Engine light at high rpm....

[Doc13]

Problems in order:

First installed HID headlights about a year ago that worked flawlessly.

Installed led bankers and new flasher and the bankers worked great, later that weekend (at night)the headlights at around 3k just shit off (boyhood high and low beam on seperate switches).

Removed just led blinkers, same issue.

Swap back to old flasher and couldnt get the headlights to fail.

This morning, headlights fail plus I get an engine light at or around 4k.

Gonna ecmspy later tonight but wanted to document.

 

[Doc13]

2005 xb12r with tail swap. 18k on the clock.

KC

 

[jaimz]

Is your charging system charging?

I haven't run into electrical problems in my bike, but I know on all of my cars the computer will start shutting off the least important electrical components to keep the engine alive when power is low.

Additionall check for any scraped / scarred wires, you might be shorting out somewhere.

Are your fuses blowing? Or just the lights shutting off?

 

[Doc13]

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of the below.

System seems to be charging fine. Starts fine.

No blown fuses.

Only issue with a short is the headlights consistently come back on when the rpms drop back down.

 

[Doc13]

Engine light drops after the rpms drop as well.

 

[jaimz]

maybe it's charging at low rpm, but at a higher spin rate the stator isn't changing any more.

It could happen if the coils were dirty or corroded. at a slower speed it has more time in each magnetic field to produce power? it's a long shot, I'm just thinking.

What would happen if you disconnect your headlights (take out the fuse maybe) then rev it to like 5500?

 

[Doc13]

Just rode home from school and no engine light regardless of what I did. Headlights have same issue.

 

[Doc13]

Alright, shot through the diagnostics and got the below:

Trouble Code 15, Battery voltage too high.

Per the manual:

"At low temperatures, the resistance is very high, allowing
the voltage to rise close to the supplied voltage of 5 volts"

Be gentle as I'm fairly mechanically inclined but this is new to me.

I'm also curious as to whether or not this is even related to my headlight situation which I'm still at quite a loss as to what could be causing the problem.

KC

 

[ct1200]

Voltage regulator, check it you must
If you have stands get her up and strap her down
Hook up your multimeter and rev her out

 

[Doc13]

Thanks for the help...just to clarify. I'm assuming I'm just going to be looking at the outputs??? I've got a multimeter just not familiar with this troubleshooting process.

KC

 

[jaimz]

You should be able to watch the voltage with EMCSpy, at least, log it then take a look with Mega Log Viewer

 

[Doc13]

When I was out running the codes I was looking through for anything abnormal and with the bike idling during warmup it was pushing out 13V...I noted it and have been researching all afternoon. Think the VR is on it's way out and just letting too much current run through???

Is there a way to test the VR?

KC

 

[jaimz]

well, the voltage regulator should be working just fine if it stays pretty much the same value when revving the engine.

Voltage needs to be about 13.5 - 15

if your voltage is dropping, that could cause your lights to go out.

your regulator is bad if it's putting out higher than 15v. also your lights wouldn't shut off, they'd probably burn up.

Only reason I can think of that the voltage would drop is due to a poopy stator.

 

[jaimz]

from the manual:

Voltage output @ 3600 RPM 14.4-14.6 VDC@ 75° F

 

[ct1200]

not with hids, the ballast may have voltage protection and turn them selves off to keep from blowing

 

[Doc13]

Jaimz,

I was thinking just what ct1200 is. I'm (in my lack of knowledge) that the voltage is too high and the ballasts are shutting down when it's revved up high(IE boosting voltage). Gotta head to work for now, but I'll be looking at the voltage either tonight or tomorrow after school, she'll be up on stands till I figure this out.

Correct me if I'm wrong:

If it's pushing over 14.6 at around 3600 I'm coming to the conclusion the regulator is failing which is pushing the high V out to the headlights which is tripping the ballasts as under normal circumstances the stock bulbs would blow.

Once again I appreciate everyone's input. If you think of something else that I'm not feel free to throw it into the mix.

KC

 

[Rhino1]

^^This sounds right. Get some readings at the battery, and coming out of the VR...

 

[jaimz]

yes, with normal bulbs they would blow.

I completely forgot about your HID's

jb weld this and there you go!

 

[Tacoclaw]

Make sure the grounds and sense wire for the VR are clean.

Not that it's anywhere near the same vehicle, but on old Dodges the connectors for the sense wire get corroded and the resistance makes the VR see less voltage than the alternator is putting out. It then raises voltage until it sees what it likes, cooking batteries and whatnot. And always check the grounds, just because problems that make no sense is what they specialize in.

It may actually need a VR, but if you've got time it never hurts to check the free stuff first.

 

[Doc13]

Well after some lovely research and some elbow grease, everything (physically) looks fine. Have a replacement VR in the mail, if that fixes the problem I will gladly post it up. If not I guess I'll go from there....


KC