Wilsons Sandbox

hey mark, well, as mph ive been getting between 45 and 50 on my 11 year old klr. im not exactly easy on my bike and its performed just about flawlessly to 49,000 miles, although it is giving some trouble now. dan shaw --- Mark Lamport wrote:

> I am new to the list and currently do no own a > KLR650 but am looking at. I own a Yamaha Venture, > Yamaha Grizzly, and a Honda XR600. > I just moved out of town and have 4 miles of gravel > road to traverse each day in my 34 mile comute. I > was wondering how many miles can you expect to get > on this 650? And what you all getting in gas > mileage? I do not like riding my Venture on gravel > and it only gets in the lower 30's for gas mileage. > > thanks. > > Mark Lamport > Peculiar, Missouri >

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Ok, it's been a rough couple of days, I've got a lot to share so go get a cup of coffee and relax a spell. First... Check battery and replace if necessary. Took my Interstate (made by Yausa) YB14L-2A battery to AutoZone. I didn't know the CCA rating so I guessed at 200. Put it on the machine 12.44V and the machine didn't work, It didn't cycle through the test, the very intelligent staff member there informs me that my battery is good as it didn't even budge from 12.44 V I'm a really nice guy and I didn't want to hurt this IDIOT'S feelings so I left with a smile. I learned from the Professor that the rating was 190 CCA, not a bad guess on my part. Next morning, I go to NAPA... clerk couldn't even conjure up a "good morning, what can I help you with?" I ask him to load test it, he goes back to a rear bench, in plain sight, pulls out a Multimeter, Sticks the leads on it and returns to the front counter. "Battery is fine it's got 12.31 Volts" OK so I'm still a really nice guy so I thank him for his time and I'm out the door. Then I go to a well respected autoshop where they actually turn wrenches. Go to Service Dept and ask for a load test. This guy knew all the right questions... Was it charged? What is the CCA rating? I instantly had a sigh of releif. He guides me back to the garage and unveils the Bear Pace 400... OOOOOOOOO! I smile. He fires it up, as it is PC controlled, he enters the Battery Tester Program Module... I'm really smiling now.. He hooks up the leads, the program tests the temperature of the battery, asks for the CCA rating, then it starts whirring and clicking and .... Big Smiles at this point. It reads 12.41V at rest, it loads it for X seconds and the loaded voltage is 8.93, resting went back up to 12.13 then loaded went back down to 8.89, the resting returned to 12.10 and with 150 available CCA. Result... LOW CHARGE per the nifty device. The service guy recommends a night on the trickle charger and then return in the Morning (today). Went straight from the charger to the autoshop. Fired up the System again and WHHOOOO HOOOOO! 13.47 rest, 10.03 loaded, 12.67 rest and 10.01 loaded. Available CCA 226. Battery tested "Good" per the nifty device. So my battery is good, I'm convinced. Second.... bench test the CDI. There's something about the internal power supply and circuitry on a DMM that makes them useless for testing our CDI's. We aren't testing resistors inside the "black box" we are testing diodes, transistors and op-amps. So with that said, you MUST use an ANALOG ohm-meter to test your CDI. Trust me. So I dug out an old analog meter and began. OLD CDI : the following is the data as it should be entered in the table on P. 14-10 of the Supplement for the A2 - open open open open open open 10 - (short) 14 open (short) 3 10 (short) - 14 open 0 3 140 85 85 - open 85 90 open open open open - open open 10 (short) 0 14 open - 3 14 (2.6) 3 17 open 3 - The data in Parentheses is data that is out of the specified range per the table. It indicates that there are internal shorts that shouldn't be shorts. FRIED! I'll spare you the data on the NEW CDI but I will say that it checks out within specs for each data cell on the table. Third..... I spoke with a very well respected electronic-mechanical guru....... I also spoke with several M/C service shops. The guru concurred with the notion that CDI's "Just Die" HOWEVER, CDI's can be killed so being the bonding fool that I am .... I gotta make sure of things. One thing that can Kill a CDI is running the bike with no battery. Fine for a bike with points but not fine for a bike with Electronic Ignition. OK I have a battery. A dead, as in hopeless, battery can also kill a CDI, so make sure that the battery is a good one. See Above Check A charging system putting out more voltage than it's supposed to (ie. bad reg/rectifier) can shorten a CDI's life. I have new components from Electrex, the static test on the Stator checks out. I still haven't gotten around to doing the static test on the reg/rectifier. Hopefully today. A ground fault in the harness, an open in the harness or at the battery, will spell certain doom for a CDI. I've checked for a ground fault on the exciter, pick up coil and the harness to the CDI. Nothing, I've even wiggled pulled and shook everything to try and find/make one. My battery terminals are very, as in FLIPPIN' VERY clean. My hot cables have been sent through the testing paces and it's not them. My negative cables have also been sent through the paces and it's not them. The connections at either end are also FLIPPIN' VERY clean. All my frame grounds are good grounds and very tight. SO HHMMMMM....I still have some figuring to do.... See.... if my charging system isn't keeping my battery charged and the battery is as good as dead at the end of the day of riding trails, then that could be a contributor..... but if my charging system checks out.... well I don't know, I just need to test the reg/rectifier and then do a dynamic test of the charging system. So as the Professor has guessed... my next step is to go for a ride and verify the charging system. Still haven't gotten to the starter yet... Sigh... I wanna ride *Sniff* The starter has been less and less intermittent. It must know that it better behave or I'll tear it apart. LaterZ Dash At 02:00 AM 7/29/2000 +0000, Jim Hyman wrote:

>While performing the CDI tests, my digital multi meters >(DMM) gave results that indicated most of the circuits >under test were 'open' (no continuity). My FLUKE 73 >meter is auto-ranging and even when I locked in a test >range (1k ohms) nothing changed. My other meter requires >you to select the proper test range and my results were >no different. > >Keep in mind that a bench or static test is usefull in >determining if an electrical component is bad. Just >because it checks out ok doesn't mean that it will work >properly or reliably in real world use. Vibration and/or >heat can cause an electrical component to fail or operate >intermittently. This applies to alternators, voltage >regulators, ignition coils and even fuses or light bulbs. > >Sometimes the best test is to substitute a known working >unit & see if the problem disappears. The danger with this >approach is if another component or problem caused the >initial problem & ends up nuke-ing the replacement unit. > >I'll hazard a guess that Dash's CDI unit may have failed >due to a problem with the charging system or a failing >battery. Electronic ignitions have been known to give up >the ghost for no apparrent reason, they just die. > >If I were fixing Dash's bike, I would install a good battery >and verify that the charging system is operating properly >during an extended test ride. If the ignition/tach problems >persisted, I would then swap out the CDI unit. I think that >this is Dash's game plan, even if he gets valid CDI test >results with an analog meter. We'll just have to stay tuned >to the ongoing soap opera/bonding sessions. > >Professor A9 Federal Way, WA. [USA]