I think I may have fried my rectifier.
I finally got around to washing my B4 today. The thing hadn't been cleaned since June, and today looks like it may be the last warm day here in the NYC area so I went and finally washed it down.
After I washed it and wiped it down, I took it for a ride on the highway to dry out the nooks and crannies. The bike was running fine. I then brought it back and lubed the chain. When I started it again, it didn't seem right. At first I thought water may have made it's way into the carbs. It seemed like it it was missing a cylinder, yet it idled fine.
I rode it home and it sounded weird. For lack of a better description, the engine sounded "bubbly" (too much soap?
) . When I parked it, I noticed the lights were dim, and revving it didn't make them brighter. Then I smelled something electrical burning. I sniffed around and it SEEMED to be coming from the rectifier.
So for the moment I'm assuming I may have shorted it out when I washed the bike. I'm kinda surprised about this, as I was careful not to flood the bike with water, I used a very light edge stream coming from a hose nozzle. I did come around the recitifer area with a brush and Simple Green, so it may have worked it's way in somewhere.
So, any thoughts? Does this sound like a fried rectifier? If so, can I put in an aftermarket unit, or does it have to be a Suzuki unit? What do these generally cost? Any other possibilities as to what may be up? I'm kinda surprised if it is shorted, you'd think these things would be appropriately sealed. It also did it after the fact, because when I first started the bike after washing it and riding it on the highway, the bike was fine.
In spite of this I must say I'm glad I washed this down. It badly needed it. I didn't realized I had a chrome rear sprocket! I was following Dave Jacob's Motorcycling Detailing Made Easy book from Whitehorse Press. This was the "first phase", the washdown. He was right, the process took all day to perform. Don't know if the weather will hold up for the secondary detailing part, but I'm glad I got the crud off this thing before winter sets in.
Anyway, any info on whether I fried this thing or not and what I can do about it is, as always, greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Topic: Blown Rectifier? (Read 3980 times)