[dbreinich]

At the risk of being the needy Newbie...I need to ask for some additional help on the TW we just bought with gremlins...





We just picked this up, and got it running pretty well with a jump box on it....As soon as we take the box off you see the neutral light flicker, and it has a rough idle. Even if we take the box off while maintaining a high throttle it cut out...We cant put any throttle into it or it will die....



Before I start ripping into the generator, I wanted some thoughts.

 

[mrlmd]

Why do you start by "ripping into the generator?"

Did you check the battery voltage first? Is it dead? You need a jump box so it seems that's one problem.

Did you check the voltage at the battery terminals with the engine running to even see what the generator(alternator) output is?

I would place bets that your battery is the problem and check that out first, but you have given so little information that it's really hard to know where to start to help you. Like how old is this bike, how many miles, how long has it sat 'till you got it. what has been done to it so far? If it has been sitting for a while, how old is the gas, did you clean the carb, etc.,etc.,etc. A little more information would go a long way. Generators usually don't fail. but batteries do and carbs get dirty and fouled. so you start at the beginning and work your way down the line. We need more info.

 

[arrowsmith]

It will run without the battery or the charging system.

The ignition and charging system are two separate systems.

Clean the carb. and check the Battery.

 

[dbreinich]

The battery was dead, but I had arrowsmth's thought. It should run without the battery. I replaced the battery and it runs fine. I checked the voltage and the battery is charging at almost 14V when idle....Does an electric start bike need the battery to be hooked up to excite the coils?

 

[arrowsmith]

The battery was dead, but I had arrowsmth's thought. It should run without the battery. I replaced the battery and it runs fine. I checked the voltage and the battery is charging at almost 14V when idle....Does an electric start bike need the battery to be hooked up to excite the coils?

I have a 91 with electric and kick start. It will run without a battery.

 

[TW_in_BC]

The manual has a section on measuring the resistance of your stator windings; this helped me to troubleshoot my fried coil last year.