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TECHNICAL MOTOBRICK WRENCHING In Remembrance of Inge K. => The Motobrick Workshop => Topic started by: jbmccarthy on October 23, 2014, 06:26:29 PM
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Hey guys,
ive got a k75 that until a couple of days ago ran alright, but now wont start. I had an incident the day before yesterday where I took her out for a spin, but at a stop light she just died on me. The bike would turn over but it didnt seem like there was a spark. After getting off the bike I saw that the oil indicator was completely dried up, which I thought was weird because I remembered having plenty of oil before i set off. One of the exhaust headers was coated in oil from a weep that had been in the works for a few weeks but i didnt think much of it, and thought there was no way it could have drained the whole thing. Nonetheless, I put two more quarts in after i broke down and sure enough she fired right up and i rode it home. The next day, however i go to start her and...nothing. I push the starter button and hear a "click" and then the whine of the fuel pump but thats it. I looked down at the oil indicator and it was completely black at this point, so i went ahead and drained the oil and put two more quarts but to no avail. As a frustrated newbie im tempted to bring it into the shop, but my wallet and my ego wont let me do that without first seeing if i can figure it out myself. Any thoughts on where to start? Any help is appreciated, but bear in mind that youre talking to someone with very limited experience in the area so I'd appreciate it if you guys could dumb it down :)
Thanks again,
Jack
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If you drained it, it will take 4 quarts of oil to bring it back up to the correct level.
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I'd make the suggestion of using some electrical contact spray and clean up the electrical connections/contacts for the ignition switch, kill switch, the engine controller plug, and any/all of the ground connections.
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Make sure you don't overfill the oil -- over or under filling won't affect whether it starts but will damage the engine if it does run for any length of time. Make sure your battery can produce enough current to turn the engine over consistently. I recently had a situation where the battery was reading 12.6 volts but had no cold cranking amps, so it would just click and not turn the engine over. If this is a new-to-you bike, it's worth the peace of mind to pull the battery and have it tested at autozone or wherever, unless you have a means to test it properly yourself.
Next time it doesn't start, note whether headlights, indicator lights, and any other power systems are on, all those clues can help with diagnosis. I agree with Scott that the most likely suspect would be the big connector at the ECU under the seat. It's fickle, there are a lot of connection points and sometime just needs to be unplugged and plugged back in periodically.
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Thanks for the input guys, i look forward to trying out your suggestions this weekend