gt185 ec rebuild

[stinkwheel]

I really appreciate your efforts here, thank you

I guess this fault is why it was thrown in a shed 13 years ago

[Alan H]

points are set at 0.4mm dont know what that is in imperial

16 thou.
1mm = 40 thou (near enough.)

[jabcb]

If the bike didn’t have problems 13 years ago, then it would have probably been run until it was junked. Seems to be a pretty common story & the upside is there are a lot more of theses vintage bikes than anyone would have expected back then.

Post a pic of the closed left points at some place like Photobucket & then provide the image link here.

[stinkwheel]

Bit more. Info before I post some pics. When I first looked at the bike the owner put a battery booster across the battery as it was flat. He said there was a fuel problem on the lhs but to.prove the bike would run he squirted a little fuel into the plug holes. He then used the electric start to.try to fire it up. Eventually he fired on the right but on checking, there was no spark on the left although he said there had been. I assumed it would be points and when I first looked at them, sure enough the lhs points were horrible, I will.post a pic if possible. I then ordered new points and condensers to try and sort it. I recharged the battery using an optimate and was surprised and pleased when it.took a charge.when the battery comes.off.the charger it reads 13.6 volts but if.I try to.use the starter it can barely turn the bike over hence the my using the kick-start.

Could the above be contributing to the problem as I thought that if one side.worked the other should if the points condenser and coil were OK?

[Coyote]

Could the above be contributing to the problem

ABSOLUTELY. Many of the early twins require a good hot battery to run correctly, or at all. The left cylinder is always the one to quit when the battery starts to go. I would suspect your battery has one or more bad cells- especially at that age. Been down this road before. I have one just like it on the shelf right now, waiting to go to the hazardous waste recycle. Yes it takes a charge, yes it will power a light, but it has no cranking amps. Lost it's guts so to speak. If the battery is the lead / acid type, they have a life span of about 4 years, and that's if you take care of them.. Normally, a lead / acid battery allowed to go totally dead is not recoverable.
Bite the bullet and get a new battery. I would have suggested that before, but I thought that had already been covered. THAT might be the whole problem.
With your battery in place, hook your volt meter to the pos and neg posts. Watch the meter and hit the start button. If the voltage drops way off then the battery is shot.

[stinkwheel]

Could the above be contributing to the problem

ABSOLUTELY. Many of the early twins require a good hot battery to run correctly, or at all. The left cylinder is always the one to quit when the battery starts to go. I would suspect your battery has one or more bad cells- especially at that age. Been down this road before. I have one just like it on the shelf right now, waiting to go to the hazardous waste recycle. Yes it takes a charge, yes it will power a light, but it has no cranking amps. Lost it's guts so to speak. If the battery is the lead / acid type, they have a life span of about 4 years, and that's if you take care of them.. Normally, a lead / acid battery allowed to go totally dead is not recoverable.
Bite the bullet and get a new battery. I would have suggested that before, but I thought that had already been covered. THAT might be the whole problem.
With your battery in place, hook your volt meter to the pos and neg posts. Watch the meter and hit the start button. If the voltage drops way off then the battery is shot.

Be a result if that was the case, just tried your suggestion and it dropped to 4.5 volts so I take it its a.goner? I've got.a.zx9r, I take the battery in that would fry the little gt?

[Coyote]

Not likely. 12 volts is 12 volts. It would be safe to use just to see if you have spark.

[yeadon_m]

You can place a car battery is 12V across your GT185 provided you make sure you have the correct polarity and thats safe. I cranked a dead GT550A using a spare car battery and that was fine, and also told me what was working before I started the project.
Mike

[stinkwheel]

Update !

I've now lost my rhs spark too But this was after some heavy duty wire pulling on the loom where the connectors by the starter motor are. I did try my zx9r battery and although she turned on the button it made no difference. However based on my wire tugging revelations and a mate's eye who pointed out that the tape on the loom looked "aftermarket" I've a suspicion that someone has had a go at the loom so there may be some issues there. To be honest, the fact that I've lost the rhs spark makes me think I'm actually nearer the problem so I'm gonna get out my trusty stanley blade and start probing;will report back if I discover something.

On a more positive note my man cave is nearing completion so I won't have to keep walking 100 yards every time I do anything to the bike.

[stinkwheel]

update, bike now in almost finished workshop and just replaced and checked everything and...................... Sparks both sides!! I kept persevering with multimeter and sort of worked out what I should be reading. Cleaning the new points and fitting new plug caps seemed to do the job so happy days.

Thanks to all of you.

[rngdng]

COOL!!! I just got my Harley M65 to spark today, so I know exactly how you feel. I was losing my mind over this stupid thing, and found a kill switch that I didn't know existed today, and wouldn't you know, it was shorted. Once disconnected, I got a fat spark. The dumb thing may run after all.



Lane

[stinkwheel]

It runs! Now the work begins.......