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98 ZL500 Very intermittant electrical problem .

5K views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  COOKSTER 
#1 ·
First off, sorry for the long post.
My 98 ZL500 has a strange (electrical?) problem that is too intermittant for me to diagnose so I thought I would post here and see if others have had similar problems.
Here's what I can tell you...
Motor is rebuilt, top and bottom and only has about 150 miles on it.
Compression seems very good but I didnt measure it.
Spark plug color is the desired light brown.
TORS disconnected.
Carbs just cleaned.
Here's what the sled is doing...
Cruising across the lake at a constant 50 mph and all is well till I let off the throttle slightly then I can feel it stumble a little bit. I give it more throttle and it accelerates normally and the stumbling goes away.
At this point Im getting nervous since I'm in the middle of the lake and 5 miles from home so I turn around and head for shore. When I get to shore I back off the throttle and bring the sled to a crawl then it backfired and the motor died. I was able to restart with no problem at all (1 pull) and I rode it the rest of the way home without incident. In my driveway I did a few checks under the hood but found nothing obvious and the sled is once again running well. I decide to shut the motor off with the key and when I turned the key off the motor didnt completely die, it started to die then somehow found spark, ran for about a second then died for good. I wonder if this is an important clue to the problem?
Any Ideas?
I hate a sled I cant trust so I have to figure this out ASAP.
 
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Discussion starter · #3 ·
Wow, that's quite a detailed reply and it gives me lots to check, thanks!
Im going on a ride with the family right now, (3 sleds means I wont be walking home if it dies) Im taking a new set of plugs and if it acts up that will be the first thing i swap out. If that doesnt help, Ill unplug the 4 pin connector if that doesnt help Ill pull it home and start a more thorough diagnosis including the ohm test ion the stator... I may need a little bit of guidance on that.
Ill have an update in a few hours.

Thanks.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Just back from a 2.5 hr trail ride and it didnt miss a beat... Go figure.
Thanks for all the info Blaine.
 
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