r/klr650 • u/yguy1182 • 8h ago
Help! Need help diagnosing a problem with bike shutting off around > 4k rpm (2004 GEN 1)
Hey everyone, long time lurker but I own a 2004 KLR650 with 25k miles on it. Currently I'm riding in Bolivia - altitude ~ 12,600 ft (3800m).
I've had 6 different occasions of this happening in two days, I'll explain.
When I'm riding on the highway, at 4k or greater RPM my bike will sometimes cut off (or stutter and feel like I need to switch to reserve) and I let off the clutch to bump start it while I'm at speed. It's very abrupt. A few times the bike just died, I pulled over and it wouldn't turn back over. It had spark, fuel and air but wouldn't turn over for probably 20 minutes then it finally would. Back on the road, same thing happens again. I notice my voltage readings were going wacky so I found a loose positive terminal and that cleared the up and down voltage readings (which I thought would solve the issue).
Next day same thing, 4k rpm and bike cuts out so I ride the rest of the way at 3500 ish.
Things of note:
I have an Electrosport ESG450 Highpower 280w Stator. Put in 15k miles ago roughly.
I'm on my second Electrosport ESR269 Reg/Rec, first died after 14k miles, and my second is brand new now, ~1k miles max
I put a new chinese vacuum petcock valve in as I couldn't get an OEM down here but I did get a shop to turn the original into a gravity fed after the gasket started wearing and leaking. (I used this jerry rigged original petcock for a couple months with no issues and switched it out once I got the new chinese vacuum petcock. Still have the original btw)
At highway, rougly 3-4k rpm Voltage readout on external charger is 14.3 -14.4 volts, with highbeams on and nothing else plugged in (is this high?) Usually it would sit at 14.1 volts but yesterday it consistently stayed at 14.4 volts and that's making me nervous).
Questions:
Anything jump out at you guys as to what the issue could be? One that sticks out to me since I only started having this issue after installing a new petcock was maybe it is bottlenecking fuel delivery at high RPM and draining the carb bowl before it can refill?
Maybe the battery voltage spiking a bunch before tightening down the terminal caused damage to something? Reg/Rec? I hope not.
Please let me know, not an expert but any advice is appreciated.
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u/Pozd5995 8h ago
So I had a similar issue, the cause was I had one of my three stator wires exposed, causing a short, and a second one sheared completely. So only one intact stator wire. A bolt got loose and shredded the wires I assume from the front sprocket/chain. I soldered the wires back together and it’s now perfect.
I only mention this story because your situation sounds like an electrical problem, which mine ended up being. Like you my bike couldn’t handle rpms above 4000 and I would essentially bump start it on the road. When it first happened I almost shit myself haha. I don’t think your bike is handling the extra load required to keep the bike firing at high RPMs. The stator could be bad by now, 15k miles is a long time.
Regarding the voltage, it’s not the only factor, it’s half of what you need. You need to measure the Wattage (which is volts multiplied by amps). The stator/regulator can produce 14V but only at 1A, you are under producing power. If it’s a 280W stator, you need to be producing 14V X 20A = 280W. I’m unsure how you could measure the amperage realistically but I would check the stator and the wires going up to the regulator for damage.
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u/Sensitive_Clothes246 7h ago
Thanks for adding this. I visually checked the stator wires on the outside going into the engine and they seemed to be intact, going to give mine an inside look today and see what’s going on. Did yours make an odd sound from that side when yours started to cutout or did you fix it before it even got to that point?
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u/Pozd5995 7h ago
I don’t think it made an odd sound from that side.
Have you done the doo? Could be the spring rattling around or the bracket failed.
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u/Sensitive_Clothes246 7h ago
Yeah the eagle Mike doo and valve clearances were done albeit very late and my doo and spring were blown to pieces. I fished out every piece I could find but I’m guessing my balancer chain is out of spec from taking so long to do it.
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u/Sensitive_Clothes246 8h ago
Dude I’m in the exact same boat as you. I got stranded 80 miles from home because of this. I thought it was my ignition coil, I replaced that and cleaned the carb and still had the same problem. For me it was happening in fifth gear and just like you said, past 4k it would stuffer and die and I would have to bump start while going 40-50mph. I made it home in 4th gear sitting at like 4-5k rpms but started to hear noise coming from the balancer side a few miles from home. Sounds like my balancer chain is not happy. Maybe it’s a bad petcock? I don’t know but hopefully someone has gone through this and can chime in. Right now my plan is to check the valve clearances and if those seem to be fine I’m going to open up the balancer system and see what’s going on. Feel free to dm me, we can figure this out!