Topic: She died on the highway

[clarkjh]

Happened to me yesterday morning leaving for work.  Just go up to speed on the main drag, 2 lane, going across a long bridge and she shuts down.  All light are working, looked down and yep fuel on, then see I left the choke on.  Dropped the leaver and vrooomm .

James

[mikedialect]

also..... sadly partsnmore no longer carries the ignitions. Didn't find any on any of the usual suspect supplier sites. Any ideas?

I do believe that my problem is more related to the plug that goes IN to ignition. I suppose you can't take those connections out and redo them without a spare?

[MoTo-BunnY]

O M G. . . .this VERY same thing happened to me last night!!!!!!!     

I was out for an evening ride, humming along at 50mph enjoying the sunset when all of the sudden EVERYTHING went out. . . lights, power, everything. .. .   there was a pretty good amount of traffic behind me and full curb to my side with only a foot of shoulder. Fortunately, it was a gentle downgrade so I 'Flintstoned' it with my feet just a flailing on the side of the road, to get out of the way. Luckily the car behind me covered me by putting on their hazards and driving slowly behind me.

I got off the road and they pulled over - the car stopped and they said they were really surprised at what happened too - they said they were checking out my bike as I went by and then saw everything cut out. I was still shaking from the experience - the total shutdown at speed is disconcerting, to say the least. They tried to help but were pretty clueless about bikes - I was still pretty level headed, albeit with shaking hands, and quickly realized it had to be the fuse (only one, on CB500). I had an extra and put it in but *pop* she went too.   They drove off while I called my friend.

However, supreme luck was on my side as here comes "mrblasty" from the SOHC forums!   He walked up and said 'hey, if thats an old Honda I might be able to help'  (my bike is pretty modded - pretty far from stock now). What a small world!!!!!!!! He had just been driving by and saw me . ..lol. We chatted for a bit as I looked around inside the headlight I recently had worked on, to see if I could find the short. He had some more fuses and I was able to get her running again. I called my friend for an escort back to the 'hutch' and I am going with the modern blade fuse upgrade today (as well as adding a few more) because I have been all through the wiring already and I am sick of dealing with the dumb glass fuses.

Anyways, I learned that a flashlight is invaluable in the tool kit, as are LOTS of extra fuses. Also, you DEFINITELY meet the nicest people on a Honda (as well as the SOHC.us forums!) 

Thanks again "mrblasty" (sorry, remembered your handle but not your real name. . .lol)  - you totally rock for helping me out! 

[bistromath]

AWESOME STORY!!! (cue the "it's a small world" theme)

I had this happen to me all the time. Just the other day I finally cleaned it all out with fine-grit sandpaper and DeoxIT D100 spray. Stuff dissolves corrosion so you can just wipe it away, and leaves a film of corrosion protectant behind. Well worth it.

That 15A main fuse, by the way, is supposed to get pretty hot. Just not hot enough to blow. 

[UnCrash]

   Holy Cow MoTo!

It's great that you got roadside support from a fellow SOHC'er

Flashlight is a great tip for the toolkit.

I couldn't agree with you more on the blade fuse modification.  I'm going for it as I deal with my wiring mess.  It doesn't look like it will take too long either.

I also couldn't agree more that the SOHC community is the Best!

Good luck resolving your issues.

I'm getting knee-deep in my wiring issues, you can check out the progress on my "melted" thread ---> http://www.sohc4.us/forums/index.php?topic=25039.0

[smccloud]

i did a blade fuse modification to my '72 750k.  i'm just wondering how many people put a couple of female spade connectors inline and how many people use a proper fuse holder......  i'm in group one right now, money is tight with my fiance in school and with fall approaching i don't want to stick to much money into my bike right now.  i did also cheat and add a second relay switched circuit for my headlight and gauge lights (on its own 15 amp fuse) since my precious halogen bulbs like to blow the "main" fuse when i run with just one 15amp fuse.  now all i need to do is check the ground from the battery to see if thats why i keep loosing low beam (not high beam though) or if its the fubar '75 left control i'm running (hi/lo beam switch is held together with some tagboard and super glue).

[csendker]

This happen to me a while ago, while doing 50 mph on a 4-lane highway.  I hit the turn signal to go from the right hand lane to the left hand lane and she died on the first 'blink'.  Dead, dead, dead, nothing.  Lucky, there was no real traffic on-coming, so I drifted into the center turn lane and then coasted over to a driveway on the other side of the road.  I was oddly calm the whole time, psiied actually.  Blew my main fuse.  This had happened once or twice when I switched on the high beam (while at home, not riding...) so I figured it was high wiring harness resistance.  I swapped out the fuse and ran home with the headlight off.

Since then I've cleaned the fuse holder, cleaned & gooped-up the main ground wire, cleaned & sprayed many, many connectors and changed out my rear taillight with a generic LED version I picked up at the local autoparts store.  Now I can use my turn signal with my high beams again, wo-hoo!

[UnCrash]

I've been interested in others experiences with sudden power outages at high speed...

Fortunately for my old girl I care about keeping her up and thanks to a wiring harness I bought off Ebay and one that a very generous forum member offered up I've got her sorted back out and on the road. 

I've put about 200 miles on her in the last few days and am feeling good enough about her to run up to the Owls Head Transportation Museum's antique motorcycle & airplane show this coming sunday.

Thanks to all the posters here for the moral support!

[kaceyf2]

now come on you cannot blame that one on its being an "F"
fairs fair..."not guilty M'lord"
You will get many many miles of fun out of it, IF you do it a favour and service it regularly, be sergically clean when you change her oil etc etc......
I BET your knees were trembling, and heart POUNDING in your ears, you said you had a shower, I bet youd allready had one in your own sweat on the way back pushing her..
Its a wonder your boots werent full of sweat!!
THREE MILES.. that MUST be a candidate for the "whats the farthest you've pushed your cb750 on your own" annual competition... How about it guys?
I Nominate Uncrash for this months "push of the month"
any more entries....
PLease dont make another catergorie especially one called "over seventies push of the month" or "Pensioners weekly push" it Might actualy be against the law ( or should be)
to encourage folk to push their cb750's ha ha.
glad its fixed.

[UnCrash]

now come on you cannot blame that one on its being an "F"

I wholehartedly agree!

This problem cam about because the PO put in a lawnmower battery AND put the draintube out over the electrics.  I thought I had them sorted out soon after I bought it, and put 1000 miles on it before the harness meltdown. 

And I should be nominated for knucklehead of the month for pushing it the three miles.  There's a wicked stubborn streak that runs through my family.  Sometimes just when I think I've shaken it, a situation occurs and my eyes glaze over with a faraway look, and I know I could march to hell and back...

[mikedialect]

now come on you cannot blame that one on its being an "F"

And I should be nominated for knucklehead of the month for pushing it the three miles.  There's a wicked stubborn streak that runs through my family.  Sometimes just when I think I've shaken it, a situation occurs and my eyes glaze over with a faraway look, and I know I could march to hell and back...

Just this may I pushed my 69 cb350 just over 12 miles. I hate to even add that 60% was up hill as I was coming from the river back to downtown. I don't think it has anything to do with stubborn. It was a cost vs manly determination thing. haha.

[TwoTired]

Just this may I pushed my 69 cb350 just over 12 miles.

I got chest pains just thinking about that....

[mikedialect]

Just this may I pushed my 69 cb350 just over 12 miles.

I got chest pains just thinking about that....

Might I add that it was our first day of 85 degree weather?


It's definitely one of the stories that I will be telling my children (god save them if I actually have kids) when they are #$%*ing and moaning about not wanting to work for what they want

[UnCrash]

 

It was a cost vs manly determination thing. 

Ok I admit it I was being a cheapskate too!

I'll take pushing a 750 3 miles, over your 12 mile experience any day.  I nominate you for knucklehead bike push of the month!

[mikedialect]

It was a cost vs manly determination thing. 

Ok I admit it I was being a cheapskate too!

I'll take pushing a 750 3 miles, over your 12 mile experience any day.  I nominate you for knucklehead bike push of the month!

and a dubious title it is. This is what I get for liking german compact cars that lack trailer hitches.