Stick

My 2002 Lemans resembles the pair of photos in Post #10. Large recessed hex on right side of axle. Right axle only has pinch bolts. Axle threads into left fork leg (no nut). But after changing my tire yesterday, it seems that the right spacer has some play in it. I assume this is not normal. I snugged the axle about where I found it. And I know the pinch bolts will keep the axle from rotating. Is there a specified torque that I should be using for the axle before I snug the pinch bolts? I realize that I should allow the right fork leg to "float" on the axle by bouncing the front forks prior to tightening the pinch bolts. But so far, I don't see the right spacer going to "zero" clearance before I do this. And, of course, the 2002 Owners manual shows a nut on the left fork leg. Clearly not what I have...

Rox: Are the mirrors flat glass, or convex (panoramic)?

My Lemans is no different. Slightly less voltage when warm. I write it off to the alternator windings getting warmer, and possibly the RR getting warm. When you heat wiring, the resistance goes up. This gives you a little less performance out of a given winding and/or wiring.

I bought a used Honda V45 Sabre a few years back, and I asked the gent, " How can a tank this old be this clean?" And he told me about electrolysis. I did a tank on an R80 about 6 years ago. That rusty thing turned out much better on the inside. Things to remember: It only attacks the oxide, not clean steel. It is fairly "line of sight" from the electrode (anode) to the piece that you're doing. I had to re-position my anode night after night to make sure it was getting the job done. If you use plain steel Anode, the used solution is environmentally safe. Pour it on your lawn or in the woods. Don't use Stainless Anode. The chromium content makes the used solution HAZMAT. Anode and rusty part(s) cannot touch in the bath. Short circuit = no action. Consider using current limiting - like a brake light element. I used this, a bike battery, and a charger/maintainer to keep the battery up. If you DO short, the light lights up bright. Have fun, U chemical maniacs! Oh, Washing Soda = water softener. Arm and Hammer makes it. Don't confuse it with laundry soap.

Have you seen this topic? http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19473 The first post, the owner says that he just replaced his thermister. You need to ask him!

Fuses and/or connections should not be getting hot. If they are, there's a bad connection close by. My 2002 Lemans has a newer 3 phase Ducati RR (only used 2 of the 3 yellow RR input wires) with the output wires being 2 red, and 2 black wires. These are wired directly to my battery using 12 ga. wire. I opted to not use the 30A fuse. And it works well - 14.3 V while driving.

As Roy mentioned, try measuring the AC again with the yellow wires unplugged. The stator should easily be able to go above 16VAC when you rev the engine. Let us know what your "no load" AC voltage is at elevated RPM. Your schematic and RR setup are very similar to the one that I substituted on my 2002 Lemans, exept that I added 12 gauge wires back to the battery. After seeing the lousy factory wiring with the bullet connectors, I figured that a fresh pair of wires to the battery could not hurt at all.... Seems to work like a charm on my bike. Only I used no connectors. And no more 30A fuse. Spliced and wire nuts. The wire nuts do not get warm at all (they should not, anyway !!).

Here's one website with trouble shooting flow chart: http://www.electrosport.com/media/pdf/fault-finding-diagram.pdf

We will need year and model of your Guzzi. Oh, Ballabio? 200x ? There are on-line sites that have trouble shooting instructions for our type of alternators. Basically, the stator coil's output is AC. This runs to the Regulator Rectifier (RR), and then this feeds back to the battery. Before just buying an RR, it's best to verify that the AC is healthy. Since it's a permanent magnet rotor, the stator voltage starts around maybe 20VAC at idle, and should climb proportionally with RPM. If you rev to about 4000 or so, it's not uncommon to see 60 to 80 VAC on these 2 wires. If this seems healthy, and all the fuses are good, the next thing is the RR. I would recommend aftermarket, and nor "guzzi" part for this. On my V11 LeMans, I had only 12.4VDC trying to charge the battery. After swapping in a newer Ducati RR (about $40 USD used), I now have 14.4 VDC. Battery is much happier with this. Note that I used a "3-phase" RR, but the older V11's are single-phase. I just taped back one of the 3 yellow wires on the RR.

Ahhh, I like mine aged at least 15 years....

Others are hose clamp believers. Or just hosers?

Great post, Roy. Pics look OK from here today (for a change!!)

Howdy dudes (and dudettes?): I read a solution to the issue for the fuel light, if you're installing a LED in place of the small indicator bulb. Basically, it's an 82 Ohm, 5W resistor in parallel with the LED: read it here: http://www.ducati.ms/forums/57-supersport/482265-wanted-led-bulb-list-95-900ss-6.html#post5707705

I've tried both ways: Blocking the ports, and linking them with tubing. I don't notice any difference. One difference I did notice almost zero hiccupping at 2900 rpm -- After I did my valve clearances. 0.006" in. and 0.008" exh. I found them slightly on the tight side.

FYI and as others have noted -- During a rear tire change on my 2002 Lemans, I noticed the left bearing was very rough feeling. My bearing puller from Harbor Freight would not budge it. Even with heat on the wheel. So I decided to pull the right side one (2 or 3 smacks of the slide hammer), yanked the inner spacer, and then mashed out the bad bearing from the right side. I forget what I used for a drift, but I do recall using a BFH. She finally came out, and rust was noted on one part of the outer race. Probably sat after washing from PO. Either that or it sat outdoors for extended period on side stand (but the bike looks too nice for that...).

The neat thing about the grease fittings on the shaft: When you position the rear one at 6:00, the front one is at 12:00, so there's no guessing. I finally felt the front one over this weekend. I cannot see it, but you can feel it by entering from the front: Jam ur hand in there, and take one finger and angle it forward. Wow, it IS there! Now I just have to see if my new kit of grease gun fittings -- if the rotatable one will work in there. Stick

So, what kind of amperage do you see from the charging circuit on the V11? I think it was close to 25A, as it initially tries to replenish the battery after cranking. Tapers off pretty fast, as the battery charges. The clamp-on ammeter was key to seeing 200A going into my defective starter. One of the field magnets had fallen (become unglued), and jammed the armature. I love the meter.

If it's priced right, just buy it. The 2003 + have in-tank pump. Solves issues like vapor lock. Might drain tank better also? (Not sure about this, someone else might know.) I'm talking about "leaving" petrol (stranded) on the right side of the tank, where the Reg. passes returned fuel to right side, but outlet port on earlier years is on left side of tank... ... essentially, it's a suction line that leads to the FI pump. I wonder what the cagers think when they see me flailing my bike viciously, right to left. Maybe they think I'm horned up on my Goose? ;-)

My current 2002 Lemans had a "soft" charging issue. If I rode it "all day", she would not restart unless I used booster cables. Once running, the system provided "enough" to keep her running. Similar to your numbers, it seemed that the charging voltage was less than impressive. Only difference is that I tend to place my bikes on charger/maintainers, when they're garaged. So I finally decided to dig into the alternator. Seemed like the AC voltage out of the stator was healthy. Easily see up to 60 or so VAC when revved. Even under a load that I made for it (element from an old hair dryer). Clamp-on ammeter showed OK current at those 60 plus VAC. So I decided to replace the RR. Being a cheap bastid like many of us here, I decided to toss in a "spare" RR that I use to carry on my old ST2 Ducati. Only this was a 3 phase AC unit that I bought second hand (and never tested!). Well, time to test. I spliced it in, tied the 3rd yellow wire back, and "taped off". I also had previously ran 2 pair of speaker wire, #12 AWG from the tail section up to the headlight area "for future use". One of these runs is now the charging leads directly to the battery - no fuse, either. Happy to say that she now charges happily at 14.4 VDC above 2000rpm. Same battery, too. Even though the AGM "went soft" for those longer rides, it did not destroy the battery (as I said, I always topped it up when in the garage). Oh, also note that I did not tie the RR to chassis ground. The pair of black wires that complement the pair of reds, are plenty of earthing, right at the battery. The RR came off ebay for about $40. And this was many years back when I was waiting for the 1998 ST2 system to fail. (Of course, it never did in the 53,000 miles I put on her before selling it !!!) Some stats: The ST2 had a single-phase, 420W stator. The newer DUCs all had a 520W 3phase stator/RR. So I felt that using 4 out of the 6 active devices inside of the 520W RR "might" work on the LeMans. Seems to hold true. I even run a 90W jacket on it, along with 30W of gloves. And she hasn't popped yet. I do tend to turn my jacket off about one mile before getting to the parking lot, to allow it to top-up the battery a bit. Oh, and there's no extra leads for the alternator light. I run an Escort 8500 that has a built-in voltmeter. That's been great across all my bikes. It's on my tank bag. And the tank bag roams from bike to bike. Stick PS: one very handy tool I bought was an AC/DC clamp-on ammeter from Sears. Craftsman brand. $60. I could not find a better priced unit than that one. It works great. 0 - 40 and 0 to 400A ranges on AC or DC. Does a bunch of other stuff that I don't care about (temprature via a t/c bead; frequency, Volts, Ohms, and more).

I have not messed with the incandescents that are in there. I have built a PWM controller for my home-made heated gear, but I have that one running at about 3 Hz, so that you can "see" where the channel is set at a glance. The ones you buy, it seems like you have to look at the controller for about 1 or 2 seconds to figure out the setting. I like mine better, because it keeps my eyes on the road.

Tach needle "jumping": The gound wires for each gauge on my LeMans were very shoddy. I'm surprised my tach and gauge lights worked at all...Had to improvise better grounding while I was in there looking at another Veglia issue!

You might want to verify the routing of your speedo cable. I was surprised to find that I could not "tug" my cable to and fro from either end of the cable. After digging in, I found an "S" type bend and firmly tie-wrapped under the left coil. Now I have said cable routed straight, relaxed, and no more jumping needle! Stick

From what I gather, the OEM oil pressure sender unit is not highly reliable. A basic mechanical gauge can be installed for not much more cost than a new sender. Then you will also know how much pressure you have under various conditions - such as whether the bike is getting oil-starved on hard acceleration or steep inclines. Some people just prefer gauges over warning lights - because gauges give you more warning. @JB - I have an external gauge that you borrow if you just want to test pressure and are not concerned about a full-time reading. --- If your going to waste your time fitting one you may as well have it in a location where you don't have to look at your knees to read it.--- Ciao I believe the OP said that he had an ugly hole for a switch or "something" that the PO hacked in. I think he did an admiral job taking advantage of the ugly hole. The only real concern I have with that location is fairing removal ...

Definitely check the rear running element, as Kiwi_Roy mentioned, to make sure it's working or not. It is on the same ckt. as that front 4w "parking" lamp. But after digging into my gauges for a broken tip of the speedo cable, I was amazed as to how LOUSY the wiring is in there on the gauges. Most notably, the ground wire attached to speedo and tach. Very marginal, I'm surprised that the tach and illumination worked at all. I had to improvise in there to establish better grounds.

The only decent way to dim an LED is by PWM of the voltage. PWM = Pulse Width Modulation. Typically done at higher frequency, so you don't see any pulsing or flicker. Basically, it's like chopping up the incoming 12V into a bunch of ons and offs, but with a specific duty-cycle. And the weird issue with the fuel light is that the bike uses an NTC. Basically it's a resistor, but when it's wet with petrol, it sheds it's heat into the petrol. When petrol drops, NTC "gets hot", and it's resistance goes down. This is why you see the lamp glow, then turn brighter. NTC is opposite what normal resistors do. (Inverse heat/resistance curve.) Anyway, the NTC NEEDS some current flow to get hot, and the bulb allows the proper flow, whereas, an LED cannot produce enough current flow to make the NTC behave as designed.