Ok well Believe me, I thoroughly searched the boards for my answer to this...

i see many have had the same problem but i couldn't find the resolution or outcome on many, aside from one who said he/she wasn't running it for a long enough time period to charge and that certainly isn't my problem...

so here's what i have happening on my 2003 DS 650:
sat for a few months, wouldn't start. my brother has the same exact model, so we replaced my rectifier with his and same with battery. started right up (you guys helped us figure that out! Thanks!)

so i replaced the rectifier and got a brand new battery, charged properly by a bike shop. started up and ran great, but had glowing red headers after only about 10 minutesof riding and no overheat light or fan.

SO we figured we need a new thermostat thing (heat sensor?). BUT...

i had to order that part and before it came in, some friends of mine were going riding. told them i was waiting for a part and one guy (a home electrician) decided he could run a hard wire from the thermostat to the ignition so that the fan would constantly run. he DID fuse this, athough that's all the details i have because i don't understand what he did very much

anyway, took it out, and after about 2 hours, it shut down, wouldn't start. it was at night, mind you, so the lights were on. the guys all assumed my battery was dead, but the lights were not even dim at all and the fan still kicked on when the switch was in the "on" position. it just wouldn't try to start at all.

next morning, fired right up no problem. i didn't run it at all, just was checking on it. later in the day, tried to start it to put it away, and again, wouldn't even TRY. all i got was a LOUD clicking noise (not the normal sound level) from the starter relay. so i ordered one of those...

it came in, and in the process of installing IT, an unfortunate event happened and one of the threads got wreched off =)

anyway, we got frustrated, put the old starter relay back on. at the same time, i had gotten in my new thermostat sensor thing and we had charged the now-dead battery. well with the charged battery, the original starter relay, a new rectifier, and a new thermostat sensor (not sure the name of that thing...?) it started right up and has been ever since, although i haven't taken her out riding yet, just started her here and there to make sure it would still start ok.

but now i'm afraid to take it way out on the trail because we ride at night and i'm afraid i'll get out in the middle (again) and it will die on me after about an hour and a half (again) if the charging system was in fact the problem to begin with

today i had a guy who actually knows what he's doing come look at it just as a favor. he checked the electrical system (except the stator, thinking that probably wasn't the problem) and everything checks out fine.

my question for you all: is it possible that the thermostat sensor caused it to die for no reason and not start back up? like maybe because i bypassed it that night it confused my computer and just shut down the quad?!

or should i test my stator too? we didn't have all that much time, but he said he could do that if i need him to.

i'm sorry it's so long but i'm a non-mechanically-inclined girl and i didn't know what info you needed and what was irrelevant so i just gave it all to ya from the first problem we started with this month...

THANKS FOR ANY HELP!

Kristy

 

BUMP!

no responses yet... i know it's only been 1 day, but anyone have anything for me?

 

C'mon guys, we have a Damsel in distress here!

Seems to be a common theme with the 03 but more often than not it has been the regulator/rectifier. Other times it was the connection to the frame of the ground cable from the battery. Alot of people have bypassed the Thermo Switch which cycles the fan on and off, with a toggle to where they could pick and choose when the fan was on. I think you have your starting problem resolved. If the clicking continues check all of your connections. Ensure that your battery post are snug, ground wire tight, all male/female plugs snapped...

The glowing headers is a rich/lean issue that needs to be resolved in short order. Because your exhaust is hot doesn't necessarily mean your coolant will be. What is your jetting and airbox setup, along with any mods applied? Exhaust, etc.

 

i'm not sure what my specs are on those last questions you asked. LOL... i'll get my brother to get on here and answer that....

as for the rectifier, i replaced it before it died on me, and after that we checked the ground from the battery and it was a little dirty, but not bad, and it was definately connected correctly. we cleaned it up and put it back on...

it's running GREAT right now, fires right up wiht no hesitation at all, but it did that last time too, just died after a couple hours. battery didn't appear to be dead but i didn't have a way to test it other than the lights, which were fine... so i don't know what that was about...

i am hoping it's fixed and ok, i'll find out saturday night for sure, but i'm thinking i've got some kind of problem wiht my battery charging system somewhere and i was hoping someone would be able to identif it wiht what i said.

your suggesitons were great. as for it running rich or lean, like i said, i don't know what mods have been done to it, but i know some things were done before i bought it, but that was over a year ago and i've never noticed the glowing headers before....

so standby for my brother to get on here about that, but thanks for the help in the meantime! =)

 

for checking to see wther its rich or lean take out the spark plugs and let us know what they look like and we will be able to tell you what it is running and depending on that then the jetting will have to be adjusted in the carb...Well depending of how the electrician tied in everything he may have just tied in the fan and the quad wasn't cooling becuase the thermostat wasn't opening well I know it wasn't opening becuase you said the thermostat was being ordered or something so then it wasn't allowing coolant to enter the water jacket around the cylinder...Do you guys think that the rings could be fried do to the heat or caused anything else to go bad internally I would check it out if you can't figure out wether its the started or not...I was going to say that maybe the starter gear isn't lining up correctly and thats where you are hearing the noise from so check the splines and make sure the gears fit into one another.

 

Her bike has an aftermarket jet kit of some kind. Stock air box and filter, stock CPU, stock Rectifier, etc. FMF pipe.

I have been thinking that this could be a CPU problem. I have replaced the CPU on my '01 already, but it went out all at once. The coils wouldn't even fire. So maybe her CPU is just going berzerk or something? I have no idea.

MONKEYBOMB

 

Ok well I took it out tonight and after about an hour and a half of running, it was hesitant to start, but sitll did. 30 minutes later i parked it, but just to see what it would do, i tried to start it, and although the lights weren't significantly dim, they were slightly dimmer than on a good battery.

i was riding at night so the lights were on the whole time, so i know that would suck more juice and if my battery was running with no other power source behind it, i wouldn't have lasted as long as i did.

is it possible for the stator to be bad, but still charge the batt a little just not enough? or is it more likely another problem with the electrical?

i guess i need to just test the stator... but could someone answer me on the questions in the line above before i go and do all that? i don't have the quad at my house, and i have to get a friend to help me with it all anyway so i don't mess it up so i was wonderin if i could get a little more info on possible problems before we dig into it again...

Thanks!

 

It is possible that the stator is not charging you battery enough to compensate for the lights. Take it in to the shop and have them test the charging system. I would also check your ground strap from the battery and the subframe, and then make sure you have a nice metal to metal connection at the subframe and the frame.

 

thanks,

we have already checked the ground from the battery to the subframe, adn we looked for one from the subframe to the frame but could not find one....

do you know where that one is? i would take it to a shop but i can't afford it, trying to figure it out on my own. as i stated above, we have tested the electrical system, all but the stator. so the fact that the battery is still draining while riding at night leads me to believe it's the stator... that will be the next thing we test i suppose!

thanks for your response....

 

The ground from the subframe to the frame is the four points where the subframe bolts to the frame... they don't all need to be perfect but at least one must have a very solid connection... to be safe I wouild do my best to make sure that they all have good conductivity.