Need help with a bike that dies please!

[mrlmd1]

If you are looking for a short, make sure you check the wiring inside the headlight bucket. Things get frayed as the wires pass into it or a connection may be loose or dirty in there. If the bike quit as you turned the bars that may be a place to look (or did it quit before you turned?) Either way, look in there.
It sounds more like you have a carb problem (ie, dirt) if it stills runs rough with a new battery (battery may have nothing to do with your problem). You may have a plugged idle jet and either carb cleaner or taking it apart and cleaning it would be a good idea if you have to ride it like that.

[soydeoax]

Looked for a short today. Removed tank and headlight. Lifted all wires from frame and didn't find any signs of wear. Unplugged and plugged back all connectors and didn't feel anything loose or corroded. I did find and two-wire male plug inside the headlight that didn't have anything connected to but didn't see any unplugged female plug anywhere in there. Started bike without a problem on first crank and ran very smooth. Battery was at 12.5 volts before start and stayed there or a bit below as bike was running and revving I'd say up to 4 or 5 thousand rpm. I unplugged the two-wire plug out of rectifier and was only getting up to 3 volts as I revved up and down.

Could a bad rectifier be causing my problem? (I did check the AC current going out of stator and get close to 60w from at least two of the three wires)

[alantf]

Originally Posted by soydeoax

I did find and two-wire male plug inside the headlight that didn't have anything connected to it

I'm assuming that the American/European bikes are fitted with a standard, universal, wiring harness. The European bikes have an extra 5W bulb in the headlight shell that comes on with the other lights. This is to comply with European (especially English) parking regs. I've checked the wiring diagram, and the 2-wire plug has a -ve, and a +ve coming from the ignition switch, so I assume that this connector is for the front parking light that stops on in the ignition switch "park" position.

[mrlmd1]

A battery at 12.5 V is about 25-30% discharged. It may take a while for the voltage to come up if it's that low. Put the battery on a charger and bring it up to 12.6-12.8V at full charge and them measure it the next day to see if it holds the charge. Also measure the voltage at the battery after you bring it up to full charge then with the engine running to see what your system is putting out. You might have a short or light on or something you haven't found yet drawing your system down. (That's in addition to cleaning the carb),
To Alan - those extra wires in there can be used as power plugs to wire up some low draw accessory, like a cellphone charger or GPS or something similar.

[5th_bike]

Thinking it over, it could also be a bad contact at the key. The way you describe things, it's like the bike is just being turned off with the ignition key. So check around there too, please. Or, if the bike does it again, see if wiggling the key a bit helps.

I'm afraid there is not much else to do than to go by up the wiring diagram in the owner's manual, and check all wires and connections related to starting/ignition/running.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

To Alan - those extra wires in there can be used as power plugs to wire up some low draw accessory, like a cellphone charger or GPS or something similar.

Sure - but like I said, that's only on the American bikes. My European bike has the front parking light connected to them, so our members from Italy etc wouldn't be able to connect anything to them. :2tup:

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by alantf

Sure - but like I said, that's only on the American bikes. My European bike has the front parking light connected to them, so our members from Italy etc wouldn't be able to connect anything to them. :2tup:

Alantf, is that front park light connector only powered up with the key in the park position ? Dumb question I guess but it would be useless to power anything else on an American or Canadian bike.

[alantf]

No, the front parking light is lit all the time the bike is running. It's a separate circuit from the ignition switch so that it also comes on in the "park" position like the rear lamp.

[mrlmd1]

Where is that front parking bulb located? It's on all the time when the ignition is on in addition to the headlight, and stays on in the key PARK position with the front side markers and rear lights on?

[alantf]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

Where is that front parking bulb located? It's on all the time when the ignition is on in addition to the headlight, and stays on in the key PARK position with the front side markers and rear lights on?

The bulb pops through a hole in the bottom of the headlight reflector. It's on all the time as well as the headlight. In "park", both this front light, and the rear light come on. There are no side markers on the European bikes (that's just an American thing) so the turn signals have a single filament bulb.