XS360 Update. Thought I had it, spoke to soon.

[cabbott12321]

So After about a week of tinkering, frustration, blood, sweat, tears, the whole 9 yards, I thought I had it. I took apart everything I could with the tools I had available, cleaned things, check wires, fixed potential problem wires, everything I could think to do. For the last two days it hasn't started at all, I would kick it and nothing, once or twice it started up but immediately died and then from then on I got nothing. Today with renewed spirits thanks to good weather and some good coffee I started at it feeling extremely motivated, did a compression test, tested at about 140psi, checked for spark (I'm pretty sure It was a good spark, at least it sparked every time) changed the oil, put everything back together adjusted my idle speed.

Then to my great surprise and excitement it started up! I dialed in the idle speed and took it out for a ride, felt good! I rode around the neighborhood for about 10 min and then parked it at home for a bit, grabbed my jacket and gloves and headed out for a ride to pick up some brackets I need to attach some new signal lights then on my way up the large hill outside my neighborhood to my great despair it started to lose power. It wasn't like before however, it wasn't bogging or backfiring it was just throttling super weak, I knew I needed to turn around asap so I wouldn't get stuck, took it around a couple corners to turn it around and head home but before I even got close the entire engine shut off. Before when this would happen the battery would go with it. All the indicator lights and such would shut off, then I could let it sit for a bit and it'd get just enough power to get it going and it would sputter home, but this time was different. The Indicator lights stayed on the entire time, they never dimmed or gave any indication of loss of battery power, it just wouldn't turn over at all! I kicked and kicked, let it sit then kicked some more, nothin. Ended up pushing it about 10 blocks home, up hill.

What do you guys think? Still charging system problems? I thought I had a good handle on the problem but now the symptoms seem different.

 

[JARichmond]

If the lights stayed on, you may have a ground wire that's come loose or a short in a wire. Obviously you're still getting power, as the lights are at full strength, but something specific is not getting power that's killing your engine. Hell, it might not even be electrical anymore.
You may not be getting fuel into your cylinders. Could be a plugged gas cap. Could be your float bowls running dry because of a sticking float or needle.
Time to start eliminating possibilities one by one.

 

[bcware]

I'd look to the carbs; what is your float height set to? Any mods to intake or exhaust? Main and pilot jet size? Idle mixture screw turns out?

 

[Drewcifer]

Hey Cabbot, you did the voltage regulator fix right? And checked to see if your stator has broken or melted wires?

because that is the next fix in line..


Drewcifer

 

[cabbott12321]

bcware, the float height is set to whatever the manual says which I believe is 23+- 2? Or something like that, I made sure it was when I cleaned the carbs a week ago. As far as mods I have pod filters on it and as far as the idle mixture screw that's the one with the white screw on top right? I'm not sure the exact amount of turns, I warmed it up for a while and then set the idle to about 1100 rpms. I'm not sure about eh main and pilot jet size, whatever was already in it.

Drewcifer, I wired a new voltage regulator in and I thought it fixed it, but i was sorely mistaken. I tried to check the stator wires but I couldn't get one of the hex screws off. I picked up a impact driver today and need to go get some acetone. The thing is I don't know how to get the acetone back down in the threads where the loctite is. Working on that is my project for tomorrow or the next day hopefully.

There are still some loose wires in the headlight that I don't know a whole lot about. I put that in another thread a few days ago. Someone thought they were to my killswitch and something else. It sorta helped but I don't know what exactly to do with them because I'm guessing someone has modified the wiring harness. I may just have to remove the entire wiring harness and check through it.

When I got it running today it was after I had removed the old and put in new stuff. It had been sitting on a trickle charger overnight but I had done that many times with no luck. Not sure what it was that started it up? It ran great for a little while, after the first time it started I had to sit and rev it and change the idle mixture until it would idle correctly, then I rode it for about 10 min, brought it up, let it sit for about 20 min, it kicked first try, then I rode it not even a quarter mile and it started to feel like i wasn't getting power (not bogging just loss of power) and then it died on my about a block later and wouldn't start. Just tried starting it about 10 min ago and still same thing, nothing.

 

[Drewcifer]

First things first. Get a new battery. (you may have put in a new one already, so apologies if that is the case.) An old battery is crusted up inside (sulfated) and can't absorb volts or put out amps.

second, make sure you don't have short circuits in your bike by testing from battery to headlight one circuit at a time. Start at the battery, go to the next terminal, and wait until you see less than 12 volts. That's your volt drain.

electrical contact cleaner is aerosol-ized acetone. So just get that and spray the bolt, tap it with a hammer, spray, tap...etc. You could touch a soldering iron to it as well to conduct heat into it to break up the bond with the loctite.

I'm curious if you listened closely to my write up. Because if you did, you'd know you can't do the fix with bullets or crimp connectors due to vibration. You have to SOLDER.

I'll wait to hear if you followed those clear instructions. Until I soldered, mine didn't work due the vibes breaking the contact as I rode.

Drewcifer

 

[cabbott12321]

Yeah i soldered them in. I'll go through and check all the circuits and look into replacing my battery. It's new since april when I bought the bike though.

 

[Drewcifer]

What numbers did you get on your three stator wires testing them at the socket?

You might have a stator wire shorting out.

If the battery is new since april it's not getting sufficient charge from the system itself. It can't be sulfated in 2.5 months so we can probably scratch battery off the list, but not the stator wiring or the whole bike harness/grounds.

So I'd head that stator hex head bolt with a soldering iron until you can start to back it out.

Check stator for wiring issues or melted areas. Despite the fact that its rare, we've been seeing old ones damaged by scraps of metal inside, melted...dead, etc. After 30 years its good to check and it's actually a very easy fix if you can solder.

Sorry the bike is challenging you. It's a tough feeling to not know why they fuss, these xs women!

Drewcifer

 

[cabbott12321]

It had to have been something that's rattled or broken from riding it. The person i bought from didn't actually ride it that much and it didn't start acting up until I had ridden it for a few weeks.

 

[cabbott12321]

I posted some pictures on your stator/regulator write-up, figured out my problem. Thanks for the help! By the way best way to clean wires off? And what wires go to what on the stator? Most are disconnected.

 

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

The only difference between the white wires is their phase angle (0, 120, and 240) but that doesn't matter here, since nothing else on the bike is AC and they all just go to the rectifier. You can connect them in whichever way you like, so long as they do not short to each other. Your model also has a diagnostic wire, but it will have a different color than the others, and you don't need to worry about that one so much. I use simple green and a shop towel to clean wires like these.