troycurtis
Member
My Max is an 86 model with about 60K miles on it.
For about 2 years I have had problems with the engine idle (sometimes it would idle for a short while and then just quit and most of the time it wouldn?t idle at all. Also a lot of popping and coughing at the low and mid range area. The engine really ran pretty good at wide open though.
I reworked the carbs twice and couldn?t figure out what I was doing wrong. The damn thing just wouldn?t smooth out at idle.
After it got warm it might or might not start unless it was pushed. The battery just seemed weak. I replaced the Starter, Starter Solenoid and battery and each time expecting that to fix the problem, but no luck. After a while I began to think that maybe the battery wasn?t charging, but it was.
Out of frustration I ordered a new Voltage Regulator and when it came in I discovered that the plug to the alternator had gotten hot at some time and just about fused itself together. I pulled the passenger foot peg mounting piece off that the voltage regulator is mounted on and found the whole problem. Over the years the Aluminum footpeg mount that connects at the frame and sub frame has become corroded and the screws that mounted the voltage regulator was real rusty also. It seems that the voltage regulator grounds at the footpeg mount and then through to the frame. All of the connecting points were corroded and dirty. I cleaned up all connecting points including replacing the rusted screws and smearing dielectric where the regulator mounts to the footpeg mount. I then ripped the plug loose from the alternator, cleaned the three connecting wires and plugged them into the new voltage regulator. The bike starts and idles smoothly now with no issues. I believe that the voltage regulator was loosing it?s ground from time to time causing the alternator to over charge and other times not charging at all. Once the grounding surfaces were cleaned up the engine problems went away. This could be one of those ghost that we have to find from time to time.
For about 2 years I have had problems with the engine idle (sometimes it would idle for a short while and then just quit and most of the time it wouldn?t idle at all. Also a lot of popping and coughing at the low and mid range area. The engine really ran pretty good at wide open though.
I reworked the carbs twice and couldn?t figure out what I was doing wrong. The damn thing just wouldn?t smooth out at idle.
After it got warm it might or might not start unless it was pushed. The battery just seemed weak. I replaced the Starter, Starter Solenoid and battery and each time expecting that to fix the problem, but no luck. After a while I began to think that maybe the battery wasn?t charging, but it was.
Out of frustration I ordered a new Voltage Regulator and when it came in I discovered that the plug to the alternator had gotten hot at some time and just about fused itself together. I pulled the passenger foot peg mounting piece off that the voltage regulator is mounted on and found the whole problem. Over the years the Aluminum footpeg mount that connects at the frame and sub frame has become corroded and the screws that mounted the voltage regulator was real rusty also. It seems that the voltage regulator grounds at the footpeg mount and then through to the frame. All of the connecting points were corroded and dirty. I cleaned up all connecting points including replacing the rusted screws and smearing dielectric where the regulator mounts to the footpeg mount. I then ripped the plug loose from the alternator, cleaned the three connecting wires and plugged them into the new voltage regulator. The bike starts and idles smoothly now with no issues. I believe that the voltage regulator was loosing it?s ground from time to time causing the alternator to over charge and other times not charging at all. Once the grounding surfaces were cleaned up the engine problems went away. This could be one of those ghost that we have to find from time to time.
unk:
