There's been several items on the to-do list for my motorcycles. I've delayed them so I could do the work in the comfort of my garage at home rather than in some wind-swept and dusty campsite. (That and parts had to be ordered)
Wednesday, March 10
I replaced the battery on Brigitta, my BMW R80 Airhead. The old battery died on Monday when I tried to go for a ride. I'd noticed via the voltmeter that the battery wasn't charging as I rode out of the neighborhood and so had turned around and started troubleshooting.
My battery tester said it was bad, but it's also not quite suitable for motorcycle batteries with their low Amp Hour ratings. Must get a more suitable one in the future. I also verified via an Autozone tech that the battery was bad.
I replaced it with the same battery, a maintenance-free unit from Amazon (it came full charged)
Installation was straight forward, no issues. Brigitta started right up and now charges when the RPMs go above 2000. The battery lasted about 4 years.
Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and swapped the stator on Yagi, my Yamaha TW200 Dual Sport.
Nothing wrong with the one that was installed. I had recently received back from a neighborhood friend, a refurbished one. The first swap I had done oh so many months ago had failed (something broken in the stator itself).
So I had my neighbor who is good at soldering, transfer the good wiring harness from the failed stator and connect it to the known good stator that came with the motorcycle but who's wiring I'd damaged by not routing it correctly. This had started the whole stator debacle. Chronological order:
Home Early due to Lack of Spark
Yagi has spark once more ! Kinda... (now waiting for parts)
Boondocking near Westcreek, CO
A Paradigm Shift?
Maybe not so big a Paradigm Shift after all.....Yagi has Spark Again
So, I swapped in the refurbed stator and she fired right up when tested. I'll keep the known and trusted Partzilla Stator as "known good spare" and ride Yagi with the refurbed one for a while to gain trust.
7 comments:
So good that you were able to recognize the battery condition before it let you down. Have been enjoying you blog for some time. Thanks for sharing with us.
Man, when do you rest? Whether at home or on the road you are always doing chores. Just teasing you, I know you are not one to sit still and do nothing.
Keep doing and going for as long as you can. I am learning new things from reading your blog, thank you.
Thanks CCjon, though sometimes I think it's my role in life in how not to do somethings.... ;)
I do simple maintenance- I wish I had your knowledge and expertise
Thanks Oz, I have access to patient gurus....all credit goes to them.
Every time I read about someone doing their own maintenance a flame flickers for a moment in my head that I should do my own maintenance. I have a huge Craftsman tool chest full of tools after all. But your comment on patient gurus gave me pause. While a couple have offered I've not taken them up on their sharing of wisdom and expertise leaving me alone in the garage. More and more I have been paying others to do even simple things like oil and filter changes.
The Himalayan dealer is too far away so I will soon be doing all the maintenance and a valve check. Stuff like that used to be fun. But something happened...
I completely understand, just this week I actually paid a company to change the oil in Martha's car. The horror! But in my case, the days of crawling around under cars are rapidly approaching an end.
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