Electric Woes

[Carl La Fong]

A couple of weeks ago I went out to start the bike. It cranked pretty slow, but it fired up. A few days later it did the same. I figured it was new battery time, so I sent off for a new Odyssey. I stuck it in and all was well. Today I tried to start it and it did the same thing, only this time it was too dead to even start the bike. I was unamused. There must be a short somewhere. I got out the test lamp and the meter and began poking around. With the battery cable off, there was no problem. The hot lead to the alternator checked out OK, as did the main feed to the switch. The issue seemed to be with the starter, so off it came. I tore it apart and found that the insulating grommet, where the battery terminal passes through the starter case, had crapped the bed. Evidently not enough to cause a major short but just enough to cause a drain. There was a lot of dust around the area and I think it was conductive enough to cause a tiny short to ground. I added several fiber washers where the grommet was bad and put everything back together. Everything checks out OK, now. I have the charger on and will try again, shortly. I was quite taken with my genius and attention to detail when I wired the bike, so there was a blow to my ego when I thought I'd screwed up. So far, the ego is intact.

I made a mistake, once. It was the time I though I was wrong

[Iron Maiden]

Sounds like you haven't lost a thing -well except for 30 lbs