Turning the key farther to the left, past "off" gets you "park" (tail light on) and then farther still is just "lock" It's caused many a dead battery. Some observation would have saved you a bunch of trouble.
--- On Thu, 11/12/09, Boogievan <[email protected]> wrote: From: Boogievan <[email protected]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: 1984 550 Nighthawk with starting problems To: "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, November 12, 2009, 8:14 PM well i FINALLY got the bike on the road. a whole bunch of little things all added up. return throttle cable broken a few more wires/ connections repaired and/ or replaced one broken choke plunger (stuck down. this was one of the causes for lousy starts) also had a full tune up done. fresh oil and filter. sqeaky clean carb (unlike the guy that SAID he did it the last time. i actually got most of my money back from that guy too. douchebag taking advantage of a newbie me thinks). and the main issue was....... when i turn the key back to lock the forks i guess the brake light was energized but not on (hence why i walked away from the bike every time without knowing.). i never knew some older bikes would turn the brake light on like that. anyways... thats where i kept losing my charge. its chilly ridin these days but i dont care. I'm FINALLY RIDING!!!!! On Oc7, 10:29 pm, Dennis Hammerl <[email protected]> wrote: > My two cents worth; If this was my job to do, I'd hook up an ammeter in > series with the battery and check for a draw with the key off. Y-N ? A poor > starter may work with a boost. Is the starter marginal ? While we're at it, > what is it's charging rate when running? A draw is easy enough to find. A > starter rebuild may be needed. Is the brake light stuck on ? I've seen some > of the weirdest stuff. Like a bridged filament in a rear light that causes > poor charging. This might be more than one problem. Do the basics before > calling in a witch doctor. > > --- On Sat, 10/17/09, Boogievan <[email protected]> wrote: > > From: Boogievan <[email protected]> > Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: 1984 550 Nighthawk with starting problems > To: "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" <[email protected]> > Date: Saturday, October 17, 2009, 2:47 PM > > Okay so I have confirmed that the stator, rotor, regulator/ rectifier > are all good. the battery has been replaced with the proper one and a > corrroded connection was found and fixed. the choke adjusted, the idle > adjusted, carbs are clean and new plugs. > > when i ride, all lights are dim at lower rpm. ive told mechanics this > and they says its normal. i noticed the brake light on the insturment > panel blinked a couple times (and NOT while using brakes. the brakes > have been checked and are fine). > > does the brake light serve as aanother warning of some kind? do i have > a short somewhere? maybe a bad ground? > > oh and i still cant start the thing without leaving a trickle charger > on it or getting a boost. this is frustrating as hell. > > On Sep 4, 7:40 pm, Boogievan <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > new rider, new bike, new to forum :) hi there > > > I have had the choke cleaned out and adjusted, Throttle adjusted and > > the carbs taken off and cleaned. Now, the mechanic thnks it may be the > > battery. He says the battery has been crammed in and it may have been > > damaged. it read at 10v (and approx 12v when started/ idling). > > > obviously i am going to change the battery. any idea what the proper > > size is? finding info on this bike is next to impossible. > > > when the bike is going its great, just starting issues, mainly on > > cooler mornings. i read in another thread about the rectifier. should > > i look into this?- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
