Recently I bought a 91 883 from my brother in law. I've replaced a few parts and had to rebuild the carb cause the throttle plunger rotted and cause the bike to die on a ride. Now I still can't seem to get it running again. The two biggest issues in having is I've had to replace the battery twice since April due to the negative terminals melted. Also the bike won't fire closest it came was a detonation that came back up the intake and popped the carb off. Also I'm concerned about the oil temp it is full has an oil cooler properly installed but the tank get so warm the seat and my leg gets uncomfortably warm.

 

Hi from the UK and welcome to HDF.

Let's go over this again. Were you able to ride it since April until recently? If so roughly what mileage? Do you have any electrics that work correctly, for example your lights, horn etc?

The melting of the battery terminals indicates a serious electrical problem. This could be as simple as a burned out regulator, however we have some Stickies here, where you can test your charging circuit to identify if you have a problem and what it is. Don't replace stuff without checking!

Let us know what you find, so we can help you through this.

 

Yes I was able to ride it from the time I bought it at the beginning of April until the end of June. It has roughly 75k miles and all the electrical is oem and every part that was replace in the electrical was replaced with oem as well those were the horn and the rear brake switch. The battery was the only non oem part I've installed and that came from my local powersport store. But according to their computer system it should have been a direct replacement for the battery.

 

Have you replaced your intake manifold seals? I have a 1991 as well (bought new) and am replacing those seals as part of a carb cleaning, minor wire re-route, and general servicing on a 25 year old bike. So far, it's been a pretty easy job, although putting it all back in proper sequence is important. Just need to get a stubby 1/4" allen (Bondhus) for the manifold bolts.

Buy yourself an oil tank dipstick thermometer. My 883 has never been over 200 degrees, and that's living in Southern California.

Not sure what help I can be with battery, you should have circuit breakers under the seat that prevent that. I'd check those breakers while your investigating.

Your carburetor needs to be mounted solidly with some kind of bracket. It slip fits into the manifold, but must be supported with some kind of bracket (DK Customs) or air cleaner backplate (SE or stock). Very important. Don't want to have your carb fly off while riding!

Good luck, 1991 is a great year bike!

John