We made a house call for some electrical gremlins. Electrical gremlins are not to be confused with electrical mogwais. We figured that out this time. Check out our new store! thebeardedmechanic.shop
Waiting on parts takes forever and sometimes changing everything up is good for a man. Also making videos about bikes is his job lmao and he’s making videos about bikes
I noticed how at 7:17 this guy starts to say how confusing electrical is to him and how he doesn't understand it but Craig stops him and asks what he does and uses it as an opportunity to compliment his knowledge and skills as a tradesman. Lifting other people up like that is nice to see. Just found this channel recently and Craig seems like a good dude.
Graig, you’d be so proud of me! My buddy has a Harley sportster and he’s been nudging me to get one. So I found a 1996 sportster 1200 that’s been sitting for 3 years under a cover in this guys garage. So I worked him down and did the deal and I kid you not, I took the carb apart and cleaned the jets and cleaned all the gunk out of the carb and after 45 minutes and a battery/oil change we were riding that ol girl around the parking lot burning out the cobwebs. For the age of the bike it’s in excellent condition as well. Barely any issues with the paint and chrome parts. It does need a new lining in the gas tank but I put a fuel filter in for now. In 4 days I put 190 miles on the bike and she’s loving every minute of it!🤙🏼
I had the exact issue with one of my bikes. It would start from cold, and run fine. However, after a long-ish ride, when the bike was warm, it would not start. The starter would turn the motor slowly, but not fast enough to start. It sounded like low voltage. After the bike sat, and cooled, it would start again. Battery, charging system, starter motor were all fine. Problem: eventually found out it was the leads between the battery, starter solenoid and starter. They were being heated by their proximity to the engine. Resistance in copper wires increases with temperature, and when they were hot enough, the starter couldn't draw enough current to crank properly. Solution: thicker gauge wire between battery, starter solenoid and starter motor. Clean all grounding points. Consider wrapping all leads with temperature insulation tape (foil reflective type), and upgrading to a battery with greater CCA (lithium batteries are expensive but have good discharge). Diagnosis: warm the bike up to the point where the starter slows and it won't start. Then try jumping the bike with a car battery/jump pack. If it starts, it indicates it's the above problem. Also, if it restarts when cool, also indicates it's the above. Please help get this comment to the top
Craig, you are our bearded superhero without a cape ! Your tool roll puts Batman’s utility belt to shame and Dan’s humor is kryptonite to any frustrations !!🦊
I prefer the manufacturers own manuals since de Haynes manual on my old Yamaha XJ750 SECA had a too high torque spec for the 2nd drain plug. Haynes can be handy for the extra pictures, I just don't trust the numbers anymore
Great to see it had the wire colors wrong? These manuals are about 50% as useful as the OEM manual but literally only for the first matching year the bike and book came out. I've repaired more than one bike with destroyed fasteners that lo and behold the Chilton/Haynes manuals call for some ridiculous spec on
And the Suzuki SV650 "Curvy" (First gen '99-'02 with the "flowing" frame rails) at the side there - you don't see those every day of the week anymore!!
i always say the same, i will pull a motor apart but when it comes to electrical i hunt down a professional lol i am good with mechanics, tolerances and so on but electrical is a world of spaghetti to me lol thank god for electricians :D
Your external monologue when logically diagnosing is really helpful to someone like me wanting to learn. It's what I end up doing, out loud, and my wife asks me who I'm talking to when she overhears me in the garage.......
Craig, breaking the ground and testing for amps with your fluke is not a reliable way to look for a parasitic draw. The fluke meter has too high of an impedance and won't act as a proper load on the battery. This is the only time your test light will work better than your fluke. Break the ground and install your lest light (it is important the test light has an old incandescent bulb, no LEDs). The light should illuminate if you have a draw. The next part answers your question about how will you know when its fixed. When you find and disconnect the draw the light will turn off indicating no more power through the system. How you find the draw is the hard part, I typically start at a fuse panel and watch the light as I pull each fuse to see if that circuit kills the light. If you suspect a part to be the problem disconnect it and see if your test light is illuminated
That carb cleaning education you gave him was priceless. Had to learn by trial and error and if I had that, I woulda been forever grateful. You sir a damn good man!
Same exact problem on Honda Shadow - battery and stator tests passed as well as standard regulatorr test... but still overnight draw down + slow/no start after riding for a bit. Got a quality aftermarket mosfet regulator/rectifier and bypassed the wiring harness by wiring it direct from reg/rec to battery negative. Works better than new now.
Alternators can get a intermittent draw, depending on where they stop. Due to age, if unsure unplug at the reg and leave for a time.. If it works there's the fault, if not then you ruled the charge system out.
to find out if you have a drain, put a test light between the battery and the hot wire. if there is a draw the light will light up then you can start pulling fuses to find out where the draw is. (or disconnect wires)
My guess is that it's the regulator. Which can fail in a way that it allows the wave output from the alternator to get to the battery. The only way to see it is with an oscilloscope. I've had that happen a couple of times over the years and it's a serious pain to troubleshoot. The DC voltage will look fine because it's being limited. Most batteries will be destroyed quickly by getting hit by a square wave. The same can happen with an intermittent ground or a bad connection, though rarer.
yep - if I have any doubts about the reg/rec I just replace it. Not expensive and beats dragging the old o-scope from the back shed. I haven't used that thing in decades.
Couldn't see if that was a lead acid or Li Ion battery. But if a Li Ion then they need a different reg/reg than would have come with that Yamaha. Stock reg/rec will wreck a Li Ion
hi i had a Suzuki Gs 550 too... great bike, only thing is when working on the engine be very careful not to over tighten any bolts... they are really easy to strip the threads, but a helicoil insert can repair it, have fun
Are you running pods? The original air box is best, otherwise you'll have to cover the outside of carbs to prevent a lean condition on the outside cylinders.
The Honda Fury has a hot start issue when you ride for a while it wont start till it cools down a little. The fix was adding a 2nd ground wire from the battery to the frame and that fixed that issue. Maybe this bike is having thee same issue.
Aprilia’s do the same as do Ducati apparently My old baby blade used to kill battery’s if you babied it around but that was because the stator didn’t charge on those until 8-9k rpm (idle was 1500 rev limit was at like 19000)
Craig, I love your programme and look forward to each episode, I always learn heaps and you are great to watch. Keep up the great work. Hope you come to Australia, Perth 🇦🇺
My first bike was an xs400 special too! It had weeds growing out of the sidecar seat. Sadly it burnt down before I even got started on it so I had to start from scratch. It really taught me how carbs work, and exactly how much wiring you need to get something running. Project stranded after I got it running as I had neither the skills, confidence, time, nor money to waste to build back all the other stuff.
Hey Craig, Dan and Greg, this was a total blast from the past for me, I had one of these in silver back in 1987, I remember riding in the winter and nearly meeting the maker on various occasions! Good days brother. God bless you from across the pond in sunny England. 🏴 🙏
Good work. I've worked on various machines from industrial to medical, and it's always fun when you don't know what you did that actually solved the problem. Sometimes it's a multifaceted problem when it comes to electrical wiring. I think that crimper may have been the root cause of the problems with the wiring. It's also good you fixed the old connection on the starter. If a starter has a poor connection it can heat up.
Cool! Format! I don't remember seeing that type of a video before! The RU-vid mechanic goes to a viewers home to help fix his bike and teach him awesome stuff! It's really nice! 🤟✌️👌👍♥️🇨🇦
I said the same thing, but with 20x more words. Totally agree. Either the mo.unit and custom wiring harness, or no mo.unit and fix the probs on the stock harness.
I built a 1982 KZ550 LTD Cafe Racer. I installed the M Unit Blue and an antigravity battery just large enough to crank over the engine. I was getting a charge while riding but had to disable the M Unit Blue remote start and alarm as this slowly drained my small battery when the bike sat for awhile. Aside from that the M Unit Blue was great and extremely easy to install. Went from zero wires on the bike to all accessories and ignition wired starting the bike in about 3 days. Then a day of prettying up all the wires.
@ 38:18 those extra wires are for the famous Yamaha feild coil alternator. This bike doesn't use a permanent magnet alternator. It varies the voltage to the feild coil to regulate the charging system. Keep up the good work. And thanks for helping people keep these old machines on the road
On the video, when he came back after the ride , you can see a big electrical flash, from the area of the starter, then you found the burnt off cable on the starter !
1:56 This is ubiquitous with all kinds of engineering, heck any sort of problem solving. Always great to get a fresh set of eyes on a problem, even just to talk it through with.
With well used bikes you really have to do a 100% visual inspection of each wireIMHO. There are usually taped up factory splices hidden in the harness. They are crimped, maybe soldered, or just twisted together “by someone.” Your verbal thinking and cogitations while troubleshooting are priceless! A friend remarked, “why are you just sitting and thinking? You should just get in there and fix it!” Oh, yeh.
The first bike I ever rode was my cousin's R6. I rode it around her neighborhood for a little bit. I never got out of 2nd gear but it was enough to get me hooked. Then my dad got a Harley and he was living with me at the time so I had to get one, too. Then I got really sick, turns out I have epilepsy with migraines, had to go on permanent disability, and haven't been able to afford a bike since. That was 6 years ago. One day. One day I'll have another bike. And, don't worry. The seizures are under control. I haven't had one in 4 years with the meds I'm on. I still have bad aura migraines, though. But I'm allowed to drive a car so a bike should be fine. I'll get one some day. I miss it so much. Not only is it fun but it is good for my mental health. Psychologists have done studies and "throttle therapy" is a real thing. People who ride bikes report positive effects on their mental health and I need that. Until then, I'll live vicariously through these videos.
Love your videos Craig always rush to your channel as soon as you post love your enthusiasm and your energy always inspiring and makes me feel like I'm working on my bikes with a good buddy
I love these investigations and covering maintenance and how to go through how engines and motorcycles run. The work you do and thoroughness is really good.
I had an '07 Kawi Vulcan with the same starter issue. You pull the starter and the reluctor gear falls into the side case and then you have to pull the exhaust, pedals, and side cover including draining coolant to put the new 2-bolt starter in. Super duper stuff. Good work, buddy. :) Also, props for using Vessel brand JIS drivers. I wish they all did.
Hey Greg, your videos made me decided to open up my bike for the 3rd time to poke around. And I managed to diagnose the problem with the starter relay. Tomorrow I will fit the new one in. Thanks.
This is so informative! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I’m looking for my first real motorcycle and my budget is keeping me in the fixer up territory (or the No title, “lost” the key territory) I’m sure your videos are helping save so many old bikes.
Yet another amazing video mate. Never thought I would have fun reviewing harnesses. I would measure the drain from the positive of the battery in amps before anything and detaching the peripherals one by one until the drainage came to the desired range. Thanks for the video.
Hey Graig! You’re an awesome mechanic!! I’m a heavy equipment technician, don’t forget PIE, voltage is only one part of the puzzle. We have issues with seeing 14v from the alternator but only getting miroamps of current. Keep up the great content! 🤘
I don't know but maybe it's too much but I'm going to say it anyway, and what if every pair of videos or something you make a basic tutorial of how to fix or maintain the parts that were most owed on a motorcycle, just as you just had Make in this video with the carburetor. It would be wonderful to learn from those things you can teach as a mechanic, for those who do not know. thnkx. great content
I'm just under halfway through and I'm waiting patiently for the dude to tell Graig about the m-unit diagnostic phone app... and waiting... still waiting.........
I once had a car with a very similar problem. It would run fine but if the car sat over night it would have a dead battery. Turned out there was a broken diode inside the alternator diode bridge. If it wasn't charging/spinning it was draining the battery thru the alernator diode bridge while stationary/engine off.
had a 70 torino did the same thing best way to check that take generator belt off then put battery cable back on and see if generator turns like a motor older cars and trucks had gens not alternators
Christopher seems like a really solid guy, the kinda guy that has your back during the rough times in life. He has that rugged manly exterior but his empathy and compassion show through.
Your more then welcome to come help me with my 87 VT700c. Rebuilt cabs, fuel system, gas tank sealed, and running. Just master cylinder and slave cylinder to rebuild. Probably one of the first chameleon green to purple paint jobs and still looks good. 34k original miles. I need a Craig.
My 86 Yamaha Venture XVZ1300 starter cable did the same thing and I thought it was the battery until the starter stopped all together. easy fix in the end, but it was a fluke find for me too. Great videos.
Yuppers...Craig, electromagician wizrard! The wiring thing is so intimidating! Awed by anyone who can figure that spaghetti madness out! Testing the starter pointing at the jewels! Craig, your patience is admirable! A-and your knowledge of bikes is just plain amazing! Go Craig and Dan, keep moving forward!
Needle and seat check : carb off bike, upside down on bench, floats will close needle and seat. Now pump air into the main fuel in spigett until you have 5 pounds of pressure then let it sit for 5 minutes if there is 5 pounds then needle and seat are good. I use a vacume gauge ond a smsll bike pump. Cheers
Craig, just got an xj650 maxim as my return to bikes after 20 years. Your help has been invaluable in getting it back up to snuff. Have less than $700 into the whole bike. Planning a 2400 mile road trip with it.
What you just described in the beginning, Wes from WatchWesWork in his last video fitting called the "asymptote of despair" 😂Very fitting for any project
I am truly inspired. I have bought two promising non-op bikes in hopes I can do what Craig does. A 2001 Honda Shadow Sabre VT1100C2 (Previous owner - just stopped working)and a 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan Mean Streak VN1600B… (Previous owner, it was running fine and then it just stopped working… salvaged. I wish Craig lived closer to me. Honda was seized and I got running but there is a ticking in the engine. Kawasaki… still need to go through the procedures.
it reminds me of my 1973 Honda. It sometimes just didn't want to start, it was dead. I pulled out the electric box (not sure what exactly it is called 😂), because i was able to narrow it down to that. I cleaned it and the connectors to it, and it is running every since. I was lucky, because i know nothing about bike mechanics...
I had this happen on my old CB550. Turns out, the charging wire from the regulator rectifier to the battery was damaged and down to 2 copper strands! Enough to run ignition for a long ride, but not charge it enough to start. Thank god for kick start.
I chased down a few of these starting gremlins in my time. Starter solenoid, starter motor: sticky carbon brushes, worn commutator, degraded coatings on the armature, could be any individually, any in combination, or all of those. swapping out for a known good unit is a place to start, or opting for a new solenoid unit then trying new/reconditioned starter motor. A new battery masks the issue for a short period, just as normal operating temperature can exacerbate it.. Sticking old carbon brushes can be jolted with a hammer tap test once the starting problem reoccurs. Admire your tenacity. :-) I chased down an intermittent issue that turned out to be a solenoid plunger that was designed to rotate on a contact washer. It pitted the washer over time, as rotated intermittently the plunger forks would sit on the bad pitting every no and then and then operate normally at others. Replaced with a kit twice in 7 years high mileage use. Since motorbike solenoids are seperate units it makes sense to try a swap out/contact clean/earth strap clean at same time.
Nice Bike! I had a 1978 Yamaha XS650 Special when stationed at NAS North Island, and part up to 1980 at NAS Whidbey Island. Lot of times wish I still had it.
That bike sounds so nice for a 450, also the little wires out the side of the solenoid one is ground the other is the power wire from the relay. The top two are main power from battery then to starter. Solenoid is just a magnet so is relay. So you turn key , power goes to relay, little relay magnet activates touching internally and power goes from relay to solenoid side wire activating solenoid magnet to touch allowing power to go strait from battery to starter. Gremlins are they like to connect power to everything on battery wire connecting to solenoid, and the second side ground wire is normally routed through safety switches. Also in most cases those side wires in the solenoid can be swapped it doesnt matter which way they are hooked up as long as they don’t touch , but on most bikes it’s a connector unlike solenoids on say a lawn mower with tabs
Looks like a Mitsuba starter. Great product, but tends to lose the little insulator around the power post. Ride-related vibration can cause the power post to short against the starter housing, especially if the starter is old enough for the materials (a shaped plastic washer and on some, an additional O-ring) to degrade and come apart. Or maybe I could wait till the end of the video and see how you fixed it...... Sorry; I get a lot of excitement from these "find the mystery problem" situations.
When I had random addons start drawing when my old bike was off, I just installed cut-off switches for those accessories. Could just install a main power cut off switch between the battery and all of the draw bits. I do have to give you props for doing things the right way and getting it (hopefully) solved!
Ahh maybe fixed or you just got to wait until the seat(compressing shorting wires, my guess) is back on and riding it. But for what the bike was it looks good. Done a good job. He better of cleaned the tank out or he's going to get very good at stripping carbs. Nice vid.
As a mechanic i know how dark and deep a rabbit hole can get, still hard to watch someone else going through it. But like rabbit holes there is many exits. Well done Craig.
That round crimper is specifically for wire ferrules. I have one, and when used with the correct ferrule & wire AWG they work great. They won't work for other types of crimp connectors.
Had the same thing with one of our tractors.... It persisted for almost a year until I noticed steam coming off the starter lead connection... apparently it was grounding when wet (also had a diesel leak) and corroding from the heat perpetuating the problem of battery draw... After replacing the lead and cleaning as well as fixing the diesel leak we never had a flat battery again (unless you count not turning the key off).
I enjoy your work at the different motorcycles. I do and I did work at my Honda`s, Yam`s, Kawa or in former time at BMW. I enjoy the work at the garage.
