Steve in Peru
 

I have been travelling for the last 20 months on my 2003 XT 600 and am now in Peru. The bike has over 100,000 km´s on the clock but has never given me any problems. In Malaysia I changed the rings, but that was to be expected.

But now today, while I was riding, it just stopped running. There is no power going to anything, no neutral light, headlights, nothing. And like I said, it just stopped while I was riding. A very pleasant ride, I might add. I cleaned the battery contacts and took out the starter selenoid and cleaned all the connections going to it. Unfortunately I don´t have a volt meter. I did see a couple of things that looked like fuses on the selenoid but they wouldn´t come off. Could this be the problem?

Right now I am in Urcos, near Cusco, and stuck. If anyone can help I´d be most grateful

Did you accidentally bump the kill switch? check the simple things first.

Garry

Trying to find a wiring diagram.

Garry

Steve Here
 

Thanks guys, good to see replies coming in so fast. I´ll try to find a volt meter here in Urcos to check the battery and then check the connection to the ignition switch. The negative is earthed to one of the bolts holding the starter motor and I already checked that one. Mezo, you say there are no fuses? Sounds like poor design, from what I know about electricty, which isn´t that much. I´ll start digging into the problem again tomorrow and let you know what I find. But thanks for your replies. Oh, it WAS raining when it happened.

Steve.

Not sure if this is the XTE600E Looks like there is a main fuse #3 to the ignition switch.

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...pseef13653.jpg

Garry

Steve
 

While you were writing your post, Gary, I was checking the ws manual I have on my computer. Not as easy as having the book where you can leaf through the pages easily, but I did see there´s a fuse behind the battery. I always thought that was the flasher relay for the indicators. I´ll check that tomorrow as well. Right now it´s dark and raining. Love you guys.

Steve.

Hi, the mainfuse is on the side of the starter relay/solenoid, so you are correct. Theres 2 fuses, one is a spare.

To get to the fuse you just need to remove a little plastik cover/hood, like a lid on a tupperwarebox (my english is starting to fail me bad.



The fuses are to the right and left of the plug/connector ( I fitted a new connector, so it may differ slightly from yours)

http://www.tenere.dk/forumnew/uploads/987/DSC03811.JPG

I'm not familiar with 600E but from the diagram G-K posted a blown fuse would put everything out of operation, (also seems to disconnect charging to the battery)

With a short length of wire you can use a bulb from the bike to make a test lamp, or remove a complete indicator lamp and use that.

Recall that these bikes have the CDI mounted under the rear mudguard, and that has been troublesome on occasions.

Good luck,
p

From Steve
 

I scoured this little town and found a multi-tester. Will be getting to work on it now and let you know the results. Thanks for the info about the fuses, Jens, especially the good news that one of them is a spare. Stay tuned.

Mission Accomplished
 

I want to thank all of you for your input into my problem. It was, Jens, the main fuse in the starter selenoid. Glad I now know about that one. So the bike is running, but it´s also raining so I´ll leave in the morning. Now I can only hope that it was just a tired fuse after 110,000 km on bad roads, and not a fault somewhere. I did buy a couple extra fuses, which were as difficult to find as the multimeter. But I didn´t want to leave without a spare. So thanks guys. Next stop, Cusco, which is less than 60 km down the road, and the protests have ended so I should be able to just cruise into town. I spent the last 2 days negotiating passage through the road blocks and I now have ¨Viva El Paro¨ painted on my windscreen.

Keep the rubber side down.

Fuses
 

Mezo,

I actually don´t think it is a starter fuse, I think it is the ONLY fuse. It just happens to be located on the starter selenoid. What do you think Jens? Definitely the brushes will have to be replaced sooner or later, but I always take the approach that ¨I´ll cross that bridge when I get to it¨. It was a 20 amp main fuse. All the power goes through it. When it blows, you have nothing. As for how far I still intend to go, only money can answer that. I think I have enough for at least another year, maybe 2 with a lot of camping. When the rings go again, I will rebore it and put in an oversized piston, possibly second oversize, just to be sure. I will want to have the parts in hand before I start disassembling and having a machinist tell me 1st or 2nd oversize will only keep me off the road while I wait for parts, and that can take a lot of time. I will get everything, and then start the job, one week max. Thanks for your interest in my problem. We may ¨bump¨ into each other on this site again.

Keep the rubber side down,
Steve.

Yeb, the fuse acts as a mainfuse. No life without it..

Well done Steve in Peru.

The starter motor is not fuse protected but the solenoid is. Solenoids are not known to short out.

Have fun,
p

The Ultimate Solution
 

Hey Guys,

Don't know if any of you are still checking this thread, but I did have more problems. I rode from Urcos to Cusco with the headlight off, and while I was in Cusco I decided I needed to make sure everything was okay and rode with it on. Sure enough after about half an hour the fuse blew again. I was with some Peruvian bikers and they took me to Nicolas, who turned out to be one of those geniuses you come across when travelling. We spent half a day, stripping the bike to get at the wires, and Nicolas found the problem in a wire to the tail light. If any of you have electrical or electronic (like a BMW) problems in Cusco, Peru, call Nicolas, 984213031. I met one of his friends who told me Nicolas is the only guy in Peru who can "repair" a CDI. I didn't think that was possible, but he studied electronics, and said basic electrical problems are much easier. He's a very good guy who whistles while he works, oozing confidence. We are now good friends and will be riding bikes to Machu Picchu next week.

Steve.