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Still tweaking on my Diesel KLR and getting some things sorted out.
It had been getting hard to start lately and I figured the contacts on the bendix were pitted and not carrying current very well.
Well, sure enouigh the contacts were pitted, so I dissasembled it to fix it and lo and behold the starter relay was missing on the bike. Seems this thing has been starting by using the little bitty push buttion on the handle bar as it's only source of juice! All that current through those little contacts, I'm surprised they didn't burn up before the Bendiz did! So, I replaced the Bendix and, BTY, the DEK Chinese CLone engine uses the same Bendix parts as the Yanmar Diesel it copies! Good news there! (I've got a good Alternator Starter rebuild shop here locally!)
Then I wired in a 30 amp solinoid into the starting circuit and it starts MUCH better! But this brings up another shortfall of the Chinese Clone Engines! They don't have enough charger built into them to run a 55 watt headlight even with an LED Tail and turn signals. So, I"m going to be putting in a tiny 40 amp alternator off a lawn mower behind the cylinder to run off a pulley behind the drive pulley to keep the battery charged up. Unless I find a Yanmar Charging set up cheap! The little alternator I've got on it's way was only $99 new!
So, I'll keep you guys updated as progress gets made!
Eventually, I hope to get this thing where I can count on it to get me into town reliably, in the dark if need be, and still get 130 mpg from it!
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