newbie just saying hi

[wrench234]

bored at work just thought id say hi i just traded an 85 honda three wheeler even up for
a 1981 xs400 that has sat for the last 27 years. other than some little rust spots on the chrome its in great shape has good compression and spark took carbs apart and holy
crab she has definiatlly been sitting bowls full of gunk floats stuck throttle slides stuck
not even gonna screw with them ordered a rebuilt set unfortunatly on fleabay but the look great 83.00. first one of these ive had i like it cant wait to ride it. i think i got a
good deal three wheelers dont sell for crap. i guess the guy who had this bought it in 83
title dated 83. then in 85 someone pulled out in from of him and he had to lay it down
had to be going fairly slow. it didnt hurt much little scrapes on engine cover where
brake pedal hit it and a broken turn signal thats it. anyway he parked it in 85 a friend of
his bought it from him a week ago then replied to to my craigslist add to do an even
swap for my wheeler. i acted unsure of the swap but was really chomping at the bit to
do the trade especially after i saw the pic which i will post when i get home.

 

[drewpy]

welcome to the forum bro

 

[wrench234]

here is a pic of the bike

 

[volcomskater77]

howdy from frankfort! about an 2 and a half hours north of you.

 

[wrench234]

hey volcomskater77 hope thats right lol put new battery in yesterday everything works even starter except headlight no pwer to switch has power at fuse and fuse good saw there is a relay in a schematic going to find it tonight has 150psi compression both sides
and spark waiting on carbs she should lite. realized last night tires flat spotted after sitting for 27 years lol but need replaced anyway gonna wait till i hear it run before buying those then hopefully ill be doing this

 

[volcomskater77]

yeah good luck man. as far as the headlight goes. is the bulb good? im shit at wiring but i know enough to get me by, or at least to the nearest gas station to wait for help. haha. i have a bunch of wires and connectors and some of the electrical system components. let me know if you need anything

 

[wrench234]

not sure yet about bulb dont have another to try so i took it out and used a testlight
no power has ground though. so i took dimmer switch apart there are three wires blue green and yellow the green and yellow are the power supply from the switch to the bulb the blue obviously had to be the power supply to the switch so i checked fuse it was good wire from fuse was red and yellow so i had to determine at what point it went from red and yellow to blue so i found a schematic and saw the relay power is supplied to relay from red and yellow wire from fuse then the relay output is the blue wire to the switch just hadnt had time to find relay to test further to see if relay is bad but seeing how it sat for 27 years hoping for just corrosion on terminals been an auto mechanic for 20 years that helps its definatly more fun to work on this though

 

[wrench234]

just found relay power and ground for relay control no clicky clicky lol no output contacts in relay corroded im sure so need a relay if you or anyone else has one id be willing to pay for it with paypal numbers on it are 3h5-00 then it reads omron then the numbers 18x0d9 thanks

 

[arfstrom]

Dont buy new relays yet, This is classic symptoms of charging issues. looking up charging sys, drewpy's rewire from the tech section. Tobie

 

[wrench234]

just did a little research it appears i need to have the bike running to have a headlight as the white wire from the alternator has to have power to energize the relay the white wire appears to be the relay control still waiting on carbs have never had or heard bike run yet so i may not even have a problem does this sound correct arfstrom thanks

 

[wrench234]

i was looking at it the wrong way as if the red and yellow wire from the fuse block was the control cicuit but its the constant power supply to the relay that will then flow thru the relay on the blue wire once the relay is energized by power from the alternator

 

[arfstrom]

That sucked, I type up a bunch, and while trying to open a wire diagram I closed out the window I had opened. So the Sky Blue wire that is your safety relay, not to be confused with the "relay" Safety just prevents you from starting the bike with out the bike in nuetral, clutch pulled, and a combination of things so you don't start the bike, and have it in gear. So your right as far as I can tell. The Blue wire goes from the relay to the High/Low beam switch. So I suspect its in here, I bet ya, a paperclip between the Red/Yellow, and the Blue wire, should turn on your headlights, then you know that circuit is good. Then you can pull that jumper out. Most of these bikes have charging issues. so if your good up till here, STOP. If you seem to have charging issues, look up charging sys, and under Tech, or drop down on the frontpage, you will find drewpies rewire project.

so to recap, Yes the white wire is to provide addition power from the stator to the headlight, so that the battery doesn't give the full draw to the headlights. The Diode swaps AC power to DC current. then the Relay will open the circuit to the headlight, if the stator has power, (the motor is running, unless the wire is shot)

Hope that helps
Tobie

 

[wrench234]

thanks im in for the night gonna jumper the blue and red and yellow tomorrow after work to verify integrity of the rest of the cicuit and to verify i have a good bulb then stop screwing with that until i get the carbs and get it running then i can verify charging system cant hardly wait for carbs to get here so i can get her running and see what i got thanks for info tobie

 

[arfstrom]

No Prob, If I can find the pic of the one person that posted that solution, its on here, its been a while since I did that. Good luck
Tobie

 

[arfstrom]

No Problem, I remember seeing a pic of someone doing the jump, I am sure you can find it, perhaps I might find it tomorrow, good luck

 

[wrench234]

jumpered red/yellow and blue wire all is good headlight and instrument lights i would have swore when i initially turned the key on i saw the headlight come on must have just been seeing stuff lol as it appears it has to be running thanks alot

 

[arfstrom]

I would love to say that was an educated guess, but it was still a guess!

I just knew that these dont normally break. So once you get it started, you may have work ahead of ya. Good luck!
Tobie

 

[Lou Ranger]

Welcome to the Forum. What a beautiful find.

I can't believe 3 days have gone by and you haven't thrown those nearly brand new carbs into a vat of boiling lemon juice. According to threads on here, you only have to do that 4 or 5 times and they clean right up.

 

[wrench234]

well funny story as to why i cant use the original carbs. i took them apart and they were full of black syrup. floats would not move slides stuck. worst i have ever seen. i soaked them overnight in what i had which was some naptha paint thinner the next day floats started to move a bit used some penetrent got them to move freely. then i tried to remove float pins with a small awl and tapping with a hammer i didnt think i was hitting it that hard but i broke the pedastal that the float pin goes through so now here i am waiting on carbs. the original carbs were going to need complete overhaul anyway you should have seen all the green corrosion on the brass floats im sure they would have leaked,and the diaphrams were definitaly in question. so for 83.00 2 rebuilt carbs hopefully ready to go probablly not a bad deal

 

[xschris]

Good luck hope it works out Welcome aboard.