Kiwi_Roy

Yes you must have a 5 pin in the start relay position, it's best to use 5 pins in all slots that way they are inter-changable.

Next time it surges stop and flick the ignition switch a few times, if it behaves differently it's the switch needs cleaning. It's quite surprising how a dirty switch can effect the smooth running. Your bike is at the right age for it to be a problem.

I went that route with my V11 Sport, did away with the troublesome speedo cable at the same time, A pair of Speedhut gauges just a tad over $300. http://www.speedhut.com/ There's a thread here somewhere http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18588

Check the battery Voltage while it is cranking. Also make sure there is very little Voltage between the negative terminal and chasis while it is cranking.

Sorry to keep harping on Did you check the sensors, coils and injectors using the drawing I posted on the earlier thread? Look closely at the relay sockets 4 & 5, make sure the pins are griping firmly and none are pushed back. Swap these 2 relays for a different pair say 1 & 2. Position 1 is a good spot to test a relay, it gets a real workout picking up the start solenoid. The 30 position of 4 & 5 sockets is direct from the battery via a fuse perhaps check from battery + to 30 (with relay out) it should only be a fraction of an Ohm say 0.2 The ECU wiring, sensors, coils etc are really a separate part of the bike, it's very robust wiring and as long as it gets 12 Volts to the coil of the ECU relay the bike will run intermittent Voltage at that point it will run like crap because the ECU is constantly getting confused and having to reset. This is why I suggested a (temporary) jumper to the petcock fuse alternately a small lamp there will prove the steady supply of 12 Volts.

I have some pictures If you can get the back cover off you should have be able to grab the little brass inserts with a pair of needle nose pliers while you undo the allen screws If it's getting the back cover off the thread is part of the gauge, if it's turning you will have to sacrifice the nut, split it with a junior hacksaw perhaps, Ace Hardware have replacement nuts Consider using LEDs and you will never have to replace lamps again, they are brighter also. http://s1304.photobucket.com/user/Kiwi_Roy/slideshow/Dash Note: the slideshow is a combination of two relamp projects. http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/wedge-bulbs/filter/Base,Miniature_Wedge,1,3995: The 194 1 LED (8 down) is my favourite, it's an AC lamp so you don't have to worry about getting the polarity right, just make sure the lamp colour is the same as the filter.

I never knew a Guzzi before with it's own Facebook page LOL. I assume the compression test was ok, 150 - 160 each side. Watching the video made me wonder if the timing for LH was not a long way out firing with the inlet valve open but I have no clue why it would do that, leads crossed over? You tried your ECU with the same results? This ECU ran ok in your bike? Make sure you have a solid 12 Volts at the ECU, a jumper to the petcock fuse will do that. Beyond electrickery I am not much help I'm afraid.

Some PO has added a start button bypassing the normal wiring, the starter solenoid draws about 40 Amps for a split second so if there's a dirty contact anywhere in the spaggetti it won't pull in I just went though a miss problem on my EV, it would cut out on one cylinder if I opened the throttle too much, it turned out to be a bad HT lead Use a multimeter to measure the resistance from cap to chassis, both sides should be roughly the same mine were 20K and open now 20K and 17K although my V11 Sport is in the Megohm range both sides are the same. An auto wrecker might be a good bet for some new leads, a lifetime supply from an old V8 Has the sidestand switch been removed. if not try jumping that, an easy way is to wrap a bare wire around the two relay pins. The ECU and it's wiring is really like a separate part of the bike I often advocate monitoring the feed to the ECU relay with a small lamp (where it says from ignition circuit) The lamp should stay on steady, never so much as a flicker. An easy point to access is the petcock fuse. As far as the ECU goes both sides share a common set of sensors it's only the coils and injectors where they split. Try this ECU in your bike also prove it's ok. From the ECU plug measure the Left and right coils and injectors, that will prove the coils and wiring again both left and right should measure the same. You need a couple of small pins or a strand of wire to plug in the connector. BTW, have you done a compression test try it first with closed throttle then wide open, the closed throttle will be much lower but if it's balanced properly it should be similar L & R no?

Yes I looked at on a few weeks back, one of the relay pins had pushed out the back and was just touching intermittently. If the tacho starts dropping out chances are the headlights going off and charging has stopped, they share the headlight circuit. The same bike also had a relay that clicked but didn't always close the contact. There's only one thing worse than an intermittent connection, that's two intermittent connections. Thank's Docc for the Tenni info

All the Guzzis around that era seem to have the charging associated with the idiot lights and tacho, If they are not operating chances are the battery will go flat. Blowing the 15 amp fuse in the start circuit is a symptom of too much resistance in the start relay feed (the solenoid is pulling a heavy current enough to dim the lights but not enough to pull the contacts in). This can also happen if the main positive is loose but when the AA guy jumped around it with a hot wire it pulled in ok In my experience it's dirty switch contacts. If you unplug the start relay or the headlight relay this disables the regulator and the battery will go flat, I doubt the AA man would know that. First of all remove and clean the battery leads and the main ground (earth) connection. Clean the ignition switch contacts checking the wires where they solder to the switch check the 30 amp charge fuse if you have one for sign of overheating (discoulored plastic) And as Czakky says the main ground where it attaches to the gearbox, if it's loose the starter current will seek an alternate path through the regulator ground, may let out some magic smoke or even catch fire. Carl doesn't have a Tenni schematic, what other model would it take after?

Early 70s, the motor of course is a much more modern beamer the original would have been a side valve like the blue bike in one of the pictures, with only splash lubrication they supposedly grenade early. (Jim of Jimbo's Classic Sidecars gave me the rundown a couple of years back) This bike was "Fully Restored" BTW, I added captions, if they don't show up mouse over the pictures, it works on my Mac at least.

Mongolian Raiders, that's a pretty apt description of Guang, He's been riding for 30 odd years and his experience shows. A real character. http://s1304.photobucket.com/user/Kiwi_Roy/slideshow/Beijing%20Trip Mouse over the pictures if the captions don't show up

You are absolutely right of course, but I doubt I would have got the response in time.I had a great day yesterday, picked up by a pilot and tour guide on an old Chang Jiang which in North America would be classed as a POS. Left the hotel up the wrong way on a one way street, up onto the footpath across the lights diaginal fashion to get on the right side (rush hour traffic). I don't know how many times we pulled up to the lights in a turning lane to out accelerate the cars and get back into line, bike lanes, footpaths it was all the same to Guang Li the driver. At one stage he let me have a drive, scarry if like me you have never driven a hack, I wasn't expecting the dive to the left on letting out the clutch when changing up. They took me to a part of the wall away from the tourist traps, we walked about 5 km and didn't see a soul. The scenery was better also (I have been there). Lunch and a beer then back to Beijing through countryside with good windy roads. The driver Guang Li ws a real character, although we didn't speak the same launguage I think we connected via the common love of motorcycles. I liked him so much I gave him my Guzzi shirt. The tour guide, a nice young guy from Spain here to learn Chinese was good company. All in all a great way to waste 8 hours, hot and dusty I crashed when I got back to the hotel. I highly recommend Beijing Sideways as a way to see the Great Wall or Beijing. I'll attach a link to photobucket when I get back and can upload the pictures. Cheers Roy

Thanks Bill, I'll give it a try, I think I figured out the Chinese internet doesn't like my Canadian browser, I can only access a few of my bookmarks. Supposedly they are going to send a techie up to my room and fix it. You don't reallize how much you rely on the internet until it stops working and you are marooned in a hot dirty country where very few speak English. I just called them, 2,000 RMB for an all day tour to the great wall, that's about $400 compares favourably with a bus tour, it's quite a long way to the great wall from here. It's too late today but I may arrange for it tomorrow, I expect it's a group of guys with Chang Jiang sidecars got together and formed a tour company. I feel better already. Cheers

Fantastic, Thanks Rossi46 Any other ideas anyone?

Sorry to post this completely non Guzzi topic. I'm stuck in Beijing for the next 3 days (Air Canada's ticket change policy sucks big time) I was hoping to connect up with Jim Bryant (Jimbo's Classic Sidecars) and arrange a ride somewhere. I can't even get the internet to spit out his address & phone No (he may be in the States but I expect he still has the business going near the Airport) It's good weather for riding and I'm stuck in an overpriced hotel on the outskirts of the city. Could someone google Jimbos and send me the phone No. A couple of years back he told me to call if I was back this way. Any other entertainment ideas would be welcome, I've done the usual tourist stuff. I think I need to use a Chinese based browser, Chrome and Firefox won't work, good old Explorer is dead slow but at least it still delivers. (for some strange reason I can always seem to get on this site, most others have frozen me out) Actually the PM function doesn't work so it's either post here or snd me an e-mail roy.matson@yahoo.ca Not really related but I have my Spot with me, I can't get it open from here but it works really well, I get a text on my cell as soon as it sends my co-ordinates to the satelite. I was standing in front of the hotel when I sent this one. http://fms.ws/Hu7P-/39.97221N/116.47151E If the above link does not work, try this link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=39.97221,116.47151&ll=39.97221,116.47151&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1 Yesterday I was on site in Shandong Province http://fms.ws/HhQof/37.69355N/121.06622E If the above link does not work, try this link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=37.69355,121.06622&ll=37.69355,121.06622&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Great detective work Chuck I had a manifold made for distributing Methanol, nice shiney stainless steel 150# fittings all welded together. On testing with water we found beads of sweat building up on the surface of the tees, sure enouch cheap Chinese fittings were rough as guts on the inside, polished like chrome on the outside. I was told later by a Chineese client never to use their 150# fittings.

So it's not just me then, RH fork touches the tank on full lock

It's under the starter Hugh. I have removed the side stand switch and wiring on both my bikes, remove the tank and follow the wires up to a connector, snip the wires and solder them together.I think all the spine frame Guzzis use the Normally Closed (closed with stand up) but some models use Normally Open (open with stand up) in which case you just unplug.

I think that's a different problem, supposedly there's some bullet connectors under the tank. Mine was acting similar, would only crank at full lock but before I investigated it fixed itself, a picture showing location of these mythical bullet connectors would be nice, my bike's half a world away at the moment.

To pull the front universal you have to completely remove the two pinch bolts not just loosen, they fit into a reduced portion of the shaft. When you put the it back together be very careful to put the front universal on so the bolt holes line up with the shaft reduced portion or the bolts will get chewed up as you screw them in. Like The Pilgrim says, it's almost orgasmic to see the grease go in right LOL

With the key ON check the oil lamp by touching a wire connected to the chassis to the wire at the oil pressure switch, this should make the oil light go. The oil pressure switches are very un-reliable. Check the charging light by touching the same wire from chassis to the white wire at the regulator.

Think of the TPS like the Volume control on an old radio it has a resistance with 0 Volts on one end and 5 Volts DC on the other. (have you noticed your Guzzi get's louder as you grank up the volume LOL) Attached to the throttle is a contact that starts near the zero end and slides along the resistance (in radio terms this is called a slider) toward the 5 Volt end as you open the throttle. To start at zero mV it would have to be jambed against the stop so the engineers picked a nice round 150 mV as a starting point. At wide open throttle again it doesn't go all the way but tops out about 4.5 Volts if I recall corectly. If ever you put an Ohmeter on the TPS you will find it doesn't quite meet what you would expect from a simple resistance, I suspect it has another pair of fixed resistors attached to the slider to give a default (get you home) value to the output if the sliding contact were to fail. In theory if your TPS failed on the road ther's nothing to stop you sustituting a variable resistor in it's place and setting it to match the throttle opening, It would keep you busy in the twisties that's for sure. Note: The TPS nas a linear output, the volume control on a radio has an exponential (Log) output to match your hearing.

I'm in Beijing at the moment, out in the sticks tomorrow for 3 weeks so I can't post any sketches but here's an old thread with the Test Point Layout sketch attached. Note 4 says the Ignition switch should be http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17469&hl=%2Btest+%2Bpoint+%2Blayout I don't know if any of the spineies have the start relay (pin 30)powered through the ignition switch like lot's of other Guzzis, there the ignition switch resistance is critical, the starter solenoid would like to draw 40 Amps for just a split second, too much resistance leads to failure to pull in aka "Startus Interuptus" IMHO the V11s are the only Guzzis that got it right

As Docc says, the grease goes hard in the switches, holds the tension off the contacts. Clean and re-lube with Vaseline, nothing else. If you still have a petcock fuse that's a great troubleshooting spot, It's just where the switches and interlocks end up before going to the ECU, If there's 12 Volts there chances are the bike will run, wink wink.