Difficult but easy ?

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fatboy · #1 Post by **fatboy** » Sun Mar 17, 2019 4:52 pm

The RC8 has been in its stable for a few weeks but on its last outing in the summer month of February the starter relay decided to retire from active service, new one bought, fitted and she fired up instantly.
Yesterday,went to start it in anticipation of good weather... click and dash display disappeared , fired up fine with a battery booster( voltage was 12.46), left the battery on charge , tried to start again with a voltage of 12.99 and same thing..
I'm thinking WTF, this is gonna get complicated. By chance I leaned over with my hand on neg terminal whilst stabbing the starter .......boom boom shake the room,spanners vibrating off the bench as she converts fuel into beautiful noise !
Weird bit, I never touched the negative when fitting the relay, 1/32 of a turn on the bolt fixed it

Greg · #2 Post by **Greg** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 12:33 am

I had a 950 S a few years ago and on the first day of a Morroccan ADV tour it decided to spuriously stop starting and lose its display. I'd stripped every bit of upper bodywork off trying to chase the problem and had just got to the battery which on those was mounted under the front of the motor. So, just as I was disconnecting the positive I touched the solenoid and the display came back, let it go then off it went again... hmmmm. Nothing was obviously loose, all connections noice and toight but it still lit up when I touched the solenoid. I ended up taking the solenoid off and was just about to smash it to shit when I checked the end of the high current cable from the battery and realised that while the cable's insulation was so thick it gave the impression that it was intact but the terminal was actually loose! What had happened was that the copper core had corroded inside the insulation and was down to two or three strands that occasionally rubbed together giving just enough juice to light things up... The main power feed for the bike was taken off ...... yes, the positive terminal of the solenoid hence the occasionall loss of display and ignition... I managed to extract the terminal - a big heavy duty fucker - and drilled out the remains of the cable that appeared to have been welded or brazed on. Once the other end of the cable had been tidied up enough to go into the newly drilled terminal the enormous cable crimping pliers I'd had the foresight to pack, along with the kitchen sink I'd also taken, came in handy to re-secure the terminal thus ensuring continuous continuity... Bodywork went back on and the tour did too .

Before you say - I'd driven down there with two bikes in a trailer hence the kitchen sinkage. To quote Dave Maxwell. "Overweight is under prepared" . Despite this I worked out that I was still close to 400kg fuelled and rolling. It was hard to pick up from sand...

Always went light after that.

Falcopops · #3 Post by **Falcopops** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 9:15 pm

Me and my mate Grumpy went to the Dragon rally about a thousand years ago, snow, rain, wind and general miserableness abounded. Trying to leave Grumpy's Gl100 wouldn't start, turning over real healthy, but nothing. Some Dutch guys chucked us a can of spray stuff (labelled in Dutch) that we thought was WD40esque and Grumpy was this close to spraying it into his points, when the dutch guys ran over in a panic because it was an ether quick start thing.

So eventually the fucker kicks up and runs sweet as. Cool, and we ride out, later at a lunch/defrost stop he owes up that the dodgy bar muffs he'd lashed up had flicked the kill switch!

Obviously I told everyone on the trip and we ripped the shit out of him mercilessly for days. I still bring it up when the opportunity arises, but I'm a bit of a c**t at the best of times

Falcopops · #4 Post by **Falcopops** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 9:16 pm

Me and my mate Grumpy went to the Dragon rally about a thousand years ago, snow, rain, wind and general miserableness abounded. Trying to leave Grumpy's Gl100 wouldn't start, turning over real healthy, but nothing. Some Dutch guys chucked us a can of spray stuff (labelled in Dutch) that we thought was WD40esque and Grumpy was this close to spraying it into his points, when the dutch guys ran over in a panic because it was an ether quick start thing.

So eventually the fucker kicks up and runs sweet as. Cool, and we ride out, later at a lunch/defrost stop he owes up that the dodgy bar muffs he'd lashed up had flicked the kill switch!

Obviously I told everyone on the trip and we ripped the shit out of him mercilessly for days. I still bring it up when the opportunity arises, but I'm a bit of a c**t at the best of times

BikerGran · #5 Post by **BikerGran** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 11:01 pm

Such a good story he had to post it twice!

Falcopops · #6 Post by **Falcopops** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 11:29 pm

In my defence I have been drinking, but not that much!

fatboy · #7 Post by **fatboy** » Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:32 pm

So good to hear it's not just me that does dumb shit like that !
That is a proper 'sat round the bar " tale

BikerGran · #8 Post by **BikerGran** » Tue Mar 19, 2019 10:25 pm

Even better, a 'sat round the rally fire' story!

fatboy · #9 Post by **fatboy** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 7:42 pm

Here's more dumb shit...
Took the "8' to work today as the weather is nice, got home, dumped the rucksack and leathers, went to put the beast back in the kennel and the main fuse blows...
Not a problem as there is a spare on the new starter relay I have just fitted !
Get fuse out of holder and drop it, it disappeared under the battery , shit , the only spare !
Remove battery, find fuse and then drop one battery screw refitting battery.
remove battery to look for screw, can't find so re fit battery with replacement screw only to find I have lost one of those little captive nuts that live in the battery terminal....
FFS

Falcopops · #10 Post by **Falcopops** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 7:36 pm

fatboy wrote:Here's more dumb shit...
Took the "8' to work today as the weather is nice, got home, dumped the rucksack and leathers, went to put the beast back in the kennel and the main fuse blows...
Not a problem as there is a spare on the new starter relay I have just fitted !
Get fuse out of holder and drop it, it disappeared under the battery , shit , the only spare !
Remove battery, find fuse and then drop one battery screw refitting battery.
remove battery to look for screw, can't find so re fit battery with replacement screw only to find I have lost one of those little captive nuts that live in the battery terminal....
FFS

That made me laugh out loud

BikerGran · #11 Post by **BikerGran** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:53 pm

Sometimes life is trying to tell you something.......

fatboy · #12 Post by **fatboy** » Fri Mar 22, 2019 7:33 pm

BikerGran wrote:Sometimes life is trying to tell you something.......

Like you are too tired to make sense of this so walk away and do it tomorrow when you feel remotely human again .....
And I did !
Had it all back together again in a few mins

BikerGran · #13 Post by **BikerGran** » Fri Mar 22, 2019 7:48 pm

Exactly that!

fatboy · #14 Post by **fatboy** » Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:32 pm

Life also tells me not to put the spare fuse in the holder, if needed again it will ping out of its holder and shoot down the little hole in the underseat tray and we will be back at the same rodeo !
Life also says put some tape over that hole !

katie1 · #15 Post by **katie1** » Mon Mar 25, 2019 6:08 pm

fatboy wrote:Here's more dumb shit...
Took the "8' to work today as the weather is nice, got home, dumped the rucksack and leathers, went to put the beast back in the kennel and the main fuse blows...
Not a problem as there is a spare on the new starter relay I have just fitted !
Get fuse out of holder and drop it, it disappeared under the battery , shit , the only spare !
Remove battery, find fuse and then drop one battery screw refitting battery.
remove battery to look for screw, can't find so re fit battery with replacement screw only to find I have lost one of those little captive nuts that live in the battery terminal....
FFS

This is how bikes work innit