Graaaahhhhh buggery FXR bollocks

[jrandom]

My ignition circuit lay down and took a permanent nap about 2km before the Te Atatu offramp on the NW motorway this evening. Fortunately, I had enough forward momentum to coast across two lanes with the clutch in, frantically making 'outta the way!' signs at the cage drivers in my path.

And since Transit, in its infinite wisdom, saw fit not to provide the motorway bridge immediately before the offramp with any shoulder space, I had to push the FXR several hundred meters back down the motorway to get onto the pushbike track that goes across the bridge to the turn-off, and then push it another 4 km or so home.

Dr Bob and/or Big Dog have no idea (well, they will have *now*) how terribly, terribly close one of them came to housing a well-kicked and sworn at FXR overnight, before I decided that I might as well get some exercise while I had the opportunity and take it the rest of the way home.

Anyway, my father-in-law, praised be he, came past in his Landcruiser as I was sweating my way down Te Atatu road and gave me a rope-around-the-forks tow for the rest of the distance.

And I'm off out the back now, to prod at my fusey bits. If that doesn't work, expect a pathetic plea for electromechanical help on this forum in short order.

[Hitcher]

Good to see you starting to return to form, Jrandom. I was worried about the effect the latest bump to your head may have had. Still some room for improvement, but encouraging signs showing.

[NC]

Time to trade it in, me thinks.

[erik]

Just a guess, but with all the rain we've had today, maybe it's shorting out the sparkplug lead?
You could try drying it a bit with a cloth or something and spraying some CRC or WD40 into the plug cap if there is water in it.
I've done this before on a car where the engine had been steam cleaned and one of the cylinders wasn't firing. There was water in the sparkplug cap between a rubber boot and the plastic bit, and it was a bit dirty, and the spark was tracking through the water and out the side of the cap onto the cylinder head.

[dhunt]

Time to trade it in, me thinks.
What are on about??? That would be criminal to sell the poor FXR, after you've been through so much together.

Hopefully it's a simple fix, and not the lots $$$ fix.

[NC]

What are on about??? That would be criminal to sell the poor FXR, after you've been through so much together.

Hopefully it's a simple fix, and not the lots $$$ fix.

Ok, fair enough. The bike should sell the rider and get a better one :laugh:

[Antallica]

What's the point in selling anyway, the Fixxer is worth more in it's usefulness than it's value.

[riffer]

Hmmm. A suzuki with electrical problems. Who would have thought that would happen? :sly:

Its horrid when your pride and joy is giving you grief.

Hope you get it sorted soon jr.

[Motu]

What time was that? If I pass a stranded biker I like to do it on purpose,not by accident.Check your cut out switch - I've come across very bright computer geeks who sometimes hit them by mistake,easy to do if you're stupid.Disconnect the thing completely,they can short out to earth internaly.Start out with the easy stuff like that first,then confuse yourself by degrees.

[jrandom]

It was just the fuse in my ignition circuit gone 'boom'. Replaced fuse, fixed. I rather fancy the 'rain shorting sparkplug lead' theory, or something similar, particularly given that the poor wee thing's a bit battered and leaky following its recent pounding.

Heads up all n00bs and numpties, such as myself: know where your fuses are, and what they break current to. I had to get home and look it up in my owner's manual before I could fix it; it should have been a simple 5-minute roadside job with the handy-dandy underseat Suzuki toolkit.

I have a spare 30 amp fuse in my wallet now, and I know where to put it...


What time was that? If I pass a stranded biker I like to do it on purpose,not by accident. Check your cut out switch - I've come across very bright computer geeks who sometimes hit them by mistake,easy to do if you're stupid. Disconnect the thing completely,they can short out to earth internaly.

The bike took a nap at about 1745. I was pushing it for a further hour or so.

The cut-out switch was the first thing I tried on the side of the motorway. Twiddled it, disconnected the connections off the back of it, shorted the wires to the connections off the back of it in case it operated by *breaking* a circuit and had fallen apart internally, no joy.

[jrandom]

Its horrid when your pride and joy is giving you grief.

Innit just.

Good thing the FXR's not my pride and joy. It's just my unwashed, much-abused transport appliance.

It'd be rather nice to afford a two-wheeled pride-and-joy-mobile, but there *are* certain advantages to owning a motorcycle that you don't really care about in any sense other than its ongoing ability to proceed forwardsly.

[jrandom]

Good to see you starting to return to form, Jrandom.

In relation to breaking down, being fit enough to push a 120kg motorcycle four kilometers (ie, not particularly), or managing to avoid spelling errors in my post?


I was worried about the effect the latest bump to your head may have had.

It's OK. I bounce.

[Bonez]

It was just the fuse in my ignition circuit gone 'boom'. Replaced fuse, fixed. I rather fancy the 'rain shorting sparkplug lead' theory, or something similar, particularly given that the poor wee thing's a bit battered and leaky following its recent pounding.

Did you give the loom good going over to check for frayed wires? Also check to see if the battery in good condition if you haven't already done so. Glad you found the "problem".

[jrandom]

Glad you found the "problem".

I didn't. Fuse popped again 50 metres from my front door this morning.

Back to the old drawing board...

[Hitcher]

Mrs H had a similar fuse problem with her almost brand-new Marauder earlier this year. And it was in the Tangarakau Gorge! Amen to knowing where your fuses are!

[Milky]

Did you give the loom good going over to check for frayed wires?
That would be my guess - something not insulated somewhere, and shorting out with a bit of vibration or water. Unfortunately they are the hardest things to find and remedy... The good thing is a little bit of electrical tape can often fix your problem :)

[manuboy]

Hmmm. A suzuki with electrical problems. Who would have thought that would happen? :sly:

Its horrid when your pride and joy is giving you grief.

Hope you get it sorted soon jr.

Methinks Celtic, if JR owned any other brand of bike and gave it the same stick he'd be lucky to have it still running at all! C'mon - he's entered it into the Motorway bounce-bounce-flip-richochet contest, and it still runs.

Spent any cash keeping your Yammy running lately???? How those steering bushes looking????? :whistle:
:Pokey:

Cheeky bugger.....

[jrandom]

That would be my guess - something not insulated somewhere, and shorting out with a bit of vibration or water. Unfortunately they are the hardest things to find and remedy... The good thing is a little bit of electrical tape can often fix your problem :)

Yup. Swot it'll be. Water, I'm guessing, since it was fine until dumped upon in the rain yesterday.

I'll give it a going-over on the weekend, with whatever electrically-enlightened help I can get (VivaVee, be afraid...) and if I can't find the culprit, I suspect I'll have to trailer it into Holeshot next week and pay through the nose for them to repeat the exercise until it's fixed.

Oh, well, it's not too bad as a sole (presumably) item of functional damage from that crash. As Rincewind would say, no worries, eh?

[Posh Tourer :P]

I suspect I'll have to trailer it into Holeshot next week and pay through the nose for them to repeat the exercise until it's fixed.

Oh, well, it's not too bad as a sole (presumably) item of functional damage from that crash. As Rincewind would say, no worries, eh?

I wouldnt bother trailering it into holeshot until it does the fuse blowing thing reliably as soon as you start it. It takes too long and is too hard to find the problem of intermittent electrical faults (= astronomical labour costs) otherwise

[jrandom]

I wouldnt bother trailering it into holeshot until it does the fuse blowing thing reliably as soon as you start it.

Precisely how it's behaving right now, unfortunately.

I sincerely hope I can find something to fix on the weekend.

[Antallica]

It's all good, just remove all the plastic shite and have a real good look/feel. Also while you have most of the plastic off, proceed to convert front to naked styles.

:niceone:

[jrandom]

It's all good, just remove all the plastic shite and have a real good look/feel.

As it sits unmoving on my back porch with a blown fuse? :confused:

[Antallica]

Yeah but it blew the 2nd fuse didn't it, so it must be something more sinister.

[jrandom]

Yeah but it blew the 2nd fuse didn't it, so it must be something more sinister.

My point exactly.

I'm not looking forward to the piece-by-piece dissection of something I'm not familiar with and random associated multimeter proddings that will inevitably eat most of my coming Saturday, quite possibly without useful results.

[Kickaha]

Get shot of it,I'll give you a bag of green onion chips and a bottle of Jamesons for it :bleh:

[jrandom]

a bottle of Jamesons

Oohhhuruuuuggghhh.

Please don't mention bottles of Jamesons to me for a little while.

Thank you.

[Bonez]

My point exactly.

I'm not looking forward to the piece-by-piece dissection of something I'm not familiar with and random associated multimeter proddings that will inevitably eat most of my coming Saturday, quite possibly without useful results. A good way to get to no the thing a little more intermatlely

[Yamahamaman]

multimeter proddings that will inevitably eat most of my coming Saturday, quite possibly without useful results.
Are 2 mulitmeter's better than one? Quite happy to lend a hand if you need a second set of prods.

[Hitcher]

Oohhhuruuuuggghhh.
Please don't mention bottles of Jamesons to me for a little while.
Thank you.
Pah! Vatted malts. Philistines.

[vifferman]

Pah! Vatted malts. Philistines.
aLL whiskey tastes like turps anyway. IMO.
Rather drink coruba. :Punk:

[Hitcher]

aLL whiskey tastes like turps anyway. IMO.
Rather drink coruba. :Punk:
I see that some recalibration of my Philistinic alcoholic beverage scale is in order...

A 1-10 scale where:
1 = Creme de menthe and lemonade
2 = Vodka and lucozade
3 = Southern Comfort & coke
4 = Anything other than mineral water in whisky
5 = Brandy, with or without anything in it
6 = Coruba and any other dark rum for that matter, with or without mixers
7 = Parfait amour
8 = Schlivovitz
9 = Vatted malts
10 = American chemical beers (e.g. Budweiser & Miller)

[vifferman]

8 = Schlivovitz
Ha ha - the old "sleep in a ditch". :laugh:

10 = American chemical beers (e.g. Budweiser & Miller)
Hey don't knock the old budweasel. Seventeeen trillion yanks can't all be wrong. :apint:

[Eddieb]

As Rincewind would say, no worries, eh?

I'm going to meet him next tuesday, he is Wellingtown doing a seminar/speech thingy.

[jrandom]

8 = Schlivovitz

Yes.

Having once been served such, a while back, out of an clear plastic bottle (I'm not entirely sure that it was the genuine item from the Slivovitz distillery...) by recent (at the time) Serbian immigrants, I can attest to its Philistinic nature.

It's not 'arf bad, actually, if you like that sort of stuff.

Regarding Jameson's, one must at least admit that it is both cheaper and far more palatable than Johnnie Red.

[Hitcher]

Regarding Jameson's, one must at least admit that it is both cheaper and far more palatable than Johnnie Red.
Damned with faint praise?

[vifferman]

You shuld try kumys or shubat which both are very nice but hard to getin this cuontry. :third:

[Hitcher]

You shuld try kumys or shubat which both are very nice but hard to getin this cuontry. :third:
But are they a Philistine's beverage of choice?

[Dr Bob]

Hi JR

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, I have been driving my ute to work this week (complete with a ramp) but I don't remember driving past you. Today (in about 40 minutes) I take my bike in for certification. I bought it in 1988 and have many fond memories. I guess it is going to be a mixed blessing riding it to work every day when I have become so attached. The XJ has found a new home!!!! methinks it will be unrecognisable in a short while (if it hasn't become that way already) but I wasn't so attached to the XJ, I've only had it for 5 years.

If you need any help with the lecky give me a ring.

[FROSTY]

Random . If you wanna hand and gargre pace etc bring the beast to my place. I'm more than happy to help ya disect the machine and I might have a couple of clues on how to fix it for ya. -None involve a 50l petrol can and a match.
Actually the other thing is Ive got a headlight bracket setup that would be cool to try to convert ya bike to nekkid.

[The Pastor]

Ha ha - the old "sleep in a ditch". :laugh:

Hey don't knock the old budweasel. Seventeeen trillion yanks can't all be wrong. :apint:
uh, yeah they can be, they are americans. *starts singing "where all living in amerkia, cocacola wonderbra"*

[Hitcher]

*starts singing "where all living in amerkia, cocacola wonderbra"*
Danger: Grammar and spelling alert!!

Ahem... That's "We're all living in America"