Questionhi, rich. my apologies for the dissertation that follows, i'm trying to give you as much of the details as i can.
i just bought my first bike, a cb175. it's listed on the title as a '73, but it looks like the vin is from '72 (not sure if this matters). it has just over 7000 miles, but the seller said that it has mostly sat for the last couple of years, getting only about ten miles on it in that time. he also replaced the battery with a new one recently (i checked). when i test drove it, it started right up via the electric starter and ran fine (granted, i only took up and down the block). however, i had to revert to kicking it started once it got home the next day, as the battery had lost too much juice to do it with the ignition switch. i drove it around for three days using the kick start (maybe about 10-15 miles total), and noticed that the battery was slowly beginning to recharge, as the electric starter was gradually sounding stronger, almost to the point of working (i'm assuming this means that the charging system is ok). during this time, i also put some new gas in it (93 octane) after i accidentally left the fuel valve open and drained a decent amount onto the pavement (duh...). yesterday, i used a battery charger to charge up the battery (slow charge 12/2). the next time after that, when i took it out it started to have some trouble idling at stops, and it would also stall out when i tried to accelerate from those stops. i also noticed that the rpms at certain points were higher than before, and i had a hard time coaxing it above 30-35 mph. i checked the fuel supply at the petcock by pulling the lines just after it, and i have steady fuel for both lines at least up to that point. i also noticed that the engine seems to idle normally in neutral, but will start to falter when i put it in first, even before i disengage the clutch.
any insight to what i'm doing wrong here would help. is it possible i short something when i charged the battery (the rectifier keeps coming to mind), or is it just a coincidence that a second issue popped up?
thanks,
dave
AnswerThose alternators don't put out enough current to actually charge a battery. They only put out about 2-3 amps max. I suppose if you rode it for 8-12 hour continuously, it might charge up. If the brake light is on because you are resting your foot on the brake pedal, it will drain the battery. You can check it easily enough. Just put a VOM on the battery and check the voltage when the engine is revved above 3000-4000 rpm. It should be 13.5-14.5 volts. If it is, everything is working properly.
I sounds like you have a float sticking. If the float sticks, it will allow the engine to run too rich which will cause the problems similar to what you describe. Try turning the petcock off when you are running down the road and see if it doesn't suddenly runs a whole lot better for a short time. If it does, you need to clean the carbs and reset the floats.
Regards,
Rich
