suddenly Stalling Susan

[Flora_Max]

Yesterday after about 30 min ride total shut down.  As if you turned the key off.  Lights still worked and horn but no oil, charge lights or starter.  Looked under tank, swiveled the two fuses there and had oil and charge lights again.  tried starter and hey presto roared back into life.  Any thoughts about this one?  Was I just coincidental with the fuses?  Would love to know for sure.  Still had a good ride but didn't go to far from town  Cheers

[Bob_Roller]

You may want to check the security and condition of all the electrical connectors on the bike. I had a similar problem, all of the electrical system would shut off, and come back on in a few seconds. Scarey in urban highway rush hour traffic. I don't have a corrosion problem here in the desert southwest US, but if you have high humidity, corrosion is a possible problem ( green is not a good color for electrical connections). I also had a few connectors that didn't want to stay together, so I put heat shrink tubing over the connectors, applied heat, and for the last 14 years no problems.

[rob650]

Lee,

I'd suggest looking at your coil and see if it has cracks on the bottom of it.  I had the same symptoms as you, found the cracked coil, and all was well after installing a new one.

[Justin B.]

You mentioned that some of the idiot lights went out.  Nex time you have it running, engage the kill switch and see if the same idiot lights go out as you remember.  Could be a clue...

The coils are notorious in these beasts, especially the grey coil.  The non-running '82 LS I bought last summer was non-running due to the coil.  BUT, I wouldn't wexpect the coil to affect the idiot light operation, other than the normal lights from it not being running and all...

Also, (don't ya love it?), we had an intermittent second or so cutout on our '80 while the kid was using it as daily transportation and noticed that whenever the engine quit the tach reading went to 0.  As I was metering around I had the DVM ground lead to the bike frame and I was probing around on the forks/instruments.  I found that I would loose continuity on occasion depending on the position of the forks.  The R65s only ground to anything attached to the forks is through the steering bearings.  I applied the ground strap recommend by Moto-Bins (to prevent bearing failure) and the intermittent cutout seemed to go away without any further futzing with anything.  I have no idea why this would make it stop running, maybe it was a coincidence...

[MrRiden]

Once had a VW with the same fuses and a twirl of the fuse was necessary from time to time. You might as well spend some quality time and lift the tank off pull the starter cover and yank all the relays and open the fuse box. Go through all the connections and clean them up real pretty. This would be a good time to renew the heat sink paste on your ignition control box too. Still have time on your hands? Might as well have a look at the connections on your diode board and alternator brushes too! Don't forget the ground lug on the transmission case. Should take you a couple of hours and when your done I'll bet you found a few things you were not expecting. I found my positive cable was nearly corroded through under the crimped lug for the battery. I did stop short (no pun intended) of diving into the connections inside the headlamp shell, I'm told thats where monsters live. Someone posted a really nice shot of all the thingies that live under the tank with labels. I've lost it but maybe they'll see this and link to the post.
Rich

[Flora_Max]

Yes when you use the kill switch all "idiot" lights go out.  Love the terminology!!

[Justin B.]

Volvo 240 series use the same crap "european style" fuses and with some it's a yearly ritual to remove, clean, and silicone grease all of the fuses.  I just finished this on our '93 240 as it was getting where we could drive it somewhere, come out, and it wouldn't start.  Usually letting it set for a couple of hours would result in a start.  The last time it took a couple of days and have not had the problem return since cleaning the fuses...

[Bob_Roller]

If you have the original grey (crack-o-matic) coil, it would be in your best interests to replace it. Instead of paying an outrageous price for an OEM coil, Dyna brown (1.5 ohm for elecrtonic ignition systems) is an alternative. But not sure of the availability in OZ.

[thrang]

A good bodge if it is the coil,  is to use a K75 coil you'll have to make a bracket as the fastening is different but if you mount a couple of slices of cut up inner tube between the bracket and frame it cuts down the vibe that causes the cracking in the first place.
Tony

[nhmaf]

I had a similar issue last year - I had JUST gotten the bike safety inspected and received the
sticker.  I started her up and proceeded to ride out the parking lot and waiting to enter the
road.   I noticed then that the brake lights and turn signals weren't working - though they
had done so for the safety inspection literally moments before.   I got back home and checked
everything - it was simply one of the fuses had rotated/vibrated a bit.  These fuses are
notorious for this sort of thing even with regular cleaning and checking.  I cleaned them up
and tweaked the metal fingers that they clip into to ensure a tight fit, and applied some
new dielectric grease on the surface to help keep corrosion down (petroleum jelly can also work
in this regard).  Rob V and some  others have put in an automotive "blade" type car fuse panel, which is a step up
in reliability, I think, though not original equipment.

[Justin B.]

Lee, when you switch off the kill switch do the same lights go out that do when it dies on you?  The kill switch contacts can and do get dirty and possibly after sitting for a long time the contacts in this switch might have some grunge built up on them.

Tony, I'll have to remember the K75 coil, it is the proper resistance for the electronic ignition?  I used a brown Dyna coil and buying a pair of them put them at a little over $70 each once the shipping was added in.

[thrang]

I got the bodge from the blokes at Motorworks.  (www.motorworks.co.uk) Yes its fine resistance wise as my 83 LS has an ellecy ignition and I've not had any problems other than working out how to make a bracket.

[Justin B.]

For my Dyna coil I chopped up the old R65 coil and used bits of it, along with a couple pieces of aluminum angle to make a bracket.  Here is my original post on this http://suraklyn.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1164069735/0#0

How much was the K75 coil?  I looked on the link you provided and see they carry the Dyna but they sure are proud of 'em!  

[Semper Gumby]

I replaced one of my 8 amp fuses with two plug type Mini fuses in there own waterproff holders.  I will get around to the other 8 amper of these days....

[thrang]

It was about £10 for a second hand K one and rather than £50 or so for a new R65 one.

T