I would redo the air cleaner inspection - do both bikes at the same time and stare and compare.

Let us know what you find!!

Good luck,
Nu

 

I'd suspect wiring movement, maybe battery connection.

 

I'd suspect wiring movement, maybe battery connection.

That reminds me of a detail I forgot in the original post. I didn't pull her battery out, because when I went to unscrew the leads, one of the terminals started to rotate. I thought it would be wiser to just order a replacement battery (which is still on my to-do list) and leave that one in place than to remove it for inspection, and in the process, damage the terminal further and render the battery (and the bike) useless.

Still, the starter grinds aggressively. Well, it did, until after this morning. Which suggests to me that the battery, though known to be damaged, isn't the culprit.

 

Try this, make sure the battery is charged up, and pop in a new set of plugs. Sometimes plugs get a bit flooded during extended cranking and fail, especially NGK brand.

 

Try this, make sure the battery is charged up, and pop in a new set of plugs. Sometimes plugs get a bit flooded during extended cranking and fail, especially NGK brand.

That means taking the tank off, right?

 

Ok, I pulled off the left side plate, wriggled everything aggressively, and stuck the key in. She turned right over! Go figure. My boo came out and glared at me for a minute, then stalked back in the house.

I went ahead and pulled the battery to put it on the charger. Both terminals are bent, which worries me a little, but only 1 cell was low on fluid. I'm currently on hold as Sears trying to find out if I can order a new one.

Last time I did this thru Sears, it took over 6 weeks to get them in, and they came with no electrolyte. Still, they're $30 cheaper each than going thru the dealership (which is also out of stock).

 

do you have to pull the tank to swap plugs on a 500?

Can't you buy a battery at Walmart or most auto stores? That's where I get mine for the 650.

 

Can't you buy a battery at Walmart or most auto stores? That's where I get mine for the 650.

The battery on the 500 is, apparently, unique. I've called the local Kawasaki dealer, a couple of bike shops, NAPA, Sears, and Wally WOrld. No one stocks it, and it is always a special order. Some of the places can't even give me a price until they've called their distributor.

I found a place online called Batterystuff.com. They list a sealed AGM-type battery from Scorpion for it for a mere $59! I've ordered 2. They claim that shipping is free, but that nearly never applies to Hawaii. Still, Kawasaki quoted me $99.99, so as long as shipping is under $40.99 each, I'm ahead.

 

do you have to pull the tank to swap plugs on a 500? .

As far as I can tell, yes. The plugs seem to sit atop the cylinders, and the tank wraps around the sides. The owner's manual talks about maintaining the plugs, setting the gap in the plugs, cleaning the plugs, and gives a schedule for replacing the plugs, but is completely silent on the practical matter of removal and insertion.

I've never pulled the tank off of anything bigger than an XR-75. I imagine that it's conceptually easy. Pull the instrument cluster, disconnect cables, turn fuel valve to "Prime" (there is no OFF position, just ON, PRIME, and RES), disconnect the fuel line, remove the seat, the slide the tank south and lift. Sounds like an awful lot of work for a spark plug!

 

Pulling the tank only takes a couple minutes, but you do not have to pull the tank to get the plugs out. You do need to loosen the tank and slide to get a little more room. You really need to get a Clymer Manual, it is very helpful.

 

If your battery is a bear to get to, while you are at it, add a Battery Tender pigtail to it when you get the new battery. Even if you cannot afford the Battery Tender right now. You can purchase the pigtail separately at your local motorcycle shop. (Or at least you can here, in SoCal).
Glad to hear you have the problem solved!!!

 

You really need to get a Clymer Manual, it is very helpful.

This, actually, is a source of aggravation to me as well. I've searched high and low. I've Googled, Amazoned, Yahooed, visited giant book warehouses and had helpful sales associates look at their computerized systems.

As far as I can find, no one makes a manual for the Vulcan 500. A guy at Barnes & Noble found a book which included it, and was out of print.

Clymer doesn't list one. Haynes kinda does, but it covers engines and models as small as the EX250.

It really strikes me as odd that this bike, rated by several magazines as "the best choice of a starter bike," which has been a strong seller for over a decade, is such an unsupported little orphan. Batteries aren't made for them. Manuals aren't published about them. Iso-Grips don't list them as fitting (although from other posts here I gather that's untrue). Why is my faithful steed so unsupported?

Sorry about the rant...

 

I had a 500 before it got run over while parked...now a 900for me.

That's not the point. You don't have to pull the tank to change the plugs. Get yourself an elbow extention for your socket wrench and they can be easily reached from there.

Battery....get the numbers off the battery already installed and Walmart will have it for about $35. Go the autorepair counter and provide them with the number off the battery. You'll have to add the acid, but the battery is already charged.

What else do you want to know about the 500? I did everything to it except the valve adjustment and that was because I didn't get the chance.

You might want to add an inline fuel filter to the bike...it doesn't have one. I added one right after the petcock and just picked one at Kragen that "looked" big enough....never had an issue.

The airfilter...you don't need a solvent to clean it....you might ruin the foam of the filter if you do. Take the filter apart (the screen comes off) and then use soap and warm water to clean the foam. Leave to dry. Re-oil with motor oil while wringing out excess oil. Reassemble.

I also have a manual in a .pdf. I'll contact you separately.

 

Pull the instrument cluster, disconnect cables, turn fuel valve to "Prime" (there is no OFF position, just ON, PRIME, and RES), disconnect the fuel line, remove the seat, the slide the tank south and lift.

Chimerix,

The fuel valve on the 500 is vacuum operated. When the engine starts a vacuum pulls a diaphram open and allows the fuel to flow from the tank to the carbs. That's why there is no OFF position. The prime position bypasses the valve and allows fuel to get to the carbs without the engine running. If you leave the valve on the tank, turn the valve to prime and remove the gas line then gas will run out on the ground or into a container or whatever. This is just a FYI for when you do have to remove the tank.

 

My wifes 500 had this problem, and I thought she was hitting the kill shift or something, anyways I had my Dad come out and go on a long ride, I rode hers and about 100 miles into the trip it starts acting up, then suddenly be fine, then starts coughing and sputtering, suddenly would come back to life. Over and over for about 25 miles, then it just ran fine.
The second day it didn't do it at all so I figure problem solved. Well next time she rode was with our club and right in the middle of a pack she completly dies, **** near got run over by 20 bikes following her.
So we take off the seat and the pos terminal is sheared off.
Of course as has been mentioned, special order, wait several days if we can find one is all I hear, so I ran down to walmart with the battery, found one same size, except the polarity was backwards, well luckily they give enough slack on the bike to stretch em over and been running for a year now on the $30 walmart wrong battery... Never had any more problems,