Ixion
26th June 2005, 23:44
(interesting lesson in not jumping to conclusions though)
Finished werk today, with an hour or so of daylight left. So it seemed a good idea to take Li'l Ratty for a short pootle . Up to Silverdale, along the Wainui Rd to Kaukop and back down SH16.
All good and pootling along happily at 110 or so. Then a guy in a V8 Commodor comes up behind and zips past and starts winding in some serious speed . Oh , be my guest, happy to have you in front. First in line, cops the fine.
And I'd been hankering to know what Li'l Ratty would wind up to . So, here I had a rabbit to hide behind. Off we go, and he was going at a nice clip (either that or he though I was racing him, which I wasn't . I just wanted him flush the cops out).
Anyway after a bit of good fastish stuff (well fastish for me anyway, I know it's nothing to you sportsbikers), Mr Rabbit turns off down a side road.
Oh well, that was fun (just over the (imperial) ton indicated by the way - about what the spec claims allowing for speedo error).
Sit up, back off throttle and allow engine braking to take me down to about 90kph. Nice and legal again. Then open the throttle to pootle off again.
WTF. Something is sick. Misfiring stammering jerking like a sick thing. Oh shit shit what have I done. Over-revving ? Bent valve ? Cam chain jumped ? Oh bugger
Pull in the clutch and coast down to about 20kph. Hm, idling OK, no nasty noises, no sign of oil , blip it a bit, sounds OK. check plug lead other obvious stuff. Hm, maybe I just fouled a plug - or the vibration shook some shit into the carby? Pain if it's a plug cos I haven't got a plug spanner with me. In fact I have no tools whatsoever. Nada. Zilch. And the plug is one of those stupid 18mm ones, that no-one will have a spanner for.
However, fouled plugs on a 4 stroke will often clear themselves. So, press on and see,
So on I go but the misfiriing is getting worse and now it's being accompanied by some ferocious backfiring through the exhaust, and a distinct lack of power.
Hell, maybe I did bend a valve. Shouldn't have though, cos I had a coupla thousand rpm left (it's overgeared)
Head for home, boy. Turn left at Waitoki instead of right. Stagger along spluttering and coughing at 90kph. Until it starts missing REALLY badly, slows down to about 50kph and then makes a FORMIDABLE exhaust explosion (I had to check I hadn't blown the innards out of the silencer) , and the motor stops completely. Oh hell, bugger of a place to break down too.
Coast to a halt, what have I broken. Sounds serious. Fark, I should never have gotten carried away. The biker gods are punishing me for breaking speed limits. Or something.
Hm. Odd. I don't have any electrics. None at all. Whats going on here.
Very odd. Pull off the seat (a major task in itself I may add), and check battery. Looks OK. Hm, reset the circuit breaker. Ah, we have power. Try to start. Eureka, at least it starts (always a relief, that) . Off again, and a mile up the road, it's splutter, bang, bang , durrrgggghhhhh again. And again, no electrics.
I know you're impatient people, so I'll skip the logical trouble shooting process and tell you the result. Dud tail light. Yep, all of that, due to the tail light.
Bad bit of design, the cable for the rear lights runs through a hole in the bulb holder. Which is earthed, And vibration had chafed the wire on the metal until it wore through. Since I ride with lights on , the short was enough to knock out ignition , but because it uses a circuit breaker instead of a fuse, it didn't blow immediately. Backfiring was just the unburnt mixture going off. And eventually the short lasted long enough to pop the C/B.
So I had my first roadside repair session in quite a while.(By now twas too dark to risk riding without lights unless I really had to) . With only a Swiss Army knife for a toolkit (thank heavens I had that though).
Some inspired rewiring later, push the button, off we go and it's all good . Wahoo.
Until I start down Albany Hill.Splutter bang Durrrgggghhhh. Bugger. Stop, check my jury rig wiring, looks OK, restart, and off again.
Get as far as the Harbour Bridge, and durrrggghhh again. Luckily just by the bit where the cops hang out, where there's plenty of room to stop. Jury rig still looks good, restarts OK, and off again. Hm what's going on now. Over the bridge (fingers crossed) OK, and then into Hobson St (going to go down Gt Sth Rd, don't fancy the motorway on a dodgy bike). And durrrrggghhh. Except this time I noticed it happened just as I indicated.
Seat off again, and I realise whats happened. The original short got things hot enough to cook the loom, so that now the indicator and brake light wires are naked under the loom covering. And able to touch the equally naked earth wire. So when I brake or indicate it shorts.
More on the spot rewiring gets me a brake light, and I just won't use indicators (hand signal instead).
All good after that, and home OK. All fixed now, nice new wiring, lotsa silicone, and some revised mountings.
Shame on you Li'l Ratty, letting the side down.
Goes to show not to jump to conclusions though. Cos it happened immediately after I backed off from fanging it, I assumed that I'd overstressed something. Nothing to do with it, just a coincidence. But who would have though misfiring, backfiring and jerking under load would be a faulty tail light !
Must organise some sort of tool kit too. I've gotten complacent about the reliability of Jap bikes. Oddly I do carry a reasonably good kit on the Whale, just cos it's got plenty of room. Trouble with Li'l Ratty , is it doesns't really have a tool box. I'll have to improvise something.
Finished werk today, with an hour or so of daylight left. So it seemed a good idea to take Li'l Ratty for a short pootle . Up to Silverdale, along the Wainui Rd to Kaukop and back down SH16.
All good and pootling along happily at 110 or so. Then a guy in a V8 Commodor comes up behind and zips past and starts winding in some serious speed . Oh , be my guest, happy to have you in front. First in line, cops the fine.
And I'd been hankering to know what Li'l Ratty would wind up to . So, here I had a rabbit to hide behind. Off we go, and he was going at a nice clip (either that or he though I was racing him, which I wasn't . I just wanted him flush the cops out).
Anyway after a bit of good fastish stuff (well fastish for me anyway, I know it's nothing to you sportsbikers), Mr Rabbit turns off down a side road.
Oh well, that was fun (just over the (imperial) ton indicated by the way - about what the spec claims allowing for speedo error).
Sit up, back off throttle and allow engine braking to take me down to about 90kph. Nice and legal again. Then open the throttle to pootle off again.
WTF. Something is sick. Misfiring stammering jerking like a sick thing. Oh shit shit what have I done. Over-revving ? Bent valve ? Cam chain jumped ? Oh bugger
Pull in the clutch and coast down to about 20kph. Hm, idling OK, no nasty noises, no sign of oil , blip it a bit, sounds OK. check plug lead other obvious stuff. Hm, maybe I just fouled a plug - or the vibration shook some shit into the carby? Pain if it's a plug cos I haven't got a plug spanner with me. In fact I have no tools whatsoever. Nada. Zilch. And the plug is one of those stupid 18mm ones, that no-one will have a spanner for.
However, fouled plugs on a 4 stroke will often clear themselves. So, press on and see,
So on I go but the misfiriing is getting worse and now it's being accompanied by some ferocious backfiring through the exhaust, and a distinct lack of power.
Hell, maybe I did bend a valve. Shouldn't have though, cos I had a coupla thousand rpm left (it's overgeared)
Head for home, boy. Turn left at Waitoki instead of right. Stagger along spluttering and coughing at 90kph. Until it starts missing REALLY badly, slows down to about 50kph and then makes a FORMIDABLE exhaust explosion (I had to check I hadn't blown the innards out of the silencer) , and the motor stops completely. Oh hell, bugger of a place to break down too.
Coast to a halt, what have I broken. Sounds serious. Fark, I should never have gotten carried away. The biker gods are punishing me for breaking speed limits. Or something.
Hm. Odd. I don't have any electrics. None at all. Whats going on here.
Very odd. Pull off the seat (a major task in itself I may add), and check battery. Looks OK. Hm, reset the circuit breaker. Ah, we have power. Try to start. Eureka, at least it starts (always a relief, that) . Off again, and a mile up the road, it's splutter, bang, bang , durrrgggghhhhh again. And again, no electrics.
I know you're impatient people, so I'll skip the logical trouble shooting process and tell you the result. Dud tail light. Yep, all of that, due to the tail light.
Bad bit of design, the cable for the rear lights runs through a hole in the bulb holder. Which is earthed, And vibration had chafed the wire on the metal until it wore through. Since I ride with lights on , the short was enough to knock out ignition , but because it uses a circuit breaker instead of a fuse, it didn't blow immediately. Backfiring was just the unburnt mixture going off. And eventually the short lasted long enough to pop the C/B.
So I had my first roadside repair session in quite a while.(By now twas too dark to risk riding without lights unless I really had to) . With only a Swiss Army knife for a toolkit (thank heavens I had that though).
Some inspired rewiring later, push the button, off we go and it's all good . Wahoo.
Until I start down Albany Hill.Splutter bang Durrrgggghhhh. Bugger. Stop, check my jury rig wiring, looks OK, restart, and off again.
Get as far as the Harbour Bridge, and durrrggghhh again. Luckily just by the bit where the cops hang out, where there's plenty of room to stop. Jury rig still looks good, restarts OK, and off again. Hm what's going on now. Over the bridge (fingers crossed) OK, and then into Hobson St (going to go down Gt Sth Rd, don't fancy the motorway on a dodgy bike). And durrrrggghhh. Except this time I noticed it happened just as I indicated.
Seat off again, and I realise whats happened. The original short got things hot enough to cook the loom, so that now the indicator and brake light wires are naked under the loom covering. And able to touch the equally naked earth wire. So when I brake or indicate it shorts.
More on the spot rewiring gets me a brake light, and I just won't use indicators (hand signal instead).
All good after that, and home OK. All fixed now, nice new wiring, lotsa silicone, and some revised mountings.
Shame on you Li'l Ratty, letting the side down.
Goes to show not to jump to conclusions though. Cos it happened immediately after I backed off from fanging it, I assumed that I'd overstressed something. Nothing to do with it, just a coincidence. But who would have though misfiring, backfiring and jerking under load would be a faulty tail light !
Must organise some sort of tool kit too. I've gotten complacent about the reliability of Jap bikes. Oddly I do carry a reasonably good kit on the Whale, just cos it's got plenty of room. Trouble with Li'l Ratty , is it doesns't really have a tool box. I'll have to improvise something.