Engine Kill switch

[Matroy]

Hey guys,

I thought I would just share my latest little adventure with my f2. Hopefully it can save the time for someone else.

The other day, I was heading to the gas station before heading downtown. I knew I was low on gas, yet hadn't switch to reserve yet. A km or two away from home, my bike starts farting and sputtering and dies when I come to a stop at a light. I pull over and try to switch to reserve, no luck. I got some gas from the station and made my way back to my bike, still no luck. at this point i thought i flooded it. I left it there and took the bus to my date .
That night, I went back and after a couple tries, it fired up and I rode home fine. I thought everything was back to normal.

The following day. I took it out for the day. riding probably at least 30k throughout. No problems

next day, wanting to let my dad try it out, I start it, idles fine, rpms start dropping, try to keep them up with throttle a bit and then stupid me, try to ride it out. it dies the same way as the previous day and i walked it home.

So I thought that i might have gotten crap out of the bottom of the tank when it was nearly empty.(its pretty rusty.) My guess was that it was a gas issue since i was noticing some farting/loss of rpm before it actually died. A mechanic told me an electrical issue would be a sudden death kind of thing, but i guess in my case, i had an intermitten connection.

I took the petcock/filter out, just to see that the filter was in rough shape and i had to dispose of it. Got a new one. cleaned petcock diaphragm, took carbs out, since i knew gas was making it there. Openned them up and they were still clean from when i got the shop to clean them. filled up again, still no luck. I then notice that this last time, i forgot to flip the kill switch to on.. and it was acting the same way. starter goes, no combustions signs. Also, another thing i noticed was that the bike would lurch forward abit unless i had the brake down. Anyways. then i flip the switch on, same reaction.

I open the housing only to find a kill switch connection holding on by a thread. I re-soldered it and now it starts again. and I rode to work..

So.. at least now i know my bike a lot better than before, but that 15min check and 15min repair felt too easy after the hours i spent taking the carbs apart.

live and learn. If this saves someone the same trouble i will be happy. If anyone has troubleshooting tips that might have helped me in my conclusions, I'd be grateful for them.

[bladeracer]

For the killswitch to have been off I assume you use it regularly?
It is not designed for that.
Use the ignition switch to stop the bike.

[Matroy]

Thats funny. I read about that the other day too. I think it might have been you in another post. I took a motorcycle safety course and thats what they were teaching us. Not sure what kind of abuse the switch went through previously, but having taken it apart, I can tell as you say that it shouldn't be used that way.

Thanks!

[bladeracer]

Originally Posted by Matroy Thats funny. I read about that the other day too. I think it might have been you in another post. I took a motorcycle safety course and thats what they were teaching us. Not sure what kind of abuse the switch went through previously, but having taken it apart, I can tell as you say that it shouldn't be used that way. Thanks!

Unfortunately, Motorcycle safety and training courses all too often teach bad habits but until we have something better it'll have to do :-)
The switch is not a heavy duty design for thousands of cycles of life. It's simply a safety device.

[Matroy]

I thought i would rather revive this thread rather than start a new one since its sort of about the same thing.

I'm finding that when i start my bike, mostly from cold. I hold the ignition button in and the bike starts, the engine typically revs just below 1000 and feels like it will die and it will if i let go of the ignition button. However, if i wait another 2seconds, it fires up and the revs go up to about 1500rpm.. slowly increasing to 2000ish as it warms up..

Am i just being too picky or should it fire up right away if i had reconnected those wires properly? I'm reluctant to open it up again, but i guess i should probably just make sure so that this doesnt happen again when im further from home.(thats assuming its the same issue)

[Dangerous Des]

My killswitch broke when I was in France earlier this year - parked up at the hotel the previous evening with no problems, but the next morning the bloody thing wouldn't start! Turned out a wire had come loose in the killswitch - no idea how.

We just pulled the other wire out and twisted / taped them together, bypassing the switch. I never use the thing anyway - what is the point in having a killswitch

[bladeracer]

Originally Posted by Dangerous Des My killswitch broke when I was in France earlier this year - parked up at the hotel the previous evening with no problems, but the next morning the bloody thing wouldn't start! Turned out a wire had come loose in the killswitch - no idea how. We just pulled the other wire out and twisted / taped them together, bypassing the switch. I never use the thing anyway - what is the point in having a killswitch

It's purely for safety but can also be useful for engine diagnostics.
If the throttle jams open, your brakes fail or you have a fire you want to be able shut down the engine without letting go of the bars.

[Matroy]

Ok so. i did a pretty crappy job with my soldering the first time around, so I went back into it yesterday to fix it up. After i put it back together. it started and idled for about 30 secs and then cut off. I thought my connection might have broken or i hit the kill switch by mistake, but i hadnt. I have continuity all the way through those wires now when the switch is on "run". When i turn the ignition to "on" and press the start button, the headlights go out while i hold it, but the starter doesnt make a sound. Not a sound from the bike anywhere actually. I check the fuse box to find a blown starter fuse.

Any ideas on what may have caused this? I haven't looked for shorts between fusebox and starter yet, but i don't see why that would have changed, since i only touched the kill switch wiring.

I noticed that once i resoldered my kill switch, the starter seemed stronger, and the engine fired up faster than when i had my intermittent problem. Is there any reason this could have been caused by the troubleshooting i was doing and potential starter abuse?

I haven't tried swapping the fuse to see if it will just get fried again since that is what i should expect right?

thanks for the help guys

[Matroy]

I forgot to mention that being a newbie at soldering, a couple solid solder beads fell into the bottom half of the kill switch housing. My only explanation right now is that one of those beads might have contacted some of the starter switch wires and caused a short. I've taken the housing apart since to get the junk out. I guess i'm just hoping i'll just be able to stick a new fuse in there and go.

[Matroy]

ok so at the risk of just conversing with myself, here is an update. I didn't have much time today to actually troubleshoot, but i just stuck in a new fuse to see what would happen. It soundedlike it was about to start, the starter turned and i got a few turns on the engine too, but then died right away. the fuse was fried again. Any tips on what i should look for? continuity to starter? anything with starter? if my starter was going bad could it cause this?

thanks for any help

[Matroy]

I'll take this all the way and conclude the thread saying that i figured out it was my soldering joint which was messy and big that was shorting to the handlebar clip-on. causing that starter fuse to blow. doh.

glad to be riding again

[jazzy]

Glad you got it sorted, nice chatting with yourself