Gracious ! Light a candle in thanks. Well at least you have the R80RT to ride when you get back to feeling up to it. I once owned a 1982 R80RT while I lived in Madrid,,,,best bike I ever owned by far,,,,I should have gone through the hassle and expense of importing it into the US when I moved back here,,,I would still be riding itOriginally Posted by STEVENRANKIN
I keep the girl on the road now, just about 238,000 miles on her. She is my favorite bike by far. I liked the RS and always wanted one, now that I have had one and wrecked twice on it, I am done. LOL. St.
So, today I got back at it,,,I removed the diode board and tested it per the instructions EME graciously provided me. The diode board tested fine,,,the reason I wanted to test the board is due to something I read about installing an electronic ignition,,,they need a minimum voltage to operate properly and I wasn't sure if that was happening (I have had issues with what I thought was the charging system,,,I posted a series of messages about my issues earlier this year). Anyways, while riding the gen light would illuminate a bit (granted, with a KATDASH instrument and console light upgrade I came to understand that the gen light might stay lit a bit more than with stock console bulbs because the LEDs draw so much less power?). So, after awhile I pretty much ignored the gen light illumination (it was pretty mild).
When I removed the diode board I once again cleaned all the contacts and connectors and grounds before I reinstalled it. I also checked the starter relay,,,,and when I tried to remove the wire that goes to post 85 the plastic shield cracked and crumbled in my hands,,,,so, I replaced that connector (which showed quite a bit of corrosion under the metal connector). Per the wiring diagram I have Post 85 doesn't seem to have any relationship to charging or powering the coils . Since I had a spare starter relay I replaced it and double checked the rest of the connectors. I had planned to check the voltage regulator and stator and alternator per the instructions I received from EME, but thought I've changed somethings already,,,I'll put the bike back together and test ride it.
I took it out for a 30 mile ride and did not experience any of the hesitations I had been experiencing (and recently the hesitations would start showing up (sporadically) after about 5 miles or so and continue throughout a ride).
And, the gen light only flickered at idle (right about 1,000 RPMs) the instant I came up off of idle the light would go out. I took that as a positive sign.
When I got back to the garage the battery showed 13.04 VDC with the engine off.
So, at least I had a 30 mile ride without hesitations,,,,I'll see how things go on a longer ride later this week, but for now, fingers crossed, it runs much better.
I always advocate looking at the simple things first before going deeper. A ten cent terminal is better to replace than a high priced ignition module or what not. Glad you may have found your problem and have it fixed. Enjoy the riding. St.
Well, I thought I had solved the hesitation issue but I had not. For a brief spell, after double checking grounds and connections (changing those that looked sketchy), I was able to ride about 90 miles total in 3 rides without the hesitations,,,,then, they started appearing again and became even more pronounced and prevalent than before.
I talked to Rick at Motorrad about my ignition system (an Alpha Classic). The ignition system was with the bike but not installed when I inherited it,,,,so the system was about 3 years old, more or less. I described the symptoms and what I had tried to do to address the issue. He recommended (as others have on this forum) to go ahead and removed the system and reinstall the points. So I got some new points and AU return springs and installed those this morning,,timed the bike and took it for a ride.
It ran great. Granted, it was only about 25 miles (prior to replacing the points the bike would have started hesitating long before 25 miles) but there were no hesitations occurring anywhere in the RPM ranges/gears.
So, came back home, rebalanced the carbs, rechecked the timing with a strobe light,,,,all is good,,so far.
Rick thought it was possible the module was starting to go bad and that the age of the system put it around the time there had been some issues.
So, a Wedgetail is on order and should be here in Nevada in a couple of weeks !
I'll post an update when I get that installed, Thanks to everyone that read my posts and offered insight/advice/guidance and ideas,,,,very very much appreciated.
It is rare but it happens new parts are bad. Rick is a great guy to talk to and deal with I am glad he helped you out. I had a Wedgetail system on my 78RS and for the short time I rode it was VERY pleased with the performance increase and improvement on cold starting. Sadly I can's say much more because I only had less than a 1000 miles on it. The bike is now in the hands of my local airhead shop, I got a settlement from insurance, bought it for parts and sold it to my friend at the Beemer Barn. I think the Wedgetail will maybe end up on his R90S?
At least you found the problem fairly quickly, not like I did on my RT and you found a smoking gun, I never did on the RT. Enjoy the riding. St.
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