Burnin Beaucoup Breakers 2000 Skorpion Tour

[MattyP]

All,

my bike is no longer abandoned in Horicon, Wi however it still doesnt' like to run for more than a few hundred feet at a time. I'm hoping here for some ideas, here's my backstrory.

The initial breakdown was at about 65, running smooth then there was a backfire and I lost all my power. The main (visible) evidence of a problem was a burnt out 15a fuse in the set of three (not one the of the singletons - all of which survived) under the seat.

A buddy and I went out with a truck to get it, changed the fuse, drove it to the end of a driveway and the fuse burned out again. Tried a second fuse (just because hope sometimes works) and it burnt quickly as well.

Thanks to recommendations from members of the forum here I swapped out a couple of relays with the same results - nearly as soon as the bike was in gear the same fuse burnt out.

Next thing was to take the tank off and try to find loose wire(s) that could be grounding out. I don't really know what I'm doing under there, but I gave various and sundry wires pretty good tugs, everything seems nice and tight.

So now I'm kind of at a loss. This issue seems to be only happen when the bike is in gear - I can leave it to idle for 1/2 hour or more, but once I put her in gear and roll forward the fuse burns out within 100ft. It doesn't seem to be realted to the number of flashers or high beams or horns I run - I can't get it to die unless its in gear and rolling.

Thanks ahead of time for any suggestions,
Matt

[DAVID THOMPSON]

files for the wiring drawings
and i am looking at drawing to see what is shorting out
explane where the fuse is that blows again
dave

[MattyP]

I beleive it is the 15a fuse in the box labeled 25 in the file. It runs from the battery to
what appears to be a relay (K7) and the 'rectifier' (voltage?)
thermal switch for cooling fan
one of the big plugs under the gas tank.

But again, this (electronics) is not something I know anything about.

Thanks
matt

[billr]

So now I'm kind of at a loss. This issue seems to be only happen when the bike is in gear - I can leave it to idle for 1/2 hour or more, but once I put her in gear and roll forward the fuse burns out within 100ft. It doesn't seem to be realted to the number of flashers or high beams or horns I run - I can't get it to die unless its in gear and rolling.
Thanks ahead of time for any suggestions,
Matt

Matt,
Can you rev the engine in neutral without a problem?
I had a similar thing going on with another bike. I was blowing headlight bulbs (wired directly to the stator output, not the battery). Turns out one of the rectifier wires had a poor connection and way over 12 volts was hitting the wiring.
At idle, everything was fine, all I had to do was rev it over 3k rpm...and POP went the bulb...
Bill

[djsbriscoe]

Is your neutral light working OK? Does putting down the sidestand with the bike in gear kill the engine? Does the engine kill switch kill the engine? Have you checked for any loose earth wiring?

David.

[MattyP]

Bill,

I can run her all day in neutral, I havn't tried really giving it to her, but I've given it a good slug of gas while in neutral with no problems.

David,

The kill switch works, and dropping the kickstand in gear also kills the engine. Neutral light works fine (until the whole thing craps out). I did notice one day that my head light seemed a bit dim, but that may have just been me, not the light since it wasn't an issue the next time I got her started up.

Given the wiring diagrams from Dave T and some other posts I've read on the forum about folks having problems with the rectifier I'm setting my aim there for the moment. This sadly sounds like a job for a shop since it seems like I don't have the stuff to 'set the curve' correctly.

Matt

[djsbriscoe]

Are your brake lights working OK? If the problem was related to the rectifier surely increasing the engine revs would cause the problem. As the fuse blows when you put it in gear does this happen as soon as you release the clutch, or is it when you apply the brakes after a short run. I'm thinking there could be a short somewhere in the brake light circuit.Try a new fuse and test if it's related to the brakes being applied.

David.

[MattyP]

David,

That sounds about right, hadn't thought to see if it was related to the brakes. But when I think about it, it very well could be related to the brakes rather than being in gear. Sounds like a good use of the last fuse in my box.


Thanks
,att

[billr]

Bill,
I can run her all day in neutral, I havn't tried really giving it to her, but I've given it a good slug of gas while in neutral with no problems.
Matt

Mine would blow the second I blipped the throttle.

David's description on the brakes is one to check, as you said.
I hate electric gremlins...
BillR

[DAVID THOMPSON]

i have been working on electrical 55 years and it still stinks
some times its just almost imposable to find
but the tail lamps on some of these bikes have been know to cause problems
by falling apart maybe David hit it
when you do sort it out let us know
and a THOUGHT
a front or rear brake switch may be shorting to ground instead of sending power to the light
i have had several fail on my rt125 they just stopped working
but shorting out internally is an other possibility
dave

[djsbriscoe]

Matt,
Did you get this sorted? What was the problem?

David.

[MattyP]

I just got back from a vacation to the west coast and havn't had time to futz with it. My folks are visiting the area this week - so I'm unlikely to be able to mess with it at all until next week - at this point I'll be happy to get it up and running before the snow starts flying. I've got some good suggestions to run with though thanks all.

[MattyP]

So I wound up taking the bike to the local shop (Motorcycle Performance, Madison, Wi - they sold me the bike and have another in stock - service review to follow). They told me over the phone that they replaced a circuit breaker of some sort associated with the battery. I will give more details when I know more. I suspect that they dropped my bike (!) while loading it on a trailer (according to a trusted neighbor's testimony) more on that later as well.

Thanks for the help all

Matt

[Srinath]

A bike dying under load but running fine in neutral is very likely carburetion.
You could rev all day to redline and never cross 1/8 throttle in idle. You put some load on it and get on it in 3-4th gear ... and you need 1/2 throttle to get anywhere near redline.
A bike that dies as soon as you put in gear = electrical.
I'm curious as to what happened too.
Cool.
Srinath.

[MattyP]

I forgot to finish this thread off.

So, What they did was simply boot up (insulate) the connections in the breaklight assembly. They also replaced a 15a fuse with a breaker. Just for sh*ts and giggles I replaced the breaker with a fuse and it ran just fine, no shutdowns. I keep the breaker in just in case, but it seems that insulating the breaklight asembly stopped the short.

As far as dropping the bike putting it on the trailer - who knows, they denied denied denied. My neightbor is reliable, and was unemployed at the time - so she was a perfect candidate for neightborhood watch! She said they dropped it on the left side. When I asked them about it at the shop the guy said that "nobody had dropped your bike. But, the clutch handle was almost falling off when we got it - so we replaced it... gratis." Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like a line of bullshit?

I never took my bike back there. To my knowledge (which is pretty intimate as the bike's owner) there was no problem with the clutch handle before they took the bike to the shop and there was (I think) a new scuff on the bar-end weight. No plastic/tank/other bits are damaged that I noticed. So I guess in the end it only about principles. Now that I don't live there any more it doesn't really matter to me. I'd tell you guys who they were, but I can't confirm or deny my neighbor's charges - so it seems a little extreme to tarnish their reputation for what is probably one stoner douchebag who can't push a bike up a ramp. They know MZ's pretty well, did right by the electrical problem, and did half right by replacing the clutch handle but did pretty wrong by lying to me about dropping the bike. C'est la.

Matt