PhatDad

I have the Haynes manual here too so we should be able to sort it. The bike was running lovely yesterday the couple of times I ran it. I'm going to test it today to see if it's the same as before or ok.

I've done what I can but as I don't know jack about using a multimetre I'm a little stuck. However, as I was looking under the petrol tank at the cable there and checking to see if they are all connected properly I noticed a white connector that when I pulled it a red wire came out and the tip of the wire was oxidised quite badly. I've inlcuded a couple of photos which sort of show it Any idea what this connector is? And what is the connector that has three yellow cables going into it? Bloody forum made me add it landscape and not profile. Sorry

Cheers dude. I'm going to try and check the wiring later today. I can't quite recall if this problem was happening before I changed the rear tail light and to do so I had to remove the whole rear end almost. My memory is so crap I can't recall if it was happening before then, but I don't think it was, so if that's the case then there's a chance it might be an easy fix as it's only a couple of wires that it could be. Here's hoping. There's no fingers crossed emoticon. Have to use that instead.

I popped the new battery in yesterday at 2pm. It all worked a treat. I ran into town on it, parked up, grabbed Guitar hero from Argos, jumped back on bike and came home. All worked well. Then popped it in the garage. Five hours later I take the bike out, start it up no problems, ride about 500 yards down the road, hop off it to use the bank and then it won't start. Same symptoms as before. I had to switch all lights off before I could bump start it. Gave it some serious revs before turning the lights on, heard it try and cut out but kept it going. Managed to ride home with it stalling a couple of times when I put the indicators on and even on a hill would only lock the back wheel up and skid rather than bump start. Just about managed to get it home without having to push it. I've disconnected the battery overnight and not had a chance to look at it today. I have however been to the automotive shop to get my old battery back which is probably ok. Charging that over night tonight so I can swap them over for testing purposes tomorrow.

I can only think it's a live wire shorting out somewhere. It must be. Brand new battery wouldn't lose it's charge within a few hours unless it was being drained somehow. Even if the alternator had gone I'm sure the battery only a couple of hours old would still have enough juice to at least start the bike unless there was a live short draining it in the mean time. So as Stu I think it was said, I think I need to strip it down and check each wire. Are you free on Sunday Slugworth?

Another question, how come it works fine earlier in the day but then at tonight it's not worked? I still had the lights on etc in the day. Wouldn't a bad earth cause the same problem day or night, new battery or old?

I've just realised you're only an hour and half away. eh, aren't you?

Strip the bike? It took an hour to change a bloody rear light.

Best way of doing that is?

Well I was wrong. It's not sorted. It seemed to be fine earlier but I've just gone out and it's done the same thing. It would appear that whenever I have to use something with electricity such as indicator or lights, brake etc the bike chuggs then loses power and i have to try and bump start it. However if the indicators or lights are on it's really difficult to bump start and I hav eto turn everything off before I can get it started again. It's a brand new battery only a few hours old. It started fine, I nipped to the bank and then it wouldn't start. I've had enough of it. I've owned it just over a week and I can't recall having gone anywhere on it. Had I bought it from somewhere local and not off ebay it would be going back. Does anyone know why the battery is either going really flat, really quickly (which I doubt it is) or why some electrical error is causing this?

Yeah, luckily I've realised as I've done it that it's on.

Thanks mate. Found an excuse to take it out tonight too. I have to go and pick something up from around the corner but I might just take a while to find my way.

Well I've only gone and fixed the problem. The new battery arrived today, fitted it in seconds, and the bike started lovely, rode lovely, sounded as lovely as a 125cc can sound. And then I had to go and pick the kids up from school so not ridden it for long.

I've figured out the adult section I think. What's in the garage anyway?

I'm just wondering, if I post this message whether I get access to the garage section? Lets see shall we... EDIT: Nope. And how do i get in the adult section? I'm curious to see what is being hidden in there.

Yep, my first bike seems to be a pain too. Oh well, I've learnt quite a bit already. I'm currently planning how I'm going to rearrange my garage to give me space to work on the bike.

I bloody well hope so as it's mainly expensive downs at the moment. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't costing quite so much. I thought biking was supposed to be a cheap alternative to cars.

i dont see why not Right, that should have done it, possibly.

Yep, it's as flat as a pancake. I don't have a charger so I'm going to have to try and cope without the bike for a couple of days till the battery arrives. It's not fair, all I want to do is ride it and I've spent more time sorting the bugger out. I might rename this thread as 'Phatdads motorbike problems' instead of creating a new thread each time I have a problem.

It's a repeated click. Luckily a biker was up at the local automotive centre and said it was the battery, but obviously, as it's me, I have to wait till wednesday now to get hold of a new one. THe strange thing though is that as I was riding home from Uni today at a reasonable speed it suddenly started to labour/kangaroo (Not sure how to explain it) and then cut out on me. I managed to bump start it again but before I managed that there was no noise at all from the ignition. If the battery is completely dead can that cause the bike to do that. It was like it was out of fuel, which it isn't. Argghhh I thought this was going to be fun but all I'm doing is learning about my bikes problems.

I've managed to get it started now by putting it in gear and rocking it. It eventually started. I ran it a bit, turned it off and tried again and the same clicking noise happened. No idea what it is but at least it's started now.

Hi, After spending ages taking the bike apart at the weekend just to change the rear tail light I go to warm the bike up this morning and all it seems to want to do is click loads with an odd grinding noise. What do you think the problem is? It's a Suzuki Marauder 125cc by the way.

Don't forget though the negative effects magnets have on hard drives etc so be careful when buying anything with magnets in it, i.e. tank bags. I carry mine in a rucksack when needed, it also means i can just jump off the bike and nip to where i need to without having to drag all the stuff off the bike first.

I managed to fix the light. Bulb had gone but it meant I had to near enough remove the whole rear just to get at it. I thought the Japanese were supposed to be models of efficiency so I question why they made it so tricky to change a bulb.

Unfortunatley, well fortunatley, depending on how you look at it I have a wife, severely hungover, and young family to take care of so I'll have to take a look at doing it myself. Thanks for the offer though. Definatley up for a run out next week sometime. I'm free after 11am on Wednesday and Friday till about 2:30pm when I have the school run.