Possible alternator problem? help a newby!

collin357 · Full Member Joined: May 21, 2009 Posts: 24

I was riding my bike today (1981 special II), and after about 30 minutes the bike just turned off on me. I couldnt get it to kick to save my life, and eventually the electric start stopped even making that clicking sound. I was told that the alternator is possibly fried, and so my bike is taking all of its power from the battery until it dies. How can I tell if this is the problem? I just bought the bike a few weeks ago, and it worked fine. I took off the rear turn signals and the speedo/tac. but thats all. I left the wires on the circuit so I dont think it oculd be from anything I did. After a half hour or so the battery seemed to be getting its charge back again and its only a couple months old. so I dont think its the battery itself.

Is there a way to tell what part of the alternator I need to fix? If i need a new stator or rotor or what. I'm really, really new to all of this (I'm sure its easy to tell). Any help is really appreciated.

Retiredgentleman

Brushes that are worn down and are less than 1/4" are the most common problem area.
Read this link;
xs650temp.proboards.co...hread=3461

Sandy803

My 83 heritage did the same thing. part of the problem for me was a bad battery. Once I got that changed it still wouldn't charge. Found out the brushes where worn out like RG said. The thread that he posted is great for checking the entire charging system. It helped me out a great deal.

collin357 · Full Member Joined: May 21, 2009 Posts: 24

Retiredgentleman wrote:

Brushes that are worn down and are less than 1/4" are the most common problem area.
Read this link;
xs650temp.proboards.co...hread=3461

okay. so how do i make a jump from the ground the the green wire? I'm going to try this all tomorrow. what sort of wiring do i need? this is all greek to me, i may just have to take it to a shop. ive never done electrical work of any sort in my life. i appreciate both of ya'lls help. this is killing me inside, and todays my dang birthday. some birthday!

Everything_To_Xs

Just connect the green wire to a ground, make a cut in the green wire so you can attach another longer wire and then hold it to a good grounding point on the frame, or just touch another wire to the spade connector on the green wire and attach it to ground just the same,

Either way u just need to make that green wire go to ground

yamaman

Colin - not a good idea to drain the battery trying to start it off the electric leg. As the power drains down, it becomes less & less likely that the bike will start. Thats the electrics on these things, all the power goes to the starter & not enough gets to the ignition! It possibly would have started off the kick starter, giving the ignition all the power you had!

As it had enough power at first to crank the engine, there should have been enough power to run the engine.

Lots of good info around here on fixing your woes, good luck! Cheers.

oldbikenut

yamaman wrote:

Colin - not a good idea to drain the battery trying to start it off the electric leg. As the power drains down, it becomes less & less likely that the bike will start. Thats the electrics on these things, all the power goes to the starter & not enough gets to the ignition! It possibly would have started off the kick starter, giving the ignition all the power you had!

As it had enough power at first to crank the engine, there should have been enough power to run the engine.

Lots of good info around here on fixing your woes, good luck! Cheers.

I forget who suggested this to me now, but I never use the electric start, I did make sure it works though I have went to kick start only. If you get your bike set up right, it should only be a kick or two!
I wish I had more to suggest but the electrical stuff is not my strong point in motorcycle repair.
HAPPY B-DAY! and good luck!

Retiredgentleman

Collin;
From your reply, it seems that you don't have the knowledge or experience to do electrical trouble shooting on your bike. If you want to get the bike running quickly, you will have to go to a shop for repairs or get a friend with electrical experience to help you. If you try to do this yourself, you may damage other components.

If you have lots of time, and want to learn about repairing older motorcycles, then look at this as an opportunity. You would need to get a book on basic electricity and read up on subjects such as "ohms law" and how electricity is generated. Spend some time reading the past electrical posts on this site and 650garage.

collin357 · Full Member Joined: May 21, 2009 Posts: 24

yea i dont have the slightest idea really of what anybody is talking about haha. i got my hands on a voltmeter but i dont even know how to use it. theres a dozen settings. anybody know of a decent shop around richmond,va? i got the money if you got the time.

What Happened to 650rider.com?

Yamaha xs650