Electrical gremlins adding up

[squidley63]

I have been having issues with my 89fj  that make me hesitant to take it on the longer rides that I so much want to do in what little free time that I have left after family and work commitments are meant.

I just got the regulator from randy to get my charging issues under control which I'm hoping will help with some issues. I have been having a lagging tach that flutters up and down while accelerating and various other small issues with intermittent misses and bogs.

I don't believe that they are carb related I think that I am having voltage issues through the wiring harness and am planning on putting in relays for the headlight and coil power to ensure they aren't having voltage issues but am wondering if there are any other circuits I should be concerned about besides these two such as ignition module power etc. I don't really want to rewire the whole bike at this point just try and make sure I at least have it run good and the lights work properly.

Any other connectors besides the battery voltage wire for the rectifier that I should be looking at would be appreciated. I was thinking of upgrading bikes to get a more reliable ride but I really enjoy my fj and like not having vehicle payments. Thanks in advance guys. 

[FJ1100mjk]

If you think that it's electrical gremlins, get yourself some of this


and take all the plastic off of your bike. Take apart all your harness connectors one at a time. Spray the above on each open connectors pins and receptacles, then mate and de-mate the connectors several times. Verify that connector halves are mated all the way and locked, before moving to the next one. While doing this look for any conductors/wires that may have insulation that has been worn through, causing an intermittent short. Plus wires fraying at their connectors pins and plugs. Clean grounds where you can. Main one is under the OEM airbox, and is not easy to access. Pop apart the switch gear, and clean and lube with the above. Same for ignition switch.

Take each spark plug cap off (they kind of thread into the plug wire's core), and trim a half inch of plug wire off, and re-install the caps. Maybe new spark plugs wouldn't hurt either. Caps themselves, may be suspect. Those can be checked to verify.

Verify your battery's condition, with a load check at you local auto parts store that offers this service for free. Doesn't hurt to verify.

You mention family and work time commitments, so I don't know how much free time you'd have for the above.

I know what you mean about confidence in your old bike for long trips. You can think you've covered it all, then something fails out of the blue and strands you. Dumping the bike for a newer, more dependable one that has far less probability for problems like the ones that confront you on your current one, not to mention stranding you, may be your best course of action. Especially with work and family responsibilities.

Good luck with whatever you do.

[red]

Clean grounds where you can.

Squidley,

Check the wiring diagrams to find every existing ground connection on the bike.  Disassemble and clean these ground locations to the bare metal.  You can get (pricey) silver-conductive grease, to do the job really well (and you won't need much).  Replace (do not clean) any corroded ground bolts or fasteners.  Inspect each end of any ground connection.  Bouncing tachs are often caused by bad (dirty) grounds at the panel.  Don't be shy about running a new parallel wire alongside any questionable ground wires, with their own new terminal ends.

My job is electronics.  I wish I got a dollar for every time some tech comes to me and says "It doesn't work, and I checked all the power lines," but then it did work, as soon as we fixed the grounds.
   
Happy hunting.

[squidley63]

I have the regulator installed and have run a heavy ground up to the relays I installed for the lights and ignition. I'm putting a good charge on the battery right now to rule out discharged battery issues.

Thanks for the replies. Will keep y'all updated on my progress.

[squidley63]

Now I have a no charge issue. Have 12 v at battery running. 10.5 on sense wire. Checked rotor at 4.5 ohms. Not sure what has changed from over charge to no charge other than changing regulator.

[ct7088]

Check the main switch for a voltage drop. The voltage at the forward fuse block should be the same as at the sense wire for the alternator. I'm using a single 40 amp relay controlled by the main switch. Works for me.

Chris

[squidley63]

Okay. Figured out what I did wrong with regulator. Had some funk under the mount for regulator. Charging now and when I put battery voltage on sense wire it caps it nicely at 14.4 v at 4K.

I have the tach grounded better along with 4 other circuits. Am working on getting better key on voltage everywhere now. I am thinking of using a relay for key on power sources until I get a chance to fix up harness.