Kelum

Just to update you guys, this set up doesnt even heat up the battery. And this rectifier doesnt heat up like the original virago one. I have been using it for months now...no problem at all..

No way! Its been 6 months since I fitted this onto my bike. No drop of acid level or farting smell ( ) .... earlier with original virago rec/reg I had these two issues in my other bike. Now all gone with this solution. Even the early user of this bike had used the same rectifier type. The shop guy too confirmed today that the motor electricians often buy 3-wheeler rec/reg to be fitted into bikes from them.

Just bought another rec/reg for my other xv125. To be fitted tomorrow

This rectifier doesnt heat up amazingly by the way. And voltage regulation is superb n steady. And this is a 3-Wheeler. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Hi Guys, I found original virago rec/reg units are pricey. New ones are hard to find. And they dont seem to last long operating properly. I have around four rectifiers with me now, charged for overcharging battery. Basically the rec/reg is a bridge rectifier that rectifies AC current from stator and sends the DC voltage to battery. Once the battery reached a maximum voltage (in viragoes around 14V) the built-in regulator circuit earths the excess voltage through the chasis. I dont know why the hell virago 125 rectifier has placed where there's no enough air flow to cool it down, just a heatsink with fins that do not seem to dissipate heat adequately. The side cover doesnt allow adequate air to run through heatsink fins. Every time I checked after running the rectifer was blazing hot and the epoxy was kinda cracked or melted. It never lasted long. I have seen in Hondas they last for a life time and mostly located where they get enough ventilation to cool down, and they even get wet in the rain and wheels get them water splashes. Got an Indian 3 Wheeler rec/reg unit ,12V - RR UNIT BAJAJ3W4S(K-MODEL) The unit cost around 5-8 USD, cheap eh? Fitted it on my new Virago 125 and been running it for months now with no problem of overcharging or electricity issues. Let me show you how I hooked it up. Not sure if you guys can find Indian vehicles in UK or US, but u may get the idea that we necessarily do not want the exact part, we can go for similarly operating units. This is how I connected wires. Study the wires that were available in the unit. Black/white and Green/white wires were left/not connected. The three yellow wires were connected to the three white wires coming from stator. You can leave one yellow wire unconnected, thus one stator wire remains free, if you think the battery getting a higher voltage. There is no order with this, simply connect anyway u want. Now u have two wires left, black and red. Black is the negative lead out and red is the positive lead out. U know where these should go, red to the positive battery terminal. Black to the negative/earth or simply the chasis. You can take this black wire and wire connecting to the virago rec/reg housing together and hook them to the rectifier housing/heatsink with the bolt. Started, the voltage rising with the reving and stabilizes around 15V exactly and stays there. Original virago rectifier does not stick to a stable voltage like this. This setup keeps the battery very powerful...

I think you should do the below.... Find the service manual and read it and come to know which is which... Check oil level of the engine, u can also check the condition of oil and put new oil if bad Check battery, its acid level, possible short circuits, and screws at each pole, wash away and clean any deposits Check wire harness, check sockets, check fuses - yes both Clean all the switches, remove any dirt residing on contact faces of switches Check the condition of air filter..if bad put a new. Oil the cables, make sure they are not worn away or prone to break ................... Check the petrol and vacuum hoses, specially vacuum hoses should not have blocking bends or fractures. If there are foldings the petrol wouldnt flow to the engine in ON position of tap. U can bypass this turning on PRI where ur engine will constantly receive fuel (not a good idea though)...carefully check the T-shaped hose starting from manifold and running to petcock and fuel pump..they should be tight and sealed, if worn replace. Check the manifold, the rubber /aluminum tubing that feeds each engine head....see if there are cracks, u can replace it or use some glue to seal cracks. Hint : if you have cracks in either vacuum hoses or manifold, following symptoms will come up. 01. When u start the bike, engine will try to be accelerated or high revs than normal...this will happen when u shifting gears too. 02. Engine will run normal untill all of the sudden it will go dead. Its petrol starvation. This will auto-solve in nearly 10mins (or will never) and she will start again. Sometimes removing and re-installing hose from manifold to petcock will solve this. The petcock and fuel pump both working thanks to vacuum. SO hoses and manifold pls. You can remove the petrol line going to carb from fuel pump and hold the button outward the engine and crank the engine using motor. The line from fuel pump should pump petrol. If this isnt happening, then your vacuum is bad, replace hoses and seal it tight. If hoses ok check manifold. Both these are ok u still having issue, then pump shold have damaged. Make sure you wouldnt let there be a petrol starvation. Check condition of plugs, wires from ignition coils etc. You can get a good picture of each bore looking at plugs. ............................... Carb U can overhaul the carb and clean it. All the jets should be cleaned. There is a small filter inside petrol feeder line of carb from inside. clean it well and reinstall the carb. Make sure carb breather pipe isnt blocked. Check engine breather pipe too. Engine. Check oil level,check tappets,check timing, Fix oil leaks. See if engine is warming up unnecessarily.If this is the case, the engine oil pump's plastic wheel is probably worn out. replace it with a new. This is very crucial case as you will have to rebuilt the engine totally due to wearing away of piston rings, bearings etc. under no oil circulation. This happened to two of my bikes xv125. Oil filters There is a filter under the belly of the engine with a big bolt. Not the side one at the bottom. Remove it and clean. At the right where u have YAMAHA on engine, open three allen-bolted cover and see oil filter condition. Put a new if bad..

Am wondering what to do....it runs fine at ON position now, but on and off the prob seems to be coming. I think I should order a petcock from ebay, or I should use a vacuum operated tap from some other bike .,..

Are there alternative vacuum petcocks I could use instead? Am pretty sure any with the same settings would work...the exact one not available for buying here.And I saw somwhere else that u should not leave petcock setting in PRI as it could fill bores with petrol and then petrol can get to the oil sump. They say the ON position makes sure that you dont forget to off gas flow when bike not driven as it automatically shuts supply when engine isnt running.

Actually i did strip it. Didnt see any debris inside, its not that complex inside, the rubber washer that seals the petrol line was ok. Holes were not blocked, no oxide even...the spring was rusty but it was working fine..the washer under the ON-PRI-RES tap was ok...screws seal the petcock perfectly...what the hell is wrong with it I wonder...

I fitted a long hose to the vacuum line of the fuel pump and blew air in and out, petrol pumps out easily through carb line...so pump is ok...am suspecting petcock, or whtelse should I look for...

I sealed all the vacuum hoses with gum and new tubes. And rode it, earlier bike didnt run in ON position of petcock, now it does, but after 4 km run it sputtered and stopped, then I put petcock to PRI position it started fine. Later put back to ON position and bike was running up to now. Another thing, when I remove the petrol line to carb from fuel pump when petcock is in ON position, petrol fairly rapidly drips. This cant be right? I mean at ON position there cant be a petrol flow to carb when engine not running as no vacuum is created by piston. ???? So am guessing my petcock is not sealing the free flow of gas? Petcock is faulty? I think bike running fine at PRI as it is not affected by vacuum valve in petcock...I feel like petcock is faulty...what do you think....

Thanks buddy...ur awesome!

Hi fellas, As I mentioned here I bought a new virago for 350USD a month ago and its front piston rod was seized as the oil pump wheel had been worn. I got the engine fixed and it cost me around 100USD for replacing rods, piston rings and for the mechanic. The bike came back to life and wonderful acceleration and pickup. It ran fine for few days. Now it runs fine but sometimes tend to slow down and stop as if it doesnt get fuel. You feel it when u ride as it stalls, slowers and revs when u squeeze the clutch..and finally stops. Plugs are fine, both are white, no carbon soot at all. Once stopped it sometimes tries to start when cranking with starter, but doesnt hold on. sometimes no firing at all. But after around 5-10 mins, when you crank with the starter, hey suddenly she starts as if nothing happened. My mech tried starting her in petcock's ON and RES positions, but it worked only at PRI. So we left it that way...I read somewhere not to use PRI too long, is this harmful? Today when bike stopped on the way, some guy came up and removed the front top hose of the petcock, which comes from the inlet manifold for vacuum, it is so lose that it comes off so easily. He removed it thinking its the petrol line. Knowing its not he fit it back. Then I pressed start button and she started. So I figured out I need to fit the vacuum tube tightly on manifold, petcock and fuel pump. I would use some claps or tight fitting new hoses for this. And there is no carb air inlet? hose that goes to air cleaner fitted, I read here someone had said it should be connected to give necessary pressure...I would address that too. May be ON, RES settings do not supply fuel to carb because vacuum is weak as the hose is loose. But when petcock at PRI petrol is fed directly, does pump still pumps fuel at PRI position? Then could this be a faulty pump issue? Since its getting a hose from inlet manifold, does it also operate through vacuum? So could there be a vacuum issue? The same problem came with my other bike still under repair. Please help me guys..

I have sometimes seen water accumulation in the petcock and sometimes in carb compartment. Did u check those? Water probably came from the tank...

I cleaned all the switches, cables and I wanna check if tank having some corrosion inside. Yes Sri Lanka is hot!

How can you make lemon sweet?

I put forward some of my own experience and what I have seen here and among xv125 and Yamaha riders here in SL. The common concept among mechanics and riders here in Sri Lanka is that Yamaha needs constant maintenance and attention while Hondas do not. Here people accept Honda than Yamaha. Hondas are highly valued and I too personally know that my early Honda Benly 125cc had very minor issues during its stay with me and my brother for more than 6 years being a reconditioned bike, even though it had been bored. But with my two xv125s...every month there is some electrical problem. It can be the starter, it can be a switch..battery or rectifier...it stops on the way, may be battery is dead..new rectifiers do not last...battery over charges...I have tried many new rectifiers by now...not reliable for my day to day use... whats ur experience on the subject guys?

Did u fill the bore with petrol? if u did u need to manually rotate the crank and remove the fill. Wrong configurations of the hoses likely to cause this.

Lucky me in my xv125 the manifold is totally metalic. There is some plastic covering over it. But in my other xv125 the manifold is heat resistant rubbery plus plastic thing it does seem to be cracky. cracks dont lead to inside forming vacuum leaks anyway. Of course the leaks will create vacuum issues so the petcock and fuel pump wont operate as they should. Plus the air/gas mixture distributed by carb to each head would leak out. There will be miss fires and the bike wouldnt pick up well. Try to put some gum all over the manifold, a gum that is both heat resistant and wouldnt melt the manifold. If I were u I would go for considering a metal manifold which would last a life time, u can easily modify a metal tube ( well this needs lathe machines etc, some guy dealing with a metal workshop u know), make it exactly fit the carb and heads. This way it will be more reliable. I would be trying manifolds from other makes of bikes, should be able to get them modified.

I found the brushes of the starter motor were worn out, bought new and they were not fitting to brush bay so had to trim out for perfect fitting. A magnet was loose put some super glue and it was fixed. then I accidentally had changed the polarity of the magnets and the motor was cranking the engine reversely , snapped to other way and motor was ok. Old bike however having some petrol starvation issue. so planing to totally overhaul the engine next week. ........................................ The new bike too had petrol starvation-like issue, we fixed it. Now she's in perfect condition. I still expect someone's direct petroling technique. I think the petcock and the pump ruining my time with bad operation. Thanks people!

Yes Paul when flywheel was so hard to remove we had to heat it up to remove. I think the machine may be using the same technique. Will try to get a pic of it. I think it will be worth it for you to send me the old crank when you want a piston rod install, that amount of money will cover the postage and any other duty and still you will have a balance for some ice cream. The last time I checked the petcock, the rubber washer/valve had some broken areas where it had touch the metal projections on petcock housing. It does collect water and the spring and aluminum body tends to corrode. Fuel pump too can be faulty. So if the direct line to carb fixes issues I know where the problem is. Part replacements are not that easy here, they are unique to the particular model and importers do not seem to maintain stocks of them. For such they always ask to find a place where people rip down old bikes, which is not likely to find anyway. Thats why am considering a setup without both. I thought it is easier to find anything for the virago in UK...piston rings not available...its one of the most necessary for a biker..whats wrong with them, and when available so much pricey? The rings, both 5-piece sets has cost me 1300 SL rupees, which is around 11 USD. They are genuine Yamaha. Next time u want them jst tell me I can post you any amount Yes I get your point on placing bearings on rod-crank contacts, you shouldve told tht earlier buddy now that the mech has fitted the engine almost. He will eat me if I say something like that. Only rear head to go today. But placing a bearing would cause more issues as the rod must hv a larger hole right... the rod and piston ring thing regarding the new bike I bought. Its being resurrecting and hopefully today or tomorrow we can mount the engine n crank. .................................................... My earlier one having oily plugs and missfire, pug pug sound in front cylinder. So we knw its requesting new rings. That we will be addressing next. Old bike likely having petrol line probs too thats why I proposed direct feeding of carb to figure it out. And there is a problem with starting. Motor is so sluggish. It drains battery power a lot and battery goes dead in seconds. so we gonna disassemble motor today. may be the solenoid. may be the motor. It should probably be having a high friction inside, but checking wire, solenoid and then the motor. (I installed a new battery yesterday, so its not a bad battery). Starting is difficult as engine is not turned strongly. Pushing instantly starts.

Hey Paul, abt the piston rings...seems the engine had been bored in singapore (most of the viragos here seems to have imported from Singapore). The piston ring number was 25. I could buy the same genuine yamaha set from a local japanese part dealer for around 10.3 USD. Wait - the new rod install has cost 48.5 USD roughly If you want I can send u pics of the machine they use to install rods on the crank..

Hey Paul..thanks for the reply mate. I will check the way you say with carb. Yes I know filters are there in petcock n fuel pump. Am telling here since they seem to be making probs over the time, as the illustration shows, we can have filters in a totally separate and new setup of gas lines as shown in the figure. We need to place simpler taps and filters as shown. So that's my idea here buddy. I will see how ur suggestions would help when I put my idea into work. The other thing is, mechs here are good at reusing. U take ur bike or any other vehicle to a mech here, he will try his best to do that at the minimum cost and superb quality. Like I said earlier you can get a sprocket chain repaired so reliably. The same way, when the piston rod was stuck so u cannot rotate the crank shaft there is a machine ( I couldnt see it) they use to remove both rods and put in the new. Its not a new thing it has been around for ages now. I have attached here the pics of old rods removed and the new ones installed. New rods were just 70 USD both and the cost for fitting was 7.5USD. So since Yamaha shipping genuine piston rods, I dont see why u have to put a new crankshaft with rods at a higher cost. There was a free-play in one rod while the other was stuck u couldnt even move. It took seconds for the guy to remove them and put the new in, just like new. In the clutch housing also we made a repair. By kelumpj at 2012-07-31 By kelumpj at 2012-07-31 By kelumpj at 2012-07-31 By kelumpj at 2012-07-31 By kelumpj at 2012-07-31 By kelumpj at 2012-07-31 See the installed new ones and removed old ones on the floor.

What are the pros and cons of fuel pump and petcock (well petcock is advantageous of course, but the rubber washer like thing inside gets broken over the time, so its not reliable) over direct feeding through filters. This is the means most of the Honda and Indian bikes have in common, and it assures trouble-free riding. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

As I mentioned earlier my bike had a bad lubrication as the oil pump wheel was worn out. It stopped and didnt start for sometime. I fitted a new wheel and flushed the engine. Now bike running but the front cylinder plug gets some oil splash and it misfires. Eventually plug stops sparking Once a new plug is fitted it fires well until it begins to misfire...once oil hits spark gap u need to wipe it away with carbon soot and put it back in. Mech says the rings seems to have abraded during the oil pump issue. So of course we will have to replace the worn with new. Am hoping to disassemble the whole engine, clean and if necessary, install new bearings and piston rods of the crank shaft. However, there seems to have some carb issue too. at PRI position of the petcock the engine should receive gas even when the engine not running. But at PRI position when I loosen the float screw on carb, the bowl gas comes out and once it ran out, the drip stops. There is a problem I guess. This starting issue and sudden stop while running all seems to be a problem associated with this and plug oiled case. So am wondering if I could place two separate valves across two gas lines from gas tank and direct them directly to the carb's supply line..has anyone ever done this? This way I will be able to check either petcock or gas pump faulty? I have noticed many Indian bikes here have no gas pumps and too many hoses, they have a simple design and are easier to diagnose. They rock on the road. Please advise! Thanx! P.S. I recently bought a red xv125 whose worn plastic wheel of oil pump had screwed up piston rods. I bought it for 350 USD roughly. It cost me around 90 USD to repair rods and rings. Still its being refitted.