i noticed while riding my lights flickering and voltage dropping by a volt or two then climbing back up via my koso volt meter. five miles or so after that my bike stumbled slightly on take off a little then five or more miles i noticed the light flicker and voltage drop again. roed for another five or eight miles and decided to turn into the grocery store. when i turned i pulled in the clutch and the bike just fell flat on its face and i had to rev it to keep it from cutting off.oil light came on and lights worked no voltage problems. i came to a stop and let off throttle then the bike died. i cranked it up and it sputtered so i goosed out the parking lot a half mile in upper rpm range to make it home.

next day i worked on it, i checked the three yellow stator wire connection and sure enough it was corroded and burnt a little. so i just did away with the old stator to rectifier harness and replaced it with three new wires soldered them and thats one fix for the voltage drop and flicker problem. (charging system is healthy for sure, i checked all)

i turn the ignition on and nothing, so i flicked the kill switch back and forth a few times and the power came on. all normal voltage readings during this time. when i was turning the bike on with kill switch or key i was hearing a very small clunking like noise coming from the little air induction tubes up front that led me to the air solenoid. it never made the little clunking noise until it started acting up. i put it on the multu meter ohms setting at the 2000 diode symbol, it reads 021 (i cant find the specs range in the shop manual at all! bad or good solenoid?)then i noticed my brake light was not working when i applied the brakes.

i did see on the wiring diagram that the brake lights and the kill switch are connected to the air solenoid.

question 1: from what i have described does it sound like a faulty air solenoid?


question 2: can a faulty air solenoid effect my ignition not coming on til i flick the kill switch back and forth and my brake lights not coming on?


question 3: when i put the two leads from my craftsman volt meter to the two leads off the air solenoid to get a reading (with setting on 2000 diode symbol at bottom middle of craftsman meter) what numbers should i see?

PS- i have read a lot of threads on this so i know im on the right track and im getting close to solving it. its just that confirmation from you guys really goes a long way and this little machine that i have fell in love with is my only transportation and im not ready to call it quits yet....holy **** can i post this book i just wrote? lol:icon_imnot worthy:

 

I would check my kill switch, make sure everything is nice and clean, no corrosion or anything. I am not using a secondary air supply so it shouldn't affect your ignition process.

 

i just cleaned it with contact cleaner and put die electric grease on top of the contact points. does the unit go bad or is it just the conections that go bad?

thanks

ok, back to diagnostics today. i went out plugged the air solenoid back into its harness and turned the ignition on. i blew air through the openings. when the ignition was off one opening was closed and the other was open.then when on it shut that opening and opened the other one.so it seems to be not malfunctioning. then when i turned ignition on/off i saw the valve going back and forth.

 

+1, I've seen several posts about the kill switch contacts being corroded. It seems as if you are electrical savvy, so take the switch apart and clean the contacts, see if that helps. Couldn't hurt and its a free check to make!

 

where the wires are actually soldered to the starter switch, are those supposed to be swiveling or pivoting around? three of them are. i dont think thats right, its suspect. honda shop bound. brb

 

no the only thing thats supposed to move is the switch itself. hopefully they can help if not we are here.

 

ok, well i took the starter switch apart (all the way) and cleaned the connectios with wire brush and contact cleaner. it was nasty in there and corrosuion. while putting it back together i broke the little tiny brass piece connection part (one of the two little brass pieces with the little spring behind it). i tried it any way and it did not even crank. how ever, i have brake lights again now, guess thats on the side that i didnt break so im sure thats the problem.

i just went ahead and ordered a brand new kill/ starter switch from bike bandit. should be here by mid next week and i will keep all informed when i get it on.

oh, yeah, the only reason i will go to honda shop is for parts and if i have no other option. they will never agian touch my bike again. me and the techs dont get along anymore being i cought them trying to do bull**** work and ripp me off a couple times this past winter, never again. they did not think i would check thier work behind them. ****ERS, lol

thanks again fellas

 

while waiting for the starter/ stop switch to get in i resoldered my old switch and bingo thats what the problem was! damn connections were all f'-ed up. still gonna install new switch though just to be safe than sorry. also i will have extra parts. thanks dudes!

im leaving columbia, sc to ride with a buddy o mine to deals gap next week on the 18th-20th, fri,sat, sun. leaving fri at 5 am, we will be riding to eat lunch at the dragon on fri and then sat make a big loop around the smokey mtns through gatlinburg, maggie valley, cherokee and back to deals gap. if anyone is going to be in the area around that time holla.