Complete electrical failure on Bullet 500!

I'm not sure what the problem is, so I'll just go though all I did with the bike today so you can get the picture.

I decided that I'd give the bike and good clean and so on, so I removed the seat, petrol tank, carby filter, battery and so on. I took the wires off the coil and cleaned the terminals and replaced them. I also cleaned and adjusted the spark plug. I cleaned and reconnected basically everything.

Up until now the bike hasn't been in good working order electric wise. There has been some problem with the DC circuit. The horn, indicators and so on haven't been working. However the bike would always start easily and while riding it was perfect, save for those electrical problems.

While checking the bike I then realised that there was no fuse and thought this must be the reason why the electrical problems had been happening. I made a big mistake when I decided to just connect the wires together withouth the fuse, since I didn't have a 20 amp fuse at that time. Even when I wired them together, the lights and horn still didn't work, so I think there may have been a different electrical problem up until today.

Once I put the bike have together, I started it up and was about to start riding when I realised that it accelerated when I turned. The accelerator cable was stuck and therefore whenever I turned to the right, the engine accelerated. As I was testing this, the end of the cable that goes into the carby must have come up above it's usual resting place and stayed there.

The bike revved as high as it possibly could. It was incredibly loud and I couldn't stop it. I tried turning the ignition off, that didn't help. So I pulled the cover off the spark plug to get it to stop.

This worked and I adjusted the accelerator cable so that it worked fine, I turned the ignition on and tried to kick start the bike. It wouldn't start. I tested the lights and found that there was no power to anything on the bike.

I have no idea where to go from here. I have checked the battery with a lightbulb and it works, but there is no power to anywhere else on the bike it seems. Remember that at this time the wires that are usually connected by a fuse were just hotwired together. I guess instead of the fuse being there to blow, something else got burnt out when the engive revved as much as it possibly could.

I need suggestions as to what I should specifically check. I don't know where the problem could possibly be. I checked most of the connections but can't see any problems. What parts should I focus on in order to find the fault.

In a week or two I should be able to take it to a mechanic, but right now that is not possible.

I would really appreciate any help on this.

Thankyou

Sounds like you may have created a short circuit.

You can find help if you do some web searches. Examples


http://www.enfieldmotorcycles.com/partsman/p64.gif

wiring diagram

http://www.enfieldmotorcycles.com/ar...ts_manual.html

I'd find it hard to follow a wiring diagram as I don't have much experience with them. When you say I may have created a short circuit, do you mean from connecting the 2 wires together that usually go through the fuse? Or something else has short circuited?

I've tried with those wires disconnected as well but there is still nothing. Would it be more likely that something was damaged when the engine revved so high and there wasn't a fuse to blow?

Whats the ignition system in your bike ? Points/CDI/TCI ?

There was probably a good reason that the fuse was removed before you bought the bike...

Have the lights, indicators and horn ever worked?

My wild stab in the dark is that you've fried something in the wiring loom.

Eek! Didn't realise bullets came with CDI, over here ours are mostly old ones with points. New CDI would be expensive! Or at least it would be if it happened to a bike in the UK, maybe it's not so bad in India.

It's hard to say without looking at the wiring. Ask yourself a few questions.

Have you connected wires together that should not be connected together. did you create sparks or arcing?

Have you re-connected all of your wiring?

All wiring needs to be re-connected as it may affect the running.

Has your wiring dried out if you have got it wet.

If you look at maintenance or servicing forums they may help you if not you will need to get local expert advice.

I hate to dampen your Holiday spirits, but, I think you have done as much tinkering as you can !

IMO, a component of some kind has burnt out as you have suggested when you hot wired it. As Haylo wrote, there must have been a reason why the fusewas missing in the first place.

If I were in your shoes, I would take it to an authorized RE service place, have it properly serviced after getting an estimate.

Once bitten, twice shy I suppose.

Cheers

Nattusbs

Have you tried taking the spark plug out, fitting it in the plug cap, and turning it over with the spark plug grounded to the block, to see if there's a spark?

Sounds daft, but when you yanked the plug lead off, you didn't pull the cap partly off the lead did you? Try fitting it on tighter with a screwing motion - worth a go.

Err.. you did reconnect the battery terminals firmly, right? I know it sounds as if I'm insulting you, but it's very easy to miss obvious things like that. I once watched with great amusement as a bloke fiddled helplessly with his bike outside a pub for hours, trying everything he could think of to get it started. Someone had rather unkindly removed his plug caps - I would have told him, as it was obvious from where I was sitting, but he was rather rude when I asked if he needed help, so I left him to it.

well, once my engine kill switch was engaged, while I tried to start my bike for 15 minutes

Has the battery been fried? Maybe the regulator has failed and the battery was overcharging.

If CDI requires a certain mimimum charge. Maybe the charge is insufficient. Find an auto electician or buy a voltmeter or at least a continuity indicator (you know, looks like a screwdriver with a bulb in the top)

Check also that the battery earth cable is connected to the frame.

This could be anything from the source out. However, if you're not savvy with a multimeter - troubleshooting might be too much of a task. Based on info given, I might check/suspect corrosion build up on the fuse holder
connections though ......

The headlight worked fine, up until this thing happened, and the indicators did work up until I took it to the mechanic last time. He ripped me off so I got the bike back and planned on getting someone else to fix it up. The horn hasn't worked since I got the bike out of storage, but the indicators have been working since then.

The ignition system is points.

I'm pretty sure there isn't a spark, but I'll check again. I'll also take everything off and reconnect all of it. Doesn't take that long so I don't really mind. I like working on the bike. I did reconnect the battery though The battery is grounded.

This bike doesn't have a kill switch, it only has the ignition.

I looked and my owners manual and saw that from the battery, the red wire goes straight to the ignition. Now if the ignition had burnt out when this had happened, that would explain a lot.

Seeing as there was no fuse to blow, it's quite possible that the ignition stuffed up which is why the bike didn't stop when I turned the ignition off. Now because it is broken maybe it isn't letting any electricity go to the bike. I'll take it off and check it today, maybe take it to a mechanic to test if I can't do it myself. Actually I could just hotwire the ignition wires (just to test) but as you heard about the last thing I hotwired, you probably wouldn't recommend that.

FIXED!

I went down this morning and started checking the connections, then I realised that I should check to see if it is working. So I did, and it was. The headlight worked (with the fuse wires hotwired) and I started it up without any problems. I took it for a ride and it worked beautifully, as always.

So now that annoying problem is fixed and I moved the accelerator cable so it won't get stuck on full again.

Now I'm back to my old problem which is that the horn and indicators don't work. I'll buy a 20amp fuse today and put it in, but can anyone suggest how I can fix this other electrical problem? Also where would I find the flasher? It is listed on the wiring diagram but I have no idea where it is on the bike.

Thanks for all your help

Great news, hopefully it was just that water had got in from your rather throrough washing, and not that you've got an intermittent wiring fault.

If you have not re-routed your accelerator cable, prior to your accelerator fault which may be causing the cable to snag, you may find

1. The cable is worn
2. The cable is rusty and isn't running free in the outer sleeve

If so you may need a new cable or put some thin oil down the sleeve