Electrics, fueling fixed now cooling problems..

[jackm]

Went out for my first ride...got all of 5 enjoyable miles when it bogged down and cut out. I tried turning it over but got nothing...so i presumed the battery is dead.

My dad told me when he's been looking after the bike the battery has been running flat over 2 weeks. It gets linked up to an optimate..

So I have just brought a new battery from halfords (only place open and got to get home on it tomorrow). On the book it says i need a ytx7a-bs. 12v 6ah (also what haynes tells me). The battery on there before had a 12v 8ah which I have just noticed. Will this have done anything to my bike?

Also rearding reg/rect. I can't do the test now as the bike isn't running but if it was draining over 2 weeks when the bike wasn't running this suggests that its the battery?

Help!! Thanks

Jack

[Neosophist]

It's been running flat when not being used?

This would point to either a shorted out wire or a knackered battery.

With these bikes you must always look into what's killed the battery if the battery is dead.

This is usually a combination of the regulator / rectifier & genny failing.

I wouldn't rush out to get the wrong battery as you can test your Reg/Rec with the old one.

Just charge the battery up enough to get it running and measure the voltage across the battery with the bike at idle and the bike at 5000rpm and get back to me

[jackm]

yes its been in the garage for a month as i was waiting to pass my test..so my dad started it like every week or so and let it run for a while. But he noticed in between doing this when previously charged it would almost be flat...


at 5000 rpm it was 13.6v which i believe is in the range of ok?

I didn't check it at idle...

[jackm]

forgot to mention i also did continuity checks on the wire block for reg/rect and they all were ok. Tried doing the resistance between red/white and yellow but was v confused at what range to use the resistance on. My meter kept saying 1 (i.e not in range) and I tried it for all the settings. Not electrically minded.

I got a new battery on it as I reasoned the battery (don't know how old) was loosing charge without being run so nothing to do with the r/r.

[Neosophist]

forgot to mention i also did continuity checks on the wire block for reg/rect and they all were ok. Tried doing the resistance between red/white and yellow but was v confused at what range to use the resistance on. My meter kept saying 1 (i.e not in range) and I tried it for all the settings. Not electrically minded.

I got a new battery on it as I reasoned the battery (don't know how old) was loosing charge without being run so nothing to do with the r/r.

Easy way to test that is to charge the battery off the bike with an optimate.. Mesure the charge about 12 hours later as this allows the 'float' charge to dissipate.

Check the battery every few hours after that and see if the voltage is visibly dropping. A knackered battery will discharge itself very quicky.

The VFR doesn't charge at idle.. so if your dad was only idling the bike this could drain the battery.

13.6 is a little low but i've seen worse.

What voltage is it putting at idle.

And to test the genny you want to meausre the resistance beween each of the 3 yellow wires.. should be 0.1 - 1ohm.

There should be no resistance between any of the yellow wires and earth.

[jackm]

Ok thanks for the help, ill do the checks on the yellow. what is the scale on the multi meter I should be using?

Just started the bike, road about 200m then it cut out. Tried starting it again as I thought I let the choke off a little early...No joy, it seemed to be trying to turn over but there was no fuel coming through? Then you would get an occasional splutter but not enough to let it start.

So we whipped off the tank and had a look at the fuel tap, fuel filters fine, fuel diaphragm seems fine. There was 2 pipes coming off, one is the fuel the other is the vacuum pipe right and theres an extra nozzle? The vacuam pipe wasn't connected to anything on the other end. I read in haynes that its a vacuum pump and gets the vacuum from the engine, but it doesn't show where the other end goes! On top of the tank you have the breather which leads to a 3 way split, one goes into the engine, one doesnt go any where. Is this right? Either way I can't see how there is a vacuum being created and haynes manual is pretty useless unless you have prior knowledge.

But it ran fine for 5 miles on Sat? so if its fuel somethings happened between now and then...

I am going to take it to a mechanics, double take, in southampton as the bloke races honda's old 250 2 stroke so might have a bit of knowledge (alot more than me!).

Could it be anything else, are we clutching at straws with the fuel issue? The bike only has 11k on the clock and it looked in good condition, the guy I brought it off seemed very knowledgeable (Mark Deacon from Gloucester) and has a few other nc30's and said he had rebuilt it. He seemed to know what he was doing and not about to rip me off.

Thanks for all your help...Rusty start to owner ship, pretty gutted since I wanted to ride it home this weekend but its now once again stuck in southampton (and myself!).

Help is much appreciated. Cheers Jack

[Neosophist]

The breather on the top is exactly what you've said.. a breather.. this vents to the atmosphere so does go no where :)

The tank has two pipes yes... a fuel pipe and vacuumn pipe.. the 'extra' nipple is to let the air move to allow the diaphram to pull.

It sounds like your pipes come off the engine and you have no fuel :D

The other end of the vaccumn tap vaccumn pipe goes to one of the cylinders on the bike.. half way up you have a spigot the pipe connects to, the suction from the pistons opens the diaphram and lets fuel out! :D

I can't remember what cylinder it's on on the NC30 but if you look around you should find it

[jackm]

ok, its good to know we found the problem..

I found this viewtopic.php?f=24&t=18259

So we have an idea of where it is. Sounds like it's tricky to put on with the carbs on though. Unfortunately I am not with my bike so my dads doing it for me and he's off to Le Mans tomorrow so will have to wait a week or so.

I will get him to do the genny checks and the idle once its running!

Once again thanks for your help.

[jackm]

hmm vacuum hose re-attached, no joy.

There wasn't any clips on it in the first place so it might not be on tight enough. Still..is there any other reason fuel might not be getting in? Filters are clean.

Cheers

jack

[jackm]

I've ordered a new hose & clips I will see if this heals it!

Is it worth planning a weekend and doing the carb DIY to clean it out and see if there any issues inside?

Cheers

Jack