Help, New wing, old troubles

[Guest]

Well I brought home the new to me 1985 LTD on Thursday and the 200+ trip home was flawless. The bike rode and handled and worked like a charm. I love it. After I got it home however, I broke it. I had not read the owners book or anything and took my daughter for a ride, she just had to go and I was glad that she wanted to. While we were riding, I decided to adjust the front air pressure and held the increase button too long and started to smell this awful odor. Checked the volt meter and read below 12v. I got the bike home and got to checking and I burnt the connector between the stator and reg/rec. The good news is that the stator checks good, I'm not sure bout the regulator. I was not sure what scale to use for resistance (5-40 ohms & over 6000Ohms), so I used the continuity only and have continutiy one way and not the other. When using the resistance scale, I got low readings one way and none the other using the 20 and 200 scale. I am not good at electronics. Anyway new symtoms, cornering lights are on all the time when key is in run position and I have no tail lights with key in run position, and I get the tail light warning light on dash. The tail lights work in the park position. If the regulator is bad I suppose it could create current problems for tail light relay, or when unit began to overcharge and fry wires it could have fried tail light relay. The tail light relay and cornering lights seem to have 1 wire in common. And the best I could tell these symptoms were not present when I parked after the connector failed.
I also have a question about the trip computer. From the time I got the bike to present and this may be normal, I don't know, the clock stays on and the time zone flashes with the key out. Is this supposed to be? Thanks for the help.
Kevin

[roscoepc]

First off, Welcome to the Site if I haven't allready done so!

Secondly, you didn't break anything I don't think. Sound's like things were getting ready to malfunction anyway!! On pressuring the front suspension, the pump should shut off after it reaches 14psi.

On the stator. Check each leg to ground. If you have continuity on any leg the stator is bad. Next, check each leg for AC voltage by marking each leg A, B, and C. Crank the bike and have a helper rev the bike to about 2500rpm's and check leg A to B. Note the voltage. Check B to C. Note the voltage. Check C to A and then compare the three readings. It should be between 50vac-70vac, plus or minus about 5 volts per leg. When I tested mine it was right at 70vac.

What I'd do next is cut the connector out and solder some jumper wires in it's place to see if the bike will charge. If it does, we'll go from there with the rest of your problems OK?!!

Good luck and Congratulations on your new ride!! 8)

[Dave-85-LTD]

Your clock is acting normal, the flashing just lets you know what time zone it is in ( as if you didn't know what state you are in ) but it does not change automatically when you cross a time zone. ( a coworker of mine thought it did )

Check your stator like he says and make sure all connections on your yellow wires are soldered, mine were bad at the upper connector.

Good luck with your LTD, I love mine

[Guest]

The bike is showing charging, but it has developed the trouble with the cornering lamps and tail lights. I just don't want to do anymore damage by running the bike and the regulator not working properly. And on the trip computer, I know that while riding I can view trip mileage and other functions but when I turn the bike off the clock displays and zone flashes, is this correct?

[cj7george]

I have a 85 ltd and the clock stays on and time zone will flash after the key is off. Its normal. My regulator went bad and the symptom was that it did not limit the voltage from the stator. voltmeter was flasing 16.0 over and over until nuclear meltdown. burned out the main fuse digital dash lights and more. If your voltage is under 14.4 its probably working from my experience. Not too scientific but thats how it went with my bike.There are a couple of key electrical connections on these bikes that really need either cleaned and inspected or to be eliminated and have jumpers soldered in their place. I'm sure there are write ups on this site and there are very knowledgable persons to help also. Welcome to the site. When you get these bikes straightened out they are great.

[roscoepc]

The bike is showing charging, but it has developed the trouble with the cornering lamps and tail lights. I just don't want to do anymore damage by running the bike and the regulator not working properly. And on the trip computer, I know that while riding I can view trip mileage and other functions but when I turn the bike off the clock displays and zone flashes, is this correct?

The reason I asked you to perform the stator test was to make sure that was OK before proceeding further. It will NOT damage the bike to test the stator as I described because the stator is disconnected and the system will not be charging. Once you get the stator hooked back up the voltmeter on the dash should read about 14.0Vdc at idle, 1000rpm's and hit a max of about 14.5Vdc at 2500rpm's. Mine's pretty steady at 14.1Vdc at those rpm ranges. If the voltage climbs above 15Vdc shut her down! I'd say you've got a bad regulator and do not use an aftermarket regulator as a replacement. It's more expensive but use an OEM regulator instead.

With the bike turned off it's normal for the clock to display and the Time Zone to flash. That's also why it's a good idea to have the bike on a maintenence charger if she sits longer than about 3 weeks at a time because the travel computer has a small parasitic drain on the battery to maintain it's memory.

Here's a link to some pic's from my Electrical Troubleshooting manual for checking the turning light's:

Schematic- <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://usera.imagecave.com/roscoepc/004.JPG">http://usera.imagecave.com/roscoepc/004.JPG</a><!-- m -->

Troubleshooting- <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://usera.imagecave.com/roscoepc/003.JPG">http://usera.imagecave.com/roscoepc/003.JPG</a><!-- m -->

And troublshooting for the turn signals: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://usera.imagecave.com/roscoepc/007.JPG">http://usera.imagecave.com/roscoepc/007.JPG</a><!-- m -->

Lemme know if this helps!!