression with a compression kit borrowed from the mechanic down the street, found it wanting, checked to see what the valves were doing, they weren't moving at all, checked to see what was up with the cams and found the problem. Pictures of that mess on pg 14. Suspicion is that the break was either due to shearing force caused by parts not moving right because of low oil, or perhaps due to manufacturing flaw. The battery problems described above were fixed by taking it in to be charged at the mechanic, we must have failed to charge it correctly with my friend's charger. Lessons learned: (added as I review the thread)
Login or Register to Remove Ads Last edited by ImaginativeFig; 10-05-2014 at 04:57 PM. |
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Tags |
electrical, oil, problems, troubleshooting, won't start |
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