Hi Guys-
My neighbor has a 76 xs500 that we have been working on for a couple of months now. The first issue was the battery not charging which we found was caused by the alternator rotor breaking, well he replaced that, but afterwards the bike would not start. I took a look at the bike, and the plugs were burnt up, so I told him to replace them, we gapped and replaced with new NGK plugs, but the bike still wouldn't start. My next step was to look at the points, and they were in pretty nasty shape, so he replaced the points and condenser. We timed the ignition per the service manual, and still the bike won't start. When we were timing it, I noticed the advancer was rusty, so we took that apart, and cleaned and lubed it. My next thought is the coils, but I don't want to keep telling him to replace parts unless I know they're faulty.
One other funny thing, is the bike is REALLY hard to turn over with the kick starter, and it sounds like the electric starter is turning over with the kick starter. I think this might be an issue with the starter clutch, which I don't think he replaced with the alternator rotor. I am at a loss, I've never had a bike fight me this much (maybe because I am going in there after he works on it and it doesn't work ;D) , but who knows. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
My neighbor has a 76 xs500 that we have been working on for a couple of months now. The first issue was the battery not charging which we found was caused by the alternator rotor breaking, well he replaced that, but afterwards the bike would not start. I took a look at the bike, and the plugs were burnt up, so I told him to replace them, we gapped and replaced with new NGK plugs, but the bike still wouldn't start. My next step was to look at the points, and they were in pretty nasty shape, so he replaced the points and condenser. We timed the ignition per the service manual, and still the bike won't start. When we were timing it, I noticed the advancer was rusty, so we took that apart, and cleaned and lubed it. My next thought is the coils, but I don't want to keep telling him to replace parts unless I know they're faulty.
One other funny thing, is the bike is REALLY hard to turn over with the kick starter, and it sounds like the electric starter is turning over with the kick starter. I think this might be an issue with the starter clutch, which I don't think he replaced with the alternator rotor. I am at a loss, I've never had a bike fight me this much (maybe because I am going in there after he works on it and it doesn't work ;D) , but who knows. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance