the DR650 thread

[ER70S-2]

Originally Posted by Rhyno

.............................

The johnkols of the internet come and go, but the knowledge base will still be here.

PS: The entire ADVrider site (outside of CS&M) is pretty touchy about political rambling of any kind.

[Chill]

I come to the DR650 after riding three new bikes. A ZX10R (about as cutting edge as you can get) a Z1000 (the new one with the solid frame) and a ZX6R (a track tool if ever there was one) and I have to say that I've not noticed any frame flex. I can feel the knobblies D606 squirming a bit when I get it over to about 45 degrees on the road but frame flex? No.

[johnkol]

Originally Posted by Mambo Dave

Not that this means anything to anyone, but I find my DR particularly sluggish and questionable in handling when down near the recommended tire pressures. I run Shinko 705's and well, but my front in in the higher 20's (like 28?), and my rear low 30's.

Tyre pressures are proportional to rider weight, so a 250-lb rider should certainly be using higher tyre pressures than a 150-lb rider. And indeed, underinflating tyres will make for a sub-standard handling bike.

[dogjaw]

I ran through two rears of the 700's, never did wear out the front; absolutely great all around tire, although the rear tends to need replacing at 3500. Now running 705's due to a switch to a 19" front, very good as well, better in the twisties, not quite as good in the gravel, but what is?

[Rusty Rocket]

Originally Posted by P-P

The problem is that NOBODY, once again, NOBODY else feels what you do, except me when my swingarm bushings were destroyed. We all have riden other rigs - even the same ones you have, yet nobody has the same experience. This seems to indicate that you have a DIFFERENT DR650 than the rest of us. Using LOGIC this is what the obvious answer is.

[Jammin]

Need your advice, fellow DR riders:

As you may know, I was having electrical problems with my bike in western Tanzania (she's a 1998 with 74,000+ miles). She was dying after a few minutes of running and a reworked carb, a newer CDI, rectifier and ignition coil didn't solve the problem, so I figured it was the stator. I got a new stator shipped in, the 250W uprated one and installed that along with slightly-newer parts from parted DRs: a CDI from a 2006 and a rectifier from a 2001. After those parts, she fired up and sounded really good. I did 50 kms of test rides and was confident the problem was solved, so got back on the trail heading south.

But now, after 400 kms (250 miles), the problem is back. She died on me today in the middle of muddy roads. It felt like a loss of power. I let her cool, we rode a bit more and then she died again. I figured since I didn't replace the original ignition coil, maybe it was acting up now. I put in the coil from the 2001 bike and she died again in a few kms. Then I unplugged the generator and we ran for a while before same failure. Then I unplugged the rectifier and we ran fine for a few kms before she died again. The longer I let her cool down before trying again, the longer she lasts before dying again. To me, this sounds like something is heating up and causing the loss of power. It doesn't feel like a fuel (carb) issue. It feels like something is cutting power to the spark plugs. I limped her back to a small town.

I'm running on the Shorai battery and have a voltage monitor and after unplugging both stator and rectifier, battery was holding charge at 13.45 and after two starts with no stator, it dropped to 13.35 V.

I have a replacement wiring harness from the 2006 bike. Is mounting that on going to help? That's all I can think of now. I'm close to throwing in the towel and putting her on a truck and heading back to a good mechanic in Nairobi. Argghhh!!!!

[RichBeBe]

Originally Posted by Rusty Rocket

Best DR ever!

[Mobiker]

Originally Posted by Rusty Rocket

Some drugs involved there.

[barko1]

Originally Posted by RichBeBe

Best DR ever!

Love the rear suspension. Maybe Jay should pick this one up to continue his journey.

[RichBeBe]

Yeah I never saw it in person, but the guy from here who bought it was an ideal match for it. He could actually touch the ground

[Escaped]

Hi Jay,

You have considered the side-stand "Safety" switch and related diode? You cant just override the switch but must remove the diode relay. There is discussion somewhere on this site regarding that.

Originally Posted by Jammin

Need your advice, fellow DR riders:

As you may know, I was having electrical problems with my bike in western Tanzania (she's a 1998 with 74,000+ miles). She was dying after a few minutes of running and a reworked carb, a newer CDI, rectifier and ignition coil didn't solve the problem, so I figured it was the stator. I got a new stator shipped in, the 250W uprated one and installed that along with slightly-newer parts from parted DRs: a CDI from a 2006 and a rectifier from a 2001. After those parts, she fired up and sounded really good. I did 50 kms of test rides and was confident the problem was solved, so got back on the trail heading south.

But now, after 400 kms (250 miles), the problem is back. She died on me today in the middle of muddy roads. It felt like a loss of power. I let her cool, we rode a bit more and then she died again. I figured since I didn't replace the original ignition coil, maybe it was acting up now. I put in the coil from the 2001 bike and she died again in a few kms. Then I unplugged the generator and we ran for a while before same failure. Then I unplugged the rectifier and we ran fine for a few kms before she died again. The longer I let her cool down before trying again, the longer she lasts before dying again. To me, this sounds like something is heating up and causing the loss of power. It doesn't feel like a fuel (carb) issue. It feels like something is cutting power to the spark plugs. I limped her back to a small town.

I'm running on the Shorai battery and have a voltage monitor and after unplugging both stator and rectifier, battery was holding charge at 13.45 and after two starts with no stator, it dropped to 13.35 V.

I have a replacement wiring harness from the 2006 bike. Is mounting that on going to help? That's all I can think of now. I'm close to throwing in the towel and putting her on a truck and heading back to a good mechanic in Nairobi. Argghhh!!!!

[JagLite]

Originally Posted by Jammin

Need your advice, fellow DR riders:

As you may know, I was having electrical problems with my bike in western Tanzania (she's a 1998 with 74,000+ miles). She was dying after a few minutes of running and a reworked carb, a newer CDI, rectifier and ignition coil didn't solve the problem, so I figured it was the stator. I got a new stator shipped in, the 250W uprated one and installed that along with slightly-newer parts from parted DRs: a CDI from a 2006 and a rectifier from a 2001. After those parts, she fired up and sounded really good. I did 50 kms of test rides and was confident the problem was solved, so got back on the trail heading south.

But now, after 400 kms (250 miles), the problem is back. She died on me today in the middle of muddy roads. It felt like a loss of power. I let her cool, we rode a bit more and then she died again. I figured since I didn't replace the original ignition coil, maybe it was acting up now. I put in the coil from the 2001 bike and she died again in a few kms. Then I unplugged the generator and we ran for a while before same failure. Then I unplugged the rectifier and we ran fine for a few kms before she died again. The longer I let her cool down before trying again, the longer she lasts before dying again. To me, this sounds like something is heating up and causing the loss of power. It doesn't feel like a fuel (carb) issue. It feels like something is cutting power to the spark plugs. I limped her back to a small town.

I'm running on the Shorai battery and have a voltage monitor and after unplugging both stator and rectifier, battery was holding charge at 13.45 and after two starts with no stator, it dropped to 13.35 V.

I have a replacement wiring harness from the 2006 bike. Is mounting that on going to help? That's all I can think of now. I'm close to throwing in the towel and putting her on a truck and heading back to a good mechanic in Nairobi. Argghhh!!!!

That is terrible!
It does certainly seem to indicate a heat soak problem.

Do you remember reading the electrical problems the rider on the KTM had going from South Africa to the Arctic Circle?

He replaced just about everything electrical on his bike as he slowly made his way north but it wasn't until he got to England where he replaced the wiring harness only to find, finally, that the problem was the voltage regulator.

His bike had FI and the voltage spike was throwing the computer into a fail mode.

Now, the DR is simple in comparison but you are suffering an extremely rare problem too.
Could it be something as simple as the voltage regulator on your bike?
Bad spark plugs?
Bad plug wires? (I had brand new OEM plug wires installed in my car that went bad in one week, replaced free)
Bad voltage reg?
Bad insulation on a wire that is shorting out on the frame when the wire gets hot?

Your location makes it very difficult to diagnose and replacement parts are not available to experiment with.
I wish I could offer a solution that will solve the problem but I can't.
Only to offer more possibilities to check.

I would certainly replace the harness if you have an alternate one to try.
Could possibly solve the problem...

[Lil' Steve]

Originally Posted by RichBeBe

Yeah I never saw it in person, but the guy from here who bought it was an ideal match for it. He could actually touch the ground

At least that bike had no frame flex.

[RichBeBe]

Originally Posted by vfr870

At least that bike had no frame flex.

I thought it was Julio's but if the bike fits

[Jammin]

Originally Posted by barko1

Love the rear suspension. Maybe Jay should pick this one up to continue his journey.

Ha! If it runs, I'll take it

Originally Posted by Escaped

Hi Jay,
You have considered the side-stand "Safety" switch and related diode? You cant just override the switch but must remove the diode relay. There is discussion somewhere on this site regarding that.

Hi, yup, I think I removed the relay when I did this mod, way back before the trip started.

Originally Posted by JagLite

That is terrible!
It does certainly seem to indicate a heat soak problem.
Now, the DR is simple in comparison but you are suffering an extremely rare problem too.
Could it be something as simple as the voltage regulator on your bike?
Bad spark plugs?
Bad plug wires? (I had brand new OEM plug wires installed in my car that went bad in one week, replaced free)
Bad voltage reg?
Bad insulation on a wire that is shorting out on the frame when the wire gets hot?
I would certainly replace the harness if you have an alternate one to try.
Could possibly solve the problem...

Hey James, yeah, so frustrating that I can't pinpoint the problem, after throwing so much at it. I feel replacing the harness is going to be a bigger job than I can manage where I'm at now. Looking into trucking her out of here.

I replaced my original regulator with a take-off from a 2001 bike from South Africa. The owner couldn't say how good the part was, and it was all I had to go with. It ran fine for the last 250 miles. I unplugged the regulator (and the stator) and the bike was running better, but still cut out again after 10 miles.

Is there some other electrical component (relay, etc) that would cause a power loss?

I replaced a spark plug, have a different ignition coil with plug wires from a 2001 bike and that didn't solve the problem.
Poor girl, she's really suffering