ENGINE DIED

[Richard Court]

 
What a day!  Today I went for a ride with a mate.  It started out fine, great weather, and the ST1300 2002 model having just been serviced was running like a charm. That was until about half way home.  I approached an intersection changing down to first gear, the road being clear I started a right hand turn applying an appropriate amount of throttle only to find my engine had died.  I pressed the starter and the engine turned over but would not start.  Then I started to check every thing I could think of.  Fuses battery terminals, connectors, all to non-avail.  I noticed that even with the ignition switched off and the key removed from the ignition switch the indicator lights were all on and static, headlights were on but dim, brake lights and tail lights were all on as were the oil warning and neutral lights. 
Has anyone else had this experience?
I called a friend to come with his trailer and help take the bike home which he did, and with the assistance of some passing bikers who kindly stopped to lend a little extra muscle we managed to load the bike and secure it.  Unfortunately though, at home we did not have the extra hands and in trying to unload, we dropped the bike in the trailer and damaged a couple of panels and smashed the right hand rear vision mirror.  OUCH!  Not a perfect end to a perfect day.

[Brock]

 

I have heard of this on the yank forum, but dont remember the cause that was found.

[Biggles]

Oh damn and ouch!
Is there a relay that is stuck "on"?
I'm guessing you've disconnected the battery leads to save the battery.

A search of www.st-owners.com is in order.  It's a very good search engine.

[Richard Court]

Yes I did disconnect the battery and I will follow your suggestion. Thanks a lot for you interest.

[tj189]

bugger!! not a good day for you,  I have not heard of it happening.  Will be interested in the outcome, good luck with the fix

[Richard Court]

  I have got Steve Latham coming around this afternoon.  He is a local motorcycle mechanic with a mobile workshop.  Very convenient , he comes to you house, doesn't charge like a wounded bull and knows what he is talking about.  I will keep you posted with the result after he completes his diagnoses.

[Richard Court]

GRRR! 
Steve spent a couple of hours trying to find the problem without susses.  He did manage to get it started for a while only to have it fail again.  Finally he said he was in the dark and had to go and research the problem.  Can anyone please tell me where the regulator /rectifier is on the ST1300?
 

[ST2UP]

So Richard when you say just serviced....how many k's before it died had you ridden roughly and which service was it ?? Might narrow down how deep into the bike/tupperware the mechanic was playing....was it serviced by Honda and a log book service or local generic bike shops kick the tyres change the oil ??

Sounds very "earthy" in my humble opinion.....like they disconnected or unplugged something to get to something else and didn't re-install correctly.....



Cheers

[ST2UP]

And check this plug as well....

http://ozstoc.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3821.0;attach=1850;image


Don't ask me how I know     

[Richard Court]

Hi ST2UP, and thanks for taking the time to answer my post.
Steve Latham is a well respected mechanic in this area who operates from a mobile workshop and came highly recommended by several other Ulyssians.
The Service was a 95,000 K.
I do not have a log book as it did not come with the bike The previous owner just supplied me with invoices and receipts for work carried out.
Steve gave the bike an Oil change and new filter and I believe he checked all other things that needed to be checked.  (He has the contract with Australia Post to service the Postie bikes so he should have a good idea of what is required).
He adjusted the steering head bearing and as I recall he found a disconnected connector on the right hand handle bar under the break leaver which he reconnected. 
He has been researching the problem for me and said he thinks it is an earth problem as well but can not explain why all the lights remain on when the bike is switched off and the ignition key removed.
Best regards,
Richard

[Biggles]

He adjusted the steering head bearing and as I recall he found a disconnected connector on the right hand handle bar under the break leaver which he reconnected. 

Ahha!  Disconnect that connector!  The PO may have solved an earthing problem a quick and dirty way by that disconnection.

[saaz]

The alternator is like a car one, so the regulator and rectifier are part of the alternator.

[Brock]

That connector sounds like the brake micro switch connector. Not saying its not the problem, but ???

Try unpluging the igniton switch connector if you can get to it. If the problem of uncommanded power goes away, then there most likley is a problem in the switch or wire loom ( wires could be pinched)

[Richard Court]

 :-++Thanks to you all for you comments.
I have now downloaded a workshop manual and can see from that the alternator and regulator/rectifier are built in together.
On Monday I will try to get at the  ignition switch connector.
I rang Steve and he said the wire he reconnected was in fact the front break light connector.

[Richard Court]

 
Still waiting for Steve to come back with a solution.  I hope he will be here by Wednesday and we can get to the bottom of the problem.  I still have to get the panel work done.  By the time I get the bike back my bum calluses will have cleared up and I will have to start hardening them up again.

[Biggles]

Still waiting for Steve to come back with a solution.  I hope he will be here by Wednesday and we can get to the bottom of the problem.  I still have to get the panel work done.  By the time I get the bike back my bum calluses will have cleared up and I will have to start hardening them up again.

Eat your dinner and watch TV sitting astride the sawing horse.   

[Marcus]

 

[Richard Court]

OUCH.  I would rather ride an  1940 AJS for 8 hours a day

[StinkyPete]

Hey Richard.   How did you get on with this problem?   

[Richard Court]

  Hi Guys, Back again.
I got my bike back some time ago but have not had a lot of time to ride it.  The mechanic replaced the wiring loom to the ignition switch which he said was faulty.
 I had a couple of short rides and it appeared to be OK.  Thinking the problem had been fixed, a couple of weeks ago I set off from Port Macquarie to head to my daughter's place in Warner just North of Brisbane.  I got as far as a rest area 12 k's South of Grafton, pulled in for a comfort stop and a stretch, and after about half an hour I got back on the bike turned the key in the ignition but it would not start.  I took the key out, and guess what.  All the lights stayed on.  Dash board, head lights, tail lights indicators all on solid and cruise control indicator on.  The only thing I could do was to disconnect the battery and call NRMA Roadside Assistance.  They turned up about half an hour later but were not able to help they NRMA put me up in a Motel in Grafton and took my bike to a bike shop in town.  Next day Lock, the mechanic spent half a day trying to locate the fault without success.  He could not allow any more time on this job so he charged me $100 for his time (very reasonable I thought) and the NRMA arranged for me and my bike to be returned to Port.  (FANTASTIC SERVICE. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BECOMING A MEMBER).
The bike has been in my mechanic's Workshop for almost two weeks now and although he found a burned wire near the exhaust pipe and replaced it and thought that had fixed the problem as he was then able to start the bike, after a short test ride he got back to his shed went to turn the bike off and low the same thing happened.
My bill is something like $1,000.00 so far and am still no closer to finding the problem.
Has anyone else experienced this fault and may be able to shed some light the situation for me, PLEASE?

[ST2UP]

Sorry to here your having dramas again 

May have already been checked but I would completely disconnect ANYTHING electrical and not standard on the bike......cruise control, ALL farkles even if you have Honda heated grips disconnect fully all of it. Just back to basic bike only and see what you have   


It all sounds very earth related.......


Wouldn't be the first time even a professional put a bike, car or even a house back together and earthed out !!!

On the 1300 the top faring hex head bolt on the right side of the bike that goes through the small triangle of the faring has been know to get stuck in the bolt shaft behind and remains attached to the faring and not the bike......this shaft inserts into the frame off the bike beside a major loom. An exposed bolt thread trying blindly to locate it opposing threaded hole beside a loom off wire could create some havoc on a lightly taped and heat effected wiring loom......



 

[Abe]

I wonder if its a fuse/solenoid/relay is being energised and staying in the "normally closed" position. 

What new farkle have you/others added, and was the bike fine prior to this. 

I'm NOT an auto electrician. 

Hopefully the brains trust will help you soon Richard.

[Panman50]

Hi Richard, if you say the lights and indicators stay on when the key is removed and your mechanic has replaced the ignition wiring loom. Is the ignition switch itself a possible problem???
Regards,
Tom.

[Richard Court]

  Thanks everyone very much for your rapid response. It is very much appreciated.

As for attachments on the motorcycle apart from attaching a GPS into the cigarette lighter connector I have not added anything new to the bike. Steve says he has disconnected everything with the exception of the alternator which is buried deep in the heart of the bike (that will be his next test) I was wondering if a faulty diode in the rectifier could be causing the problem. When Steve disconnected everything Including the ignition switch the fault still Remained
I did ring John Head, the previous owner, to ask if he had experienced anything similar but he had not.

I became so frustrated, I contemplated trading the bike in for a later model. I contacted a few dealers only to be told that the 2002 model ST 1300 with 100,000  kilometers on the clock is only worth $3500-$4000. How ridiculous is that for such a beautiful bike. I would rather keep it, fix the problems and who knows in time it may increase in value as a vintage bike (if I live that long). I wish I had kept some of the motorcars that I owned in the 60s and 70s. Ford GT's etc.
Anyway thanks again to all for your interest and help. I will keep you posted on progress if any.

[PC]

Hi Richard
  I had similar problem with holden WB ute    after fueling up at servo it would not fire and all ligths came on when turned of ignition

 I can't remember (had a beer and a sleep since then ) witch way it went   but solenoid on starter motor shorted out and burnt out ignition switch  or vice versa
  the sparkey told me that when it all happened  the short fed power through earth circuit which lit up every light in the ute and man did it suck the juice out of the battery in a very short time


  Result - new ignition switch , new starter , new battery (by the time I got it disconected it was not healthy ) and new battery leads

 for a coulple of weeks before the S*^!T hit the fan it was doing funny things