CB550 acts up

[fredintoon]

There's a 1983 CB550 in my garage I've been asked to diagnose by a friend who refuses to believe I am not a bike expert.
Bike looks showroom & ~20,000 km.
Mostly starts & runs great. Sometimes refuses to start one day but will start & run great the day after. Now it stalled in traffic & cranked the battery flat attempting to start. Trailered to my garage yesterday & put on the charger. Today it starts & runs great. I tried it several times and I can't make it not start. Is there a common intermittent fuel or iggy fault that Honda 4s have that someone could tell me about. Please?
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[wingnut]

Fred I had a CB350 of that eara that did the same thing. Don't know if it applies to the 550 but in my case it turned out to be the ING switch. Swapped it out and never had the problem again. Good Luck

Dave

[fredintoon]

ING switch

Hi Dave,
if that's the ignition switch, my friend did mention the key fitted kinda loose. It's a place to start for sure, thanks for posting.
Tried to start the bike again this morning and the cantankerous thing fired right up again just to defy me.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[dwain61]

Take it out for a ride. Once you get about 10 miles from home its sure to act up again I would check the plug wires for good connections. Just my .02

[JWSanders]

Even if it looks nice the electrical connections could be lightly corroded internally. Pulling apart every electrical connector and shooting them with dielectric grease could make all the difference. Doesn't take as long as you'd think.

They are 25 years old, after all.

[fredintoon]

And it still won't not start.

Thanks for the suggestions folks,
so far I've cleaned and dielectric greased every wiring harness plug-in on the bike (and don't Honda find real quaint places to hide 'em? ). Thing is, it's difficult to diagnose a fault that refuses to happen.
After I recharged the battery it fires up first time every time. The Q&D charging test (the headlight brightens above ~2,000 rpm) shows the charging system works. Revs right up, don't hesitate or falter and accelerates well on a road test shows iggy & carbs OK too. Swapping in a new ignition switch at $153 is far too salty for a "maybe it's that" fix. Next to do is new plugs 'cos they're comparatively cheap and that's what fixed the "carbs" problem on my XS11. And check the gas cap vent in case it's that what's doing it.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[dwain61]

$153???

Go to partsnmore they have brand new ignition switches for 22 bucks!!! No point in payin 153. Good luck and here's the link
https://www.partsnmore.com/cat_index...ory=electrical

DJ

[fredintoon]

Bless you - - -

Hi Dwain,
$22 is more my style. Lotsa other Nighthawk goodies there too. Thanks for the link.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[wingnut]

Fred sounds like you and the owner of the 550 need a road trip. Pack some tools and hit the back roads for a day. Couple of hundred miles will answer the question as to if you fixed it or not. That way you get to ride instead of wrench

Good Luck
Dave

[fredintoon]

Thanks Guys

Hi Dave, Dwain, JW,
thanks for all the good advice on my charity project. The lady rode her bike away yesterday evening.
I ran a hardcopy of the Parts'n'more CB550 electrical pages and tucked it in her Clymers book. That, showing her where the bike's toolbox was and how to open it (the only thing inside was a POs registration from 2003), clean & grease the wiring connections and check the gas cap was venting was all that I did to the bike. I did not replace the sparkplugs as they need the 18mm deep socket that I don't have but obviously aught to get. None of my ministrations after charging the battery had any effect because after that it ran perfectly. Turn the key, push the button, vroom. First time every time. If the owner has another mysterious failure and brings the machine back again, I shall advise ponying up the US$22 for a new iggy switch plus whatever goodies she fancies (including 4 new sparkplugs?) to reach Parts'n'more's Canadian sales US$50 minimum and we will go from there.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[dwain61]

Glad to help

Its not a problem at all. Partsnmore has saved me a lot of money and frustration so I'm glad to pass that along. Hope it continues to work well for her. Take care.

DJ