Hitchcocks Forum

Hi all,

First time posting here, and I'm sorry to have to start with a problem.. I'm also completely new to Enfields (and serious motorcycles in general, most complex ride I've had was a Vespa), so I'm fairly confused right now.

I just got a '04 Bullet 500 sixty-5, which worked beautifully for 5 days, until today. This morning I started it with the electric start as usual, and the engine immediately went full-throttle-mode. Kill switch didn't kill the engine, turning the ignition off only lowered the RPM slightly, but the engine kept on running. I had to stop it by slamming the brakes and releasing the clutch slowly into 1st gear, thus stalling it. I had to get to work, so I left the bike and returned later.

This evening I checked it again, and the exact same thing happened, I killed the engine by turning the fuel supply off. I also noticed the weirdest (for me) thing, the throttle twist grip is now stuck in "reverse": its resting position is now in what you would say full-throttle, ie all the way turned open. So that might explain the engine going in very high RPM. However, turning the twist grip down seems to increase the engine revs, instead of lowering them. Also, if I "close" the throttle a bit and release the grip, it snaps back to the full throttle resting position. Finally, when I at first gripped the throttle grip this evening, something felt a bit "wrong", like a cable was stuck somewhere. As soon as I opened it a tiny bit, it snapped to what I describe above and it's been like this ever since.

Being new to all this, I can honestly say I have no idea what's going on with my bike right now.. That's why I turn to you guys. Any input would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Kostas

Kostas,I think your throttle rotor (that is, the bit you actually turn,) has gone over centre, meaning that the cable is stuck in the fully open position. You will need to dismantle the handlebar end and find out why, it probably means something is broken as usually there is a stop to prevent this from happening.
REgards, Mark

never thought about ripping the plug wire off

Hi Mark,

thanks for taking the time to reply. I'll take the handlebar apart tomorrow, and see what happens.

(also, apologies for the wall of text previously, the system seems to remove all the line breaks in my text, meaning I can't break the text into paragraphs)

If the kill switch doesn't work, which means the ignition switch has been bypassed, plus the throttle behaving oddly, I can only suspect a catastrophic failure of the twist grip body casting causing a short because of damage to the kill switch.

slacken the 2 screws on the twistgrip till almost falling out (last couple of threads) then twist the grip back to normal position , and tighten back up evenly

Snapping back to fully open, kill switch not working, ignition switch not stopping engine, sounds like someone is having a laugh.

Hi Kostas, if your carb is an Amal, read on, if it is anything else don’t bother. I recently had the Amal off my 500 Electra X to see how easy it would be to re-fit the original Mikuni. Ended up re-mounting the Amal, pressed the starter, burst into life….. full revs!!!!!! Throttle twist grip rotation felt odd, removed air filter to see throttle slide fully raised and no amount of playing with the twist grip would shift it. Slackened off the nuts holding the carb flange and the throttle slide snapped back to where it should be. Seems there is some truth in the rumour that over tightening the Amal flange nuts can cause enough distortion in the body to cause the slide to stick.

Hi all,

problem solved, thank you all for your suggestions, turns out it was a simple fix. The throttle rests at the closed position via plastic stops, which in my case are a bit worn out. So I must have pushed it a bit over, which sent it the other way, meaning that the resting position was on full. And in that case, turning the grip clockwise (closing the throttle) pulled the throttle cable even further.

Here's a vid of the opened grip compartment: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5EVSp ... sp=sharing


Fun times... However, this still leaves the problems of ignition and kill switch not stopping the engine, I checked again and the kill switch is indeed for decorative purposes only. But that's for another time.

Anyway, thank you all.

If it worked fine for the first five days then... how were you stopping the engine?



I guess that you used either the key, or the killswitch. which ever one it was, it must have worked ok then, but went faulty at the same time as the throttle grip, possibly not related and a pure coincidence.



Pulling the spark plug lead does the job, but it also overloads the coil and its not recommended, except in an emergency, like when your engine ran away!



Did you get the manual, if not, you will probably need the correct wiring diagram for your bike.




Be a little aware, the first time you have the headlamp out. First thing that can spell misery, is little bits of electrical tape wrapped around some of the wires, indicating a home bodge job. The other thing to be aware of, the wires are connected by either bullet or spade connectors. Have a good look as you slowly pull the lamp shell out for the first time, and try to see what is connected to what. All to often, guys just pul the headlamp shell out, and then find some of these connectors have sprung apart, and you then have to find out where they connected to. A good pair of pliers, can give a little squeeze to loose connectors, to tighten them before pushing together again. Be careful not to squeeze too hard!