Picked up a '97 max, won't stay running.. Please help

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dwarf717 said:
check the charging system
Click to expand...
Use "RaWarrior's" algorithm http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=19108 for electrical system trouble-shooting. I think it has been made a sticky, under 'electrical.'

I had been using my bike since getting it back on the road late last year, and the charging system needed a battery & voltage regulator. I continued to use the bike, no issues w/the electrics. Then I swapped-on a set of Stage 7 carbs I had, & when the bike went back on the road, 'bad stator!' That was replaced & no issues. Assuming its not something like a wire break in the 3 output leads or a bad ground or + connection, sometimes, they just fail & need replacement.

Do the sticky steps to trouble-shoot your electrics, and put your mind at ease. My case, the originals lasted 20 years, but then needed replacement to work again.
 
Fire-medic said:
Use "RaWarrior's" algorithm for electrical system trouble-shooting. I think it has been made a sticky, under 'electrical.'

I had been using my bike since getting it back on the road late last year, and the charging system needed a battery & voltage regulator. I continued to use the bike, no issues w/the electrics. Then I swapped-on a set of Stage 7 carbs I had, & when the bike went back on the road, 'bad stator!' That was replaced & no issues. Assuming its not something like a wire break in the 3 output leads or a bad ground or + connection, sometimes, they just fail & need replacement.

Do the sticky steps to trouble-shoot your electrics, and put your mind at ease. My case, the originals lasted 20 years, but then needed replacement to work again.
Click to expand...



Okay.. I think I'll probably try to follow that sticky. I remember when I unplugged the battery and placed it in the bike, it read about 12.6 (?), but when the bike was idling it read 11.98. After reading through part of the sticky, it seems like that may be my issue. I'm going to try and ride it back to my home so that I can work on it in my garage.

Thanks for the help everyone! I'll keep you guys posted!
 
Welp, I have an update.. I followed the sticky by RaWarrior and still no luck. I wired the R/R + and - directly to the battery, checked all grounds/connections, skipped the battery since the owner said its only 4 months old, stator checked out okay. Now what? While doing all of this, I discovered that my R/R is finned and has 5 wires. Being that my bike is pre-'98, this would mean that someone who owned the bike before me must have put it on.

What should I do now?

I'm tempted to try dropping in the new battery and seeing if this is the problem. Do you think that since it was a new battery, sat 2 months untouched and then suddenly jumped by my buddies truck could've caused it to go bad? With my previous bikes, I've gone through all sorts of problems (random shut-offs, gauge clusters going haywire, etc.) and every time the fix was a brand new battery. I also saw that RaWarrior mentioned that with his experiece, he had everything check out fine and still had issues, but went ahead and put in a new stator and then everything was good. I would like to stay away from putting in a new stator, unless I know for sure that is the issue.
 
Also to add to that, the previous owner said he hasn't ever had any issues with the charging system..

Sent from my HTC Rezound using Tapatalk 2
 
What is the voltage output at 3000rpm? 11.98 is fine at idle, but you may not be fully charging at higher rpms. Just because the po said there has never been a problem with the charging system doesnt mean theres not a problem......
 
First place to start electrical work is with a known good battery. I would charge yours up and have it load tested before going any further.
 
You might want to check for a draw. You can do this pretty easy with the bike key switched off and a charged battery installed by putting a test light in between a disconnected battery cable and the battery terminal (with the other cable connected should make no difference positive or negative). The light will light up if any current is being drawn. Assuming you have no alarm or LEDs drawing current of course. Just a thought.
 
I tried the draw test with the test light and it didn't light up.. I've already done the load test and it said 12.4v and dropping fast.. Another thing I did today was checked the bike was checked the volts with the bike off (12.56v) then turned the key on without cranking the motor and the volts instantly dropped down by almost .4v and from there steadily kept going..

I decided to put the acid in the new battery and put it on the charger.. I guess tomorrow we'll see if that's the issue

Sent from my HTC Rezound using Tapatalk 2
 
Well.. Just put in the new battery with 12.67 v and started the bike and dropped down to 12.09 and kept going.. I rode around the neighborhood then came back and it had dropped down to 12.01... So the battery was not the issue..

Any other ideas? I really do appreciate all of you guys replying back to me. Thank you guys so much for bearing with me!

Also, sorry if this is a dumb question, but would green coolant be alright to put in the bike? I think all that's in the bike right now is water, and winter is approaching so I want to make sure ill be fine. The stuff I have says it's ethylene glycol based coolant for cars and heavy duty diesel trucks.

Thanks in advance everyone!

Sent from my HTC Rezound using Tapatalk 2
 
that anti freeze is fine. mix it 60 water 40 af. I wonder if you may have a bad voltage regulator
 
Thanks dwarf

One other question.. I just realized where my main ground is, the surface is painted.. Is that normal? I'm just wondering if maybe someone had painted the cases.. Should there still be enough conductivity? I tried grounding to other spots on the bike and still no luck...

Sent from my HTC Rezound using Tapatalk 2
 
for sure cleaning up all the grounds to start, doing the crimp fix but if at idle or atleast 2000rpm the voltage is only 12 then for sure charging issues.....not sure if regulator issues, might be some good pointers in the electrical section. there are a bunch of mods people do to help increase the voltage but for sure your is not charging.....
 
tugla said:
for sure cleaning up all the grounds to start, doing the crimp fix but if at idle or atleast 2000rpm the voltage is only 12 then for sure charging issues.....not sure if regulator issues, might be some good pointers in the electrical section. there are a bunch of mods people do to help increase the voltage but for sure your is not charging.....
Click to expand...

I recently had my carbs gone thru, but seemed to have an issue which caused me to say, "effit," & opt to install my DJ Stage 7 set instead. When I got the carbs on, suddenly the stator took-up residency in the useless category, :confused2:fortunately I had a spare. I already had installed a new voltage regulator, had re-done the stator/RR connections (one was almost severed, but the spade terminals had to be out of the plastic plug to see it, almost burned-thru) & a new Ballistic Li-ion battery, re-did the grounds, and now my clutch is slipping, so I am waiting on the PCW extra-plate/new friction discs & heavy-duty diaphragm spring clutch kit. Seems to be a slowdown in shipping from the Schnectady area, they told me Mon. I would have it by the weekend which is really the only time I have to work on it. That didn't happen. :bang head:
 
After going through RaWarriors sticky and still having issues, I decided to follow the fault flow chart from electrosport. On the chart, there's a spot where you connect Black multimeter lead to the positive post of the battery, and the Red lead to the Red wire of the RR and let the bike idle. It says less than .2V is fine, but my reading is 0.0V..

When I continued on, it said to hook the Red lead to the Negative post on the battery, and the BLACK lead to the negative output wire, which in my case is green. When I did this, it would bounce between 0.0 and -0.1V. It also said less than .2V is ideal.

Is this a normal reading, or does it seem like my RR isn't working right? I reached around the peg while the bike was idling and felt the RR, and it did feel a bit warm.. Almost to warm to touch. The bike had only been running a few minutes.
 
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