Mech

You didn't answer the question though Lester.. Does it keep the headlights going for longer than a minute.. Just the headlights.. That's all I'm asking.. And Lester, if you had a read up on "voltage drop test", you'd trace and find this problem in about two minutes. Testing the charging would narrow the point of the problem right down as well.. I'm trying to help here Lester, but I need some cooperation and answers to the questions I raise..

Lester.. I said turn the lights on and see how long they went for.. see if they go longer than it goes for with the engine running.

If the smoke's coming out the exhaust it might settle down after a run or two, or it may need rings and/or valve guide seals. You should check the oil isn't overfull, and that the breathers are clear and working. If the smoke's rising off the outside of the engine it may have an oil leak, or just need a clean.

Ok. So plug the regulator back in and turn the headlight on and see if they keep going longer than a minute. If they go longer than the engine runs for(about a minute) then turn them off and start the engine and check the charging is working and regulating. I'm trying to deduce where a bad connection would be here, but really a better way is to use a "voltage drop test"... If you google it it will I'm sure explain how to apply the test in different situations.. and save me a lot of typing.. haha

Yup. If you are in the country then find a good tree and gets some big blocks of wood. Chain the bike to the tree carefully, on blocks so it's real solid if you are going to twist it, then use something to bend the whole frame or just the tube you want bent., a big lever/beam of wood, chain-block, fence strainer even would probably move it. The slow pull of a chainblock or fence strainer is best. Use lengths of timber as straight edges and to measure from to check things.. Once you'd figured how you are going to chain and block it and apply the force where you want it, then it's only a couple of hours work. You might need to put a short length of plank inside the frame somewhere to pull on or for the chain, so the pressure is spread out. Wherever you apply pressure it needs to be spread over at least the length of the pipe/tube you are bending, but in this case with a twist or bend that's not obvious try to apply pressure so it's pressing on the frame top and bottom, or perhaps left and right, rather than pulling on one point. It will move easily with a small chain-block. I'd take the wheels off on a flat floor and make measurements off the floor and straight-edges to work out what direction and where the bend needed to be, then i'd figure out how I was going to chain and bend it, then put the wheels on and drive it to the tree. I'd spend a couple of days figuring how and what I was going to do till I had it all clear in my mind, and was confident it would bend as I needed. At the tree and as it gets bent you'll have to use straight-edges and looking across tubes that are supposed to be parallel, checking that when viewed so they appear with a small gap between them, they do look parallel.

Have you adjusted the idle mixture Joe ? Are you sure the choke's going right off ? Valves don't cause smoke. I'd recommend leaving those alone at the moment. They are very particular about their clearances and you need to allow for the wear when you are setting them. If you get it wrong it will be adding a complication to checking and adjusting the carb. The smoke might clear after the bikes had a run and been warm for a while. Those bikes originally have two vacuum lines, one to the fuel pump and one to the automatic vacuum operated fuel tap if it's still fitted. I think that carb will have the vacuum port for the fuel tap on the front(near the engine) right, and the bigger vacuum hose for the pump comes off on the left and about in line with the slide I think from memory, or perhaps a little forward of that. The bowl breather will be right rear and the fuel inlet left rear.

Hmm.. So I hate a mystery and so I did some more searches and the only place that had it in a syringe (Hisco.com), described it as 518 flange sealant, but the blurb didn't mention it being high temp or anything much at all, and it's label was different. If you google loctite master gasket, with or without 518, and, add nz to the search, you will see the syringes we've always got over here.. Some only stand temps of about 118 C or so but the stuff I get does about 150 C.

Hmm.. When I do a google of "loctite master gasket", it comes up straight away with pictures of the syringe, and the squeezy, but I notice they are all kiwi sites. So I checked the legendary Walmart, Loctite.com, and one other company, and they all only had the squeezy, and a gun cartridge, and big and small amounts in all sorts of containers and dispensers, but no actual syringe. Another really great feature of Loctite Master Gasket though is... it never hardens in the tube. I've had old part tubes for literally years, that I use to lock nuts these days because it's thickened some, but it would still be just fine for an engine. So buying a big pot is perhaps cheaper...

If you buy the syringe, the actual plastic syringe not the squeeze tube they describe as a syringe, then the number's in smallish print just above the Master Gasket on the label.

I'm wondering if there's an O ring in there somewhere that's leaking. Some have an O ring hidden away under the slide guide thingy.. Part #23 in this case !!! https://www.babbittsonline.com/oemparts/a/yam/50038938f870021f60a09fe3/carburetor

Well pull the idle mixture screw out and check the needle on the end. It should close the idle mixture right off when you wind it right in.

Well carbs with floats are meant to be kept fairly vertical. And depending which way you tilt it, the float may get jammed tighter shut, or drop away from the float needle and let fuel in. The drain hole at the bottom of the bowl serves as a drain when the screw is undone and an overflow if the fuel gets too high. You really need to know the carb is clean and the float height is right as a step in a process of elimination.It's easier to strip , inspect, clean and assemble a carb with new rubber parts if needed, than it is, generally, to be certain some electronic unit isn't giving some intermittent problem/symptom. You need to know the carb is right, then you can move on to other things. That's how mechanics do it if the diagnosis isn't proving conclusive.. We eliminate possibilities, but we have to be absolutely certain that the possibility has been ruled out or cured. Sometimes there can be two factors contributing to a problem, and then it becomes even more crucial that we know for certain that we have eliminated them one at a time. When you strip and clean a carb you should always take out every brass bit possible, including the emulsion tube, you should blow gently through every drilling in the direction the fuel or air normally flows in to ascertain where the drilling comes out, then blow hard through the opposite direction to dislodge any bits of dirt stuck in a restriction. The idle discharge holes by the butterfly need to be blown backwards especially. They are tiny holes there that get blocked easily if you blow the wrong way. The emulsion tube also has tiny holes up it's side, the need careful cleaning. To clean jets get a slither of some hard wood and whittle it down to a fine three sided point that you can use to ream the jets with. That will clean out any crud without taking any metal off. Don't break the wood off in the holes, but if you do, burn the wood out, don't try forcing anything harder through.

If it's the 518 it will be the stuff Gw. They sell other "master gasket", products with different numbers, and there are other brands as well but the others aren't always as heatproof.

Yeah it's ok to start it without the regulator. Try that. It was starting in post #36 right ? So charge the battery, unplug the regulator, start it and see if it keeps going. I'll have other suggestions.. Once we see what happens with the regulator disconnected.

Score !

A faulty cdi charging winding which read 000 (is that an open circuit or a zero resistance circuit), would probably prevent the bike starting at all.. So that reading might be wrong, or you may just have disturbed a bad connection. You should recheck that test. And did you test across wires 2-3 for continuity on the battery charge windings ? Your gauge should have read something at the 2K ohm setting, if it read 6 ohm at the 200ohm setting. You need to check your gauge or gauge battery, and redo the test checking across all three phases. If the spark plug fires and it can be started, start it and check the battery voltage. Check if it charges, and that it regulates. You could also, and this might be a good idea to try first, unplug the regulator in case that is causing the problem.. If it runs then, check the polarity of the battery.

Ha.. You're the first fellah that's heard of the company.. They sell it in different packaging but i always get the syringe, it's about thirty or fifty mills, but goes a long way. It's said to fill gaps up to 0.013'. I'd believe it.

Good one.

Is the air filter clean ? The end of the mixture adjusting screw may be damaged or wrong for the carb. The float level does have some effect on the idle mixture but the mixture screw should be able to overcome that effect. I'd check the mixture screw first. Most carbs these days it's pretty hard to muddle jets when you have them out. Jets do occasionally fall out though if people haven't tightened them enough. Before pulling the carb off I'd make sure the throttle butterfly was closed off almost completely by backing out the speed screw, then I'd try adjusting the mixture again. I'm sure you will have read my going on about how important it is to have the butterfly closed off when we adjust mixture. If you haven't, do a search.. I've written screeds about getting the mixture settings right in here. If the mixture really won't adjust properly after you've checked the tip of the mixture screw, and tried adjusting it with the butterfly closed way off, then I'd suggest pulling the carb off and checking the fuel and air jets are the right sizes and in the right places, I'd check the float level adjustment, and that the float needle was in fact cutting off the fuel by blowing into the fuel hose fitting while tilting the carb.

Look at the steering linkages in manuals or online parts, for a slightly older model where the PS was an option, and see if they change the steering when they fit the PS. I'd suspect they just use the same leverage between the bars and the wheels for both PS and non-PS. Surely the steering in the non-PS models can't be so bad ?

I meant, if the bike didn't have power steering(as a lot of them are), how heavy is the steering. Perhaps a faulty PS causes heavy steering.. hevvier than it would have if it didn't have the unit bolted on... Perhaps just biffing it is a viable option.. Might have to get a dealer to re-program it as a non-PS model so no trouble codes come up.

The service manual may say whether the electronics have reverse or overload protection, or it may say to be careful not to reverse the battery because things will blow. The ECU and the PS and possibly the dash all need all of their power supplies, and all of their earths. The ECU has separate earths for different parts of it's workings, all the earths have to be earth. If those are all good then it should have recorded a trouble code if the CAN wires were broken. The CAN wires can be tested for continuity. Each unit on the CAN has a 60 ohm resistor(from memory) in it's communication lines. If you google CAN testing it will no doubt describe how to check those wires. If you take the PS off, is the steering heavy then ?

be careful.. haha. I'd check everything till I was totally confident and could justify taking it out of the bike, then I'd dismantle it.. I wouldn't do it in place, because it's more likely something will get damaged, and because until I was certain it had to come out I'd be trying to fix whatever else is wrong. In this particular case, it's highly likely that the reversed battery has done the damage, and the damage won't be to the motor, it will be to the electronics.

In the manual it said something about not putting gauges on the motor, I think because there were capacitors in there, which probably means there are other electronics in there, to forward and reverse it..

Put a volt gauge on the battery and check it's charging, and regulating.