Electrical problem?

[saiche]

Picked up a 93 xr600r at the end of the riding season last year.  It has a first generation Baja Designs kit.  Not sure what stator?

 

The carb was pissing gas.  A friend rebuilt it last year.  It ran ok afterwards but stalled at idle after warmup and missed/stumbled during WOT.

 

Thought a carb adjustment might help.  My friend adjusted the carb today but it still stalls at idle and the missing/stumbling is still present when you go constant wide open throttle in any gear.  Doesn't occur if you go less than wide open.

 

I'm thinking it's an electrical problem now.  The stalling at idle when warm is always proceeded by a fairly loud "clicking" noise.  The engine then cuts right out if you aren't able to blip the throttle in time. 

 

Also, the ignition switch on the 1st gen. BD flashes red throughout the powerband and intermittently at idle as well, indicating battery drain?

 

It looks like it has an aftermarket AC regulator. 

 

We weren't able to test the stator with a multimeter yet.  Wondering if this sounds like a stator problem?  Searched and couldn't really find anything related to this problem. 

[Backwoods-Bomber]

I would lean more towards a carb issue considering that blipping the throttle can keep it running. I have no idea what a blinking red baja designs light means, maybe someone else knows that.

How well did your friend rebuild the carb? Are you sure he got the jets cleaned out well?

[archerjal]

I had a similar problem when I replaced the oem stator with a Rick's stator. The bike would stumble at idle and make a distinctive clicking noise and then die if I didn't give it throttle real quick. Turns out the plastic plug from the stator where it plugs into the wiring harness was melting the wires together and shorting out. I cut the plastic plug out and soldered the wires together and that took care of the problem.

[saiche]

Thanks guys!  We're going to test with the multimeter on Tuesday or Wed. and take a good look at the stator. 

 

Pretty sure the flashing red light on the handlebar on/off switch indicates a battery drain.

 

That is very interesting about the clicking noise archerjal!  Will be looking closely for that kind of thing.

[archerjal]

About 3 months after the stator incident, my battery wouldn't hold a charge. I took the seat and tank off to check the stator with a multimeter and noticed the plastic plug from the aftermarket rectifier - where it plugs into the bikes wiring harness - was starting to melt. I did the same thing and cut the plug out and soldered the wires together. No more problems.

I don't know what others have experienced but those plastic wiring plugs seem to be a weak spot.

Good luck on solving your problem!

[saiche]

Thanks archerjal!  Will be looking closely at those areas and will let you know how it turns out.

[saiche]

Just an update here.  Hopefully this could help someone with similar issues.

 

Finally got the new Ricky Stator and Trail Tech regulator/rectifier in.  This seemed to help somewhat but the bike was still stumbling badly as the revs increased.  The bike did seem to have more power and the electicals were all working much better.

 

We had changed the needle jet clip from the 3rd to the 4th position before installing the new stator and regulator.  The bike had been running rich.  We put in a new plug which was badly fouled. Then I went for a long ride with the the new parts thinking the stator was going to fix all the problems. 

 

The bike was still running extremely rich to the point of black smoke at idle. 

 

Today we put the clip back to the 3rd position and then ran half a can of Honda carb/combustion cleaner through the engine.

 

Masses of black smoke, then backfiring and one good fireball shooting out the pipe!

 

Going to run the rest of the can through tomorrow and then put in a fresh plug but the stumbling is completely gone!

 

I have a completely (to me) different bike here!  Now I know what you mean by 2nd and 3rd gear wheelies.  Not that I tried any yet but I know I could have.

 

So happy to have accidently solved this problem after all this time.  Was really despairing of ever getting this thing running right.  Thought I might just have to live with it. 

 

What an amazing difference!

 

So if anyone has similar issues you might want to try a $9.00 can of Honda carb/combustion chamber cleaner.

 

I want to thank everyone for the help though.  Cleaning and fixing the carb and going through the wiring and putting in the new stator and regulator etc. all needed to be done as well.

 

Thanks again,

 

Saiche