Problem solved?

[El Dopa]

I had/have an intermittent fault with the bike that I've posted about before.

I thought it might be the reg/rec, so I got together with Erik, who offered to help - he has a normal (non-V) Bandit 400.

Well, we ran all the tests, including swapping over the reg/recs, swapping the batteries and a couple of other things.

Results? Inconclusive. The only consistent thing seems to be that the measured voltage on my bike is a volt or two lower than Eriks, no matter whether the engine is idling or revving.

Any one got any ideas?

We put it all back together this evening and she goes beautifully. No idea what the problem might have been.

I'm putting a new battery in tomorrow, I put new sparklers in the other day.

The only other thing I can think of is possibly a fuelling problem. If the breather hose comes off the tank, or gets kinked, is it possible that the engine gets starved of fuel somehow? I'm thinking the hose might have come off, and this is causing vacuum to build in the tank as I ride, gradually stopping the fuel flowing and starving the engine.

All the hoses are back in place now. I'm off for a big ride tomorrow, so fingers crossed I don't end up stuck in the midle of nowhere.

[stormi]

Yeah,.. have you tried the Electrosport test to see if it turns up anything? (See my sig for the link)  

Lower volts on the battery says to me that you may have a charging problem.

No point changing parts til you get it right.  That's the expensive way to do things.  Test it with the flowchart and it should point out the problem for you.

[El Dopa]

Yeah,.. have you tried the Electrosport test to see if it turns up anything? (See my sig for the link)  

Lower volts on the battery says to me that you may have a charging problem.

No point changing parts til you get it right.  That's the expensive way to do things.  Test it with the flowchart and it should point out the problem for you.

Mmmm, started working through it. Got to one bit where one arrow pointed to 'Perfectly fine' if the charging voltage was over a certain amount. Mine was 0.2 of a volt under the threshold. I will work through the full diagnistic when i get a chance.

Thanks.

FWIW, I went for a 350K ride today, mostly in the pouring rain, and the bike behaved beautifully.

[stormi]

Mmmm, started working through it. Got to one bit where one arrow pointed to 'Perfectly fine' if the charging voltage was over a certain amount. Mine was 0.2 of a volt under the threshold. I will work through the full diagnistic when i get a chance.

I'm guessing that that's a poor wire connection and the .2V under was a fail.  Which part of the diagnostic was it that you stopped at?

FWIW, I went for a 350K ride today, mostly in the pouring rain, and the bike behaved beautifully.

Yet another reason I suspect a poor connection.