www.zxrworld.co.uk

Had a good ride out last night, a 70 mile round trip. On the last few miles home the bike started playing up. At first I noticed the bikes lights were dimming when I came off the power. This was followed by the bulbs blowing, and I had to ride the last mile on full beam. Slowing to a stop at home (lucky?) the bike cut out and there was only a faint charge in the battery. I tucked the bike up and suspected the regulator was duff?

This morning I stripped it down to do some trouble shooting, put some charge in the battery and noticed the fuel pump relay was burning out.

So I'm asking if these things could be related? Or is the bike falling apart beneath me? lol
Any help would be appreciated, I wouldn't want to fit a new relay/regulator and burn one or the other out when I should be investigating further.

could well have fried the relay, sounds like it started overcharging hence blowing some bulbs?

It does look that way

Though the bulbs did blow after the bike showed signs of loosing charge. Is it possible too much power was being sent to the bulbs / relay / etc without getting to the battery?

At the moment the bike will only power up when connected to a good battery, and won't start of course due to the knackered fuel pump relay.

(please forgive me for my lack of knowledge! I'm trying to learn as I go along! )

hi mate will have a look for that relay when i get home but pretty sure its on the loom that i sent to zimm, i have a rectifier tho if your looking for another?

More troubles
I've fit a new regulator and fuel pump relay.
The bike now only starts using the choke, does this mean I have a knackered fuel pump also?
I also have no neutral light or rev counter.

Any help would be appreciated!

this is turning out to be very odd.

neutral light could well be blown bulb if it blew headlights too, rev counter im not too sure.

sounds like the battery is shagged mate have you tried a new one?

rev counter is spliced into the fuel pump circuit somewhere i think .. so that explains that ..

if you need that relay i'll send it over, i only needed the loom.

pump could be shagged.. if it clicks, its fine though .. doubt it'd run at all without the pump functioning

melted wire ?

Had more of a chance to investigate tonight with a helpful mate.
I've got a new battery from halfords (£40 ) so reluctant to fit that at the moment as I've got a cheaper one on order.

Starter button has now stopped working. Starter motor still works.

Wiring seems ok. Can't find any melted wires and we traced the starting problem back to the junction box, although the fuses are ok so I'm assuming a new box is needed.

Pump is shagged for sure, so I'll be needing one of those.

If this joins to the rev counter does that mean fooked rev counter too? I want UK clocks so I guess it's worth doing that now? (but could do without the expense!)

The whole cause remains a mystery!
Any theories?

i have a rev counter and a junction box if you need new ones.

test the pump straight off the battery, if it clicks away its fine ..

Emma's zx4 has just nearly done the same thing .. stranded her with "run out of fuel" symptoms, when i got there the pump and relay were too hot to touch.

after a bit of coaxing and waiting the pump cooled down enough to start working (thermal cutout), but is running constantly..

im guessing a float valve isnt sealing.. although there's no overflow or rich running symptoms .. so it may be a blocked fuel filter or the tap .. or even a kinked/trapped fuel line as the routing is nasty on the zx4 and its easy to trap the fuel line between the tank and the frame.

however .. the battery is dry, and i only topped it up a few weeks ago.. which points to overcharging, which points to a shot reg/rec ..

tonights going to be spent in the garage methinks, as there's no way im getting up at 7am to take her to work.

Ok thanks for your help guys! I'll report back with progress. Anymore theories are welcome of course.
I'll PM you if I need those bits Rover220. Thanks!
Good luck with your bike issues Zimm.

well, having left it all to cool down ..

everything is fine, starts ok, idles fine, pump clicking and stopping as its meant to ..

but, reg/rec is too hot to touch after 1 minute of running, the battery is dry, and im getting 16V across it at idle ..

top up battery and replace reg/rec with the one off the "spare" H1 is the plan. If that gives normal readings im done.. if its the same, its either the generator .. or the carbs, or both.

your rev counter's probably fine, just not getting a signal for whatever reason.

fried reg/rec connector and pump relay here .. get normal readings 80% of the time, then it'll jump to 16+V..

it's 1am and im bleeding.. sod it, she'll have to get a lift with a workmate, and i'll redo the loom, reg/rec and carbs (to be on the safe side) tomorrow .. another day lost ..

Ok, so far;

Replaced burnt out fuel pump relay
Replaced knackered fuel pump
Replaced potentially faulty Regulator/Rectifier

Discovered blown (melted) neutral light
Does not start off of the switch
No rev counter

The bike now fires up and runs when connected to a good battery bypassing the starter switch.

Can anybody shed any light on the starter and rev counter? Starter motor relay maybe?