| Author | Message | ||
     Thinker |
I am new to this forum. Sorry to start my first post with a problem and to ask for help, but I'm stumped. I am just a half-fast wrencher anyway, so maybe the solution is obvious to others here. The bike in question is a 1997 Buell S3. The problem is that I am having an intermittent problem where the bike will just bog down completely, backfire and has no power when put under a load. While the problem is happening, the bike starts and revs fine...until I let the clutch out. Then tach drops to zero (sort of looks like an electrical problem or short), and the bike will stall or backfire - loud. Originally, I thought the problem occurred only when cold, and went away once the engine had warmed up, as that is way it seem the first few times it happened. Tonight on my first spring ride it happened worse than ever before, when the engine was hot. After letting the engine idle, or sit for a few minutes, the bike starts and runs fine. There does not seem to be any pattern to when it occurs or what fixes it - sometimes when its idling or when its restarted. There are no other symptoms at any other time, everything runs great, good power etc. Any ideas? Electrical? Some guy I was talking to said he thought it sounded like a short or bad battery...Trying to figure out why this would cause the backfiring. If you know the Buell, its a pretty simple bike. Obviously, the most puzzling thing is that its intermittent...I guess a short is intermittent, but I don't understand how a short would lead to the symptoms I see. If the battery is bad, why would the problem go away? Appreciate any thoughts. Steve 97 Buell S3 74 Norton 750 Commando | ||
| Mikej |
Sidestand switch, clutch safety switch, start with the easy stuff and work from there. | ||
| Raceautobody |
My X1 had a problem like that. It would run start and run fine with the clutch pulled but would cough and die when you let the clutch out. Ended up being a broken ground wire on the frame. Like Mikej, check the easy stuff, It is usually something simple. Al | ||
| Henrik |
Mike and Al has got the main suspects, but the main ground wire and connections, the big power wire to the starter motor as well as the battery terminals could be the culprit as well. Let us know what you find. Good luck Henrik | ||
| Firemanjim |
Henrik,does the early S-3 have the same circuit breaker set-up we have on the S-2's as these are a great source of electrical gremlins. | ||
| Henrik |
The S3 (from very vague memory) has a main breaker, but also has a fuse block. That main breaker is up high under the seating area, and a lot better protected than our S2 breakers. At least that's what I remember from my '98 S3. Don't know if that was different for the '97 models, but I wouldn't think so?? Henrik | ||
| Ceejay |
My M-2 had same sounding problems as you have, turned out to be a Voltage Regulator short, wire was vibrating against sharp brass fitting off of the oil pump. sounds electrical to me. Everytime I have left the kickstand down and tried to take off it would do the same thing-cough, sputter, die, and backfire, so I would check there too like the guys above stated. Corey | ||
| Plewald |
Just started having this problem with my 2000 X1. Found that the sidestand safety switch was bad. Was a recall item early in 2002. |
