Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech HELP! WTF did I do?????

Replaced my headlight bulb with a PIAA bulb this afternoon and then washed my bike about an hour before I was set to go to my local RAT meeting. Started up fine but did not want to idle without the choke out. Let it idle for 15 minutes and the idle rate picked up to where it would barely stay running without the choke. When I took off NO ACCELERATION WHATSOEVER!! 0-50 in about 12 seconds, sluggish, had to rev it up high just to get moving, felt like a Pinto going up a mountain. Figured it would pick up once I got going but after 20 minutes it was still not reponsive so I drove home.

I'm really bummed out to miss the meeting and even more so with this development. This is the first problem I've had with the bike and don't know if it'll just go away after whatever I obviously got wet dries out or what

Any words of advice?

C'mon guys, don't hold the J**** C*** thing against me

Did you somehow damage the new bulb? Did you try replacing it with the old one? Burn out a fuse by accidentally shorting out a circuit? The way these modern doo-dads are made, everything is so dependent on everything else that it MUST be something simple like a ground or bad bulb or the like. Good luck, chum.

don't panic... Sounds like you got something REAL wet. The no power thing sounds like your firing on one cyl. Check the plug and coil wires. While you're at it, look at the plugs. You probably fouled the one that wasn't firing. Better yet, wait till morning and try it again. It may have dryed ouy on it's own by then. I doubt the bulb replacement has anything to do with it.

Check the wires going to the coil. Your symptoms sound like what happened to me. I accidently knocked a wire off the connection, so it was actually only running on one cylinder.


Soren

I don't think it was the bulb, it was brand new and all I did was unplug the old one, plug in the new one. Didn't have anything turned on at the time, etc.

piper, I'll wait till morning and see how it goes. I've only been riding a year, am not mechanically inclined yet and haven't had any trouble till now so I don't have any troubleshooting skills either. Now that you say it, when I was riding I was wondering if this is how it feels if it's only firing on one cylinder. My problem is that I don't know cause and effect yet.

I'll check the plugs, haven't checked them before so they're probably due for a cleaning (wire brush?).

Thanks!

Sounds like my bike when I forget to turn the fuel petcock on and she starts running out of fuel.Maybe the petcock is not all the way on.Having to run on the choke sounds like a fuel supply problem. Al

Nope, double checked the petcock cause I've done that before...

It sounds like you were running on one jug.

If it runs fine tomorrow, find the connectors in the picture a few posts up, and stuff them with a good dilectric grease or spray them good with clear Krylon. While you're in there, do the same with the connecters to the 3 modules bolted to the right side of the frame under the tank, especially the rearmost one.
If it were a problem directly caused by working on the light, (burnt fuse, melted wire etc) it probably wouldn't start at all.

I also accidentallly pulled a wire and had a similar problem. You are not alone Soren! Cost me a 200 mile run to the coast...sad indeed.

It sounds like your running on one lung. I would check you're coil and plug connections and make sure they're snapped in all the way. Make sure they're dry and diffinetly do what Greybeard suggests with the dielectric grease. Our bikes seem to be prone to wet problems. WD40 is a good quick fix because it displaces water but it dries and won't protect long term. WD= Water Displacement.

Well, I didn't get a chance to look at it till this afternoon right before I had to go out for Back to School Night. Fired it up hoping I could ride it to the meeting and... same thing, running on one carb (left side). Soooooo, it looks like I'll need to check out my coil, etc. tomorrow to see if I can get it up and running again. D*mn! Oh well, this'll be good for getting some experience with fixing problems.

Soren,

Sorry I didn't get back to you guys - but didn't get a chance to look at the bike again till today and YOU WERE RIGHT! The wires to the right side coil were pulled out. Now she's back to a great running beast.

Thanks