Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum
Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet Iron Barrel => Topic started by: Reaver on November 13, 2007, 10:23:59 pm
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Hi guys, new to the forum and I have an issue! I have an '03 Bullet 500ES Classic. A couple of months ago I was running down the road at 55 or so, no issues, when all of a sudden, I lost spark and coasted to a stop. I have gas to the cylinder, it appeared to be an electrical issue. I swapped out the points and condenser, no joy. I just got around to pulling everything off I could, to get a better look at the wiring harness, and found a small, black wire coming off the back of the battery box on the same stud as the battery ground wire. According to the wiring diagram, it is supposed to tie into the grounding circuit. I cannot find where it is supposed to belong. I am hoping this one little wire is the problem. Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Dan in Oregon
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I too have a 500ES of '03 vintage here in the UK.
I will go and have a look at my earth/negative battery terminals and see where that one goes to!!
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OK.
Took the battery negative wires off for you to see.
This first pic shows the camera pointing rearward from just behind the cylinder/head.
It shows a couple of large earthing ring terminals (of which one is that thin black wire from the negative of the battery) tucked in between the frame and the battery back plate by a bolt/nut. The orange coloured part will be for sure a steel star washer to ensure it 'cuts' into the metal to form a good earth (until it goes rusty like this one has). Having seen that now I will have to 'attend' to it!!!
The black tube below the nut there is the battery rubber strap retainer.
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2364/2006949509_11de5351f2.jpg)
The second pic shows that recessed earth point bolt head as from the left side of the bike and facing into the rubber lined battery bay.
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2161/2006949529_cb00881956.jpg)
Hope this helps!
Cheers, Chris
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I have the large, green negative coming from the battery to the grounding lug/bolt, and a small, black wire coming off the bolt and hanging in mid air. it has a blade connector covered with black heat shrink. That is what I am wondering about. Where does that go?
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My thin black wire with a sleeve goes from that earth bolt to the battery negative as I said in the posting with the pics.
It can be seen in the second picture just above that horizontal battery box strut and resting on the steel clip that is part of the battery retaining strap. From there it goes to the battery negative terminal.
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Do you have a second, larger diameter wire as I described?
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Well, on second inspection, it appears that the smaller, black wire actually "Y"s, one leg going into the wiring harness, the other just hanging there.
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Take out the battery. Remove the air cleaner on the right side. Remove the seat.
Double check all connections to the ignition coil, to the distributer and the battery terminations with everything out in the open.
Use your wiring schematic in the owners manual. You will find voltage regulators/rectifiers under the seat - eyeball everything and check continuity with a VOM.
Check the ground points behind the battery and behind the tail light assembly. Retighten and cover with dilectric grease.
It won't take as long as it sounds. Just takes good eyeballing after studying the schematic over coffee - and use the OHMS on the VOM for checking continuity.
Good luck.
Regards, Foggy
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Also remove the leads to the ignition coil and check for a good coil. Can't rule them out not to go bad.
Regards, Foggy
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I had this exact same thing happen to me. There are 4-5 single pin type connectors near the back of the engine by the bottom front area of the rear fender. One of these became defective. I guess the engine vibrations opened up the female connection to the point is was not holding the connection well enough. Anyways I ended up just replacing these connectors entirely with higher quality ones and problem solved.