Hey guys, new here and have a few questions.
I have an '03 DS650 Baja that I have honestly not ridden much since I bought it new. Bike has MAYBE 70 hours on it in 3-4 years. Anyway, the other day I was out riding and the bike was running perfect for 2-3 hours. I was cruising thru a set of slag hills and I was slowing down checking out a few to climb. Well I thought I was in 3rd gear, was really in 4th. I started to go bike bogged and stalled, no big deal, right? Well I went to refire the bike and nothing. So I checked the plugs both were dry, a light tan color and no visible issues. After 2 hours of poking around I found nothing wrong. The bike was just grinding the starter, but no spark was coming thru to the plugs. Well I took the bike home and this morning I removed my Big Gun Rev Box and replaced it with the stock CDI, the bike fired first stab of the starter button and was purring. Odd. Well I shut it off, and thought life was good, until I went to restart the bike. At this point all I got was the sound of electricity flowing, but not going anywhere, kind of like when you arc a metal object on a battery terminal. Now I am thoroughly confused, could it be my coil? I really am at a loss here, as I have been all over the bike checking connections, fuses, bare wires, anything I could think of, but no answers. No one around me, including dealers are able to offer any help, other than cough up the bike for a few days(or weeks) and pay us, we'll find your problem. I do not like my local dealer, and prefer to sort thru this on my own. Any suggestions or comments? I am sure the problem lies in between the CDI box and the plugs themselves, but not sure what I should be looking at right now.

Thanks

 

Whats the status of your battery? Is it the original . If so , it can charge enough to start a couple of times but overnight it will drain to zilch. I'd start there if you hven't already.

 

Sounds like the ground needs to be cleaned, and then the battery needs to be charged or maybe replaced.... I know a few guys have had issues with this type of thing, and it was usually the ground. Unscrew it then clean the terminals with some sand paper.

 

Sorry guys, forgot to mention that the Battery is almost brand new, it's a MotoPower I bought from Rocky Mountain. I had to replace the stocker this winter as the bike sat so long the battery wouldn't hold a charge. I have already checked the ground and it was alright... today I went out and the bike does nothing at all, the lights come on by the ignition key, but that's it....*sigh*

 

Listen to Mr holly he is a wise man. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] try putting a set of jumper cables from you ground post to the motor MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD GROUND Tell us what happens then.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] There is more than one ground point on the bike.

 

Already did that, battery is fully charged, ground(s) are fine...it is not the battery, the rectifier or the wiring/fuses between those and the CDI I went thru that again today.

 

I hate to push the fact but if you turn on your switch and your lights work fine you hit you starter button and you hear a elec discharge but nothing happens YOU HAVE A ENGINE TO FRAME GROUNDING PROBLEM..NOT GROUND STRAPS BUT ENGINE TO FRAME PROBLEM.Please try the cables to batt ground and engine trick lets see what happens.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Let me explain things better

On older ds's that ground to the sub frame your issues could be.
1.ground from batt to the subframe must be good
2.ground from subframe to main frame must be good
3.ground from main frame to engine must be good

If all these are clean and all bolts tight you don't have a ground problem'


On new ds's
1.ground to main frame must be good
2.ground from main frame too the engine must be good

the reason i know this is your problem is first you blew your ing. while riding that tells me your engine shoock free and BAM you blew your ing module.then you replaced it and it started once while the engine is not viberating it some times will make good grounds. if you wish to test my theory.put a 100 amp battery charger on your bike hit the starter button i bet you'll blow a hole in your ing module.Reason being it is a self grounding unit it will take the full hit and can you imagine the amps from the starter going threw your ing module[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

 

Ok sorry to dig up ancient threads, but it is now August, my summer is almost over and my bike is still broken. I replied to this thread one more time but for whatever reason it didn't appear. Now I tried all of the stuff mentioned here, including all the stuff about how it had to be a ground. Well, long story short, it isn't. I have traced every wire in this bike I have done every little trick known to man with grounds, etc etc etc. NOTHING has worked. The bike makes very little clicking sounds when the starter button is pressed and the key is on, and that's it. I have had a voltage tester on every wire I can find and all except the coils and cylinders are getting spark. THis is getting frustrating as I even resorted to my local half *** dealer who told me, "Oh, it's just a ground." 2 weeks later, guess what? It wasn't a ground. He never even got it running, got no further than I did. At this point I am almost ready to just part the bike out for what it's worth. Any help? Oh and in case someone didn't read, the jumper cable idea was tried..it didn't work.

 

Here are some more things I would try:

Take one side of your jumper cables and go from the battery + directly to the starter where the big wire attaches (there will be a few sparks, don't jump and touch your cable to ground!!!!!!). Does the engine crank as it should?

If it does, try going from the positive of the battery to the yellow/red wire on the solenoid. This will manually turn on the solenoid and crank the engine.

If both of these work, you know it's not a ground to the motor, or solenoid.

Let us know what happens