I ran into this little ditty on my NoCal trip, never happened to me before on anything. Look for these signs to be sure you don't have the same issue.
I noticed my bike was surging a great deal on steady throttle (up hill, down hill, and level). We all thought it might be bad gas. I had the TBS done at 50K with the valve check, I now have about 53K on the odo. The next day after filling up at a different station, it got even worse. It surged really bad to the point of me wondering what was happening to said FeeJ and if I'd need a tow. At low speed it almost died and would lurch like a bucking bronco.
We were on Hwy 89 between Hwy 80 and Sierraville, and I pulled into a campground for a bio break. The bike almost launched me off as it lurched forward. After the bio-break and taking in the scenery at the camp ground (no one was there, hardly any people in NoCal), I turned on the key, hit the starter button, and BAM! The dash goes out and nothing. I tried again, got the dash to sweep and the starter just rattled. I jiggled some wires, my cables to my GPS, etc, and it started. I thought uh oh, a short in my cable. I disconnected it all and off we went to Sierraville, still surged but not as bad.
After some munchies in Sierraville I hopped on the trusty steed and nothing, no electrical at all! Kept going back and forth trying things, messing with wires, etc. nada, zip, done, finished, kaput. I pulled out my tools and started tearing into it to see what fuse might have blown. When removing one of the right dash panels, suddenly my dash went back on. WOW! Now I'm getting an idea, it has to do with the battery or wires around there. I got the panel off and lo and behold what do I find to my embarrassment…..
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My positive terminal is so loose, it got a huge gap at the terminal and would not make contact. I was running off the alternator basically. I tightened it up real good this time, and off we went. No more issues. I must have forgot to tighten the terminal when I put my front forks on about 3 weeks before this trip and it slowly came loose. What a dork! I'm glad it was something easy and not a major tow issue. Don't let this happen to you.
Note - I had to remove my battery to get a torque wrench on the lower triple clamp to reinstall my front forks. My allen socket was too long and the back of the torque wrench ran into the battery.
**EDIT** 12/13/10
I found real problem for terminal bolts loosening up.
I noticed my bike was surging a great deal on steady throttle (up hill, down hill, and level). We all thought it might be bad gas. I had the TBS done at 50K with the valve check, I now have about 53K on the odo. The next day after filling up at a different station, it got even worse. It surged really bad to the point of me wondering what was happening to said FeeJ and if I'd need a tow. At low speed it almost died and would lurch like a bucking bronco.
We were on Hwy 89 between Hwy 80 and Sierraville, and I pulled into a campground for a bio break. The bike almost launched me off as it lurched forward. After the bio-break and taking in the scenery at the camp ground (no one was there, hardly any people in NoCal), I turned on the key, hit the starter button, and BAM! The dash goes out and nothing. I tried again, got the dash to sweep and the starter just rattled. I jiggled some wires, my cables to my GPS, etc, and it started. I thought uh oh, a short in my cable. I disconnected it all and off we went to Sierraville, still surged but not as bad.
After some munchies in Sierraville I hopped on the trusty steed and nothing, no electrical at all! Kept going back and forth trying things, messing with wires, etc. nada, zip, done, finished, kaput. I pulled out my tools and started tearing into it to see what fuse might have blown. When removing one of the right dash panels, suddenly my dash went back on. WOW! Now I'm getting an idea, it has to do with the battery or wires around there. I got the panel off and lo and behold what do I find to my embarrassment…..
Scroll down
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
My positive terminal is so loose, it got a huge gap at the terminal and would not make contact. I was running off the alternator basically. I tightened it up real good this time, and off we went. No more issues. I must have forgot to tighten the terminal when I put my front forks on about 3 weeks before this trip and it slowly came loose. What a dork! I'm glad it was something easy and not a major tow issue. Don't let this happen to you.
Note - I had to remove my battery to get a torque wrench on the lower triple clamp to reinstall my front forks. My allen socket was too long and the back of the torque wrench ran into the battery.
**EDIT** 12/13/10
I found real problem for terminal bolts loosening up.
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