Oh Lord (CB500) - The Leaky Bitch (p. 31)

Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, and a fuse question... (pg. 36)

stroker crazy said:
What amperage was the blown fuse?
Do you know what caused it to blow?

Crazy
Click to expand...

+1 to both of those. If you use a fuse or circuit breaker with a higher amperage rating that the original you run the risk of burning up the wiring. There is probably a reason that the fuse blew, most likely a short circuit. If you don't fix that you'll just keep blowing fuses.

Short circuit is commonly caused by the a bare wire touching something metal and grounding out. I would start searching for the bare wire between the blown fuse and the component it runs.
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues... (pg. 37)

ARGHHH I'M SO FRUSTRATED!!!

So it isn't the main fuse. It's still good. I noticed my Battery Tender was flashing, meaning that it was on and functional, but not charging the battery. I look in the instructions, and it says that if a battery is under 3volts, it wont charge it. So I pulled my SUV into the garage and put the jumper cables to the battery, and attempted to start the bike. I got some popping, and a tendril of smoke off of the negative lead. So thinking there may be an issue with the battery, I pulled it out of the bike and drove down the street to an Advanced Auto. They said that the battery is so dead, they can't even test it, and on top of that, they didn't have the proper replacement in stock. So I went back to the house, and called Bobby Costello. Now this is a great guy. He makes his living off of fixing problems guys like me make, but is willing to talk to you on the phone so that you can try to fix it yourself. After talking to him, I've got some things to look at. I check the connections, etc., and then try to jumpstart the bike off my SUV again. More smoke. More popping. More sparks. From both the positive and negative battery cables. And even a little red hot glowing. The clips on the jumper cables started to get hot, so I ceased and desisted. After looking at it for a couple of minutes, I decided to through in the towel because of the frustration level. I am starting to worry this wont be ridable for the begainning of April (I have a friend coming back from Afghanista for a month. We have plans to ride out to Fogo De Chow for lunch.)
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

Electrons are not my friend but I'd say that sparks and smoke and red hot wires tend to indicate a dead short in the system. I have not read through the whole post so I have no idea what you already changed or tried so some of this may be redundant.

Does the starter spin ok if it it's flash connected directly to a decent battery? If not it needs to be checked and/or repaired.

With the starter disconnected at the solenoid, what happens if you push the starter button - anything, click, nothing, smoke? If it does anything other than just click at the solenoid (relay) the short is in the solenoid or further upstream.
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

Teazer, I guess I will check out the parts you suggested.

A mild update:
Ha!!!!! Some (semi) good news!!! So, as someone else suggested to me, I hooked up the battery from the SUV to the bike, and it kicked over. It settled into a nice idle and ran well. I felt the jumper cables at the leads and they felt cool to the touch.

So after that, I took the cables off, and got the battery back in the bike. I tried kicking it like that. Wow, that was painful. a bunch of kicks and a couple of times getting hit with the kick-starter, and I realized one of the leads had popped off on the battery under the hood of the SUV.

So lets try again. It starts right up. I let it run like this, and there is still no popping, smoking, sparks, or heat. Not bad. So I took the cables off, and the bike kept running on its. Own. Not bad! I shut it all down, and put the battery tender back on it, and low and behold, now its taking a charge from that.

So, being I know nothing about bikes, and I am only mildly mechanically inclined, what does this narrow it down to? The starter and the solenoid?
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

It's a 500, you should be able to start it by hand.
I would say check timing is right
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

It usually kicks easy first start, but without the battery...
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

If it starts up on the kicker and runs OK then it suggests the issue is with the starter/solenoid/button/wiring related to the starter.
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

..........................................but battery going flat points to wiring? :-\
BTW, Those circuit breakers looked so good I hunted some 15a down on eBay (over $8.00 each with shipping though)
May swap out new fuse holder for one
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

Motivating build! I'm in the same position you were at the beginning of this project, same experience level and financial budget. I'm in the process of searching for a good base bike, found a CB550 and an RD400 in my area, if I can take them down a couple notches. Keep up the good work, it's good to see that this is something I could handle too.

War Eagle!
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!

How does one test a solenoid relay and a starter? (can the starter be tested in the bike?)
 
Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

03rangerxlt said:
WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!

How does one test a solenoid relay and a starter? (can the starter be tested in the bike?)
Click to expand...

To test the starter just make sure the engine is grounded and then grab some jumper cables and hook the positive to the battery and then touch the its end of the positive to the connection on the starter. This should make it spin.

To test the solenoid hook it to the starter and the battery an then there should be two more wires one is power one is ground. When these wires are connected to power and ground respectively the solenoid Should close its contacts and the starter should turn.
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

Wish I had more suggestions but electricity is not my strong point. Hope you figure it out soon.
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Vintage bike woes, the frustration continues (pg. 37)

Someone suggested the problems may have been caused by my battery. I managed to jump the bike off my SUV, and got the battery juiced up enough to start taking a charge off the trickle charger. Well, the charger indicated the battery was done, so I tried it out today. Big failure! It was barely turning over the starter motor, but the solenoid relay sounded it like it was working properly. My wife picked up a cheap multimeter for me from Home Depot this weekend, and I put that on the battery. 13.5 volts before trying to start, 7 volts after. So the battery really was filled with ground up Chineese children! I took it to Advanced Auto and the diagnostic machine spit it out as faulty. So I got another battery; damn it was expensive! But the bike starts up nice and easy now. So now I need to check out the charging system. I'm really hoping that the charging system is working good and that the whole issue was the crappy battery!
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Simple upgrade = electrical system progress! (pg. 38)

Awesome! I had similar symptoms before and it turned out to be my a bad regulator so glad it was just the battery. Now that you have a meter it should be pretty simple to verify that the charging system is working.
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Simple upgrade = electrical system progress! (pg. 38)

My stock solenoid relay is fine. The start seems fine. The starter button seems fine.

This is where I eat my humble pie...

I waited until the charger indicated the battery was fully charged, and put it back in my bike. My wife picked up a multimeter for me while I was working all weekend. The batter showed 13.8 volts. I cranked it and it wouldn't start the bike. It dropped down to 9 and then 7 volts over two attemtps to start it.

So I pulled the battery out while it still had a charge and took it to Advanced Auto where they connected their tester to it. It failed miserably.

I bought a new battery and the bike started off the electric starter no issue. While running at idle, with the headlight on, the voltmeter shows 12.37 volts steady.

I spent the rest of my time in the garage today fooling with the turn signals, rebuilding the indicator switch, and cleaning up some of the wiring under the seat. I also replaced the old fuse older with a new blade style fuse holder. On my next day off from work, I will start running though the diagnostic check of the charging system.

So hopefully it was the battery! :D
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Simple upgrade = electrical system progress! (pg. 38)

Oh yeah. I forgot to ask a question about battery maintanence...

Is it ok to store the battery on a Battery Tender all the time?
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - Simple upgrade = electrical system progress! (pg. 38)

03rangerxlt said:
Oh yeah. I forgot to ask a question about battery maintanence...

Is it ok to store the battery on a Battery Tender all the time?
Click to expand...

As long as it's a trickle charger, yes.
 
Oh Lord (CB500) - Simple upgrade = electrical system progress! (pg. 38)

Of it is a Deltran Battery Tender or equivalent, and not just a trickle charger , not only is it ok, but recommended. My battery on my nh750 is 5 years old and going strong. It is on the tender whenever it is parked and all winter. My last battery was over 7 years old ( date code was prior to Yuasa ownership change) and may of been older than that. Tenders rule for battery life


Sent from planet Earth using mysterious electronic devices and Tapatalk
 
Oh Lord (CB500) - ARGHHHHH THIS BIKE HATES ME!!! (pg. 38)

TODAY'S RIDE!!!

So I finished up the turn signals, cranked up the bike, and climb on! There were two older ladies in my neighborhood that flagged me down at the second stop sign I approached. They had seen me getting the bike ready while they were out for a walk. I thought they were going to yell at me for the racket I was making with it, but it turned out they were very interested in my bike! "What kind of bike is that?" "How old is it?" "How come it only has a seat for one?" "Why is it leaking like that?"

Huh? Why is it leaking like that?

I looked down and see it pouring gas all over the place. CRAP!!! I power it down, and get off and see the number three carb is just pouring fuel out off it. It looked like it was coming out of the drain, but it was hard to tell, as the velocity stack was also wet with fuel.

ARGHHHHH!!! It looks like the bike is going have to be trailered back to Bobby Costello. Carbs are too much of a mystery to me. April is fast approaching, and it looks like I am going to be driving my cage to have lunch with my buddy when he gets back from the sandbox. At least I'll have a nice view of his Harley from my driver seat. :( Damn, at least I didn't go up in flames!
 
Re: Oh Lord (CB500) - ARGHHHHH THIS BIKE HATES ME!!! (pg. 38)

You've gotta love little old ladies!

They sure know how to ask a question.

Crazy
 
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