Bike finally running and on the road!

[manshack_one]

John,

I remember reading about your ride through here. It's a great place to stay until you need something right then and there that Walmart doesn't have on the shelf. There's a Yamaha place in Tyler but that's hour and a half away. There's still plenty of summer left. Might make a good day trip.

[manshack_one]

Well, Oreilly's pulled through and had some NGK's. So I put a fresh set of correctly gapped plugs in it. I did the test ground thing and swear I saw a spark. My ignition tester still doesn't show there's anything coming through the wire though. I'll go back out later and check spark on the other three plugs and report back.

[planedick]

Now I know

I had a similar problem and it sounds like you have the same. You said, "I thought I saw a spark" which tells me it's a real weak spark. I had a similar problem and found that the spark is very recognizable when its right, I mean REALLY visable. Big, blue and hot. When you get that kind of spark it will run on just about any mix. Try unscrewing the caps and cutting abour 1/4" of the plug wire and screw them back in after looking at the screw in the cap to be sure it's clean. Put a plug in it and lay it on the engine and look for a spark. (Hint leave all the plugs out of the engine for this test first so the engine turns over easy.)

[manshack_one]

Thanks for the advice. But I'm missing something here in the setup. When you guys say unscrew the caps, are you talking about the boot that covers the end of the wire the spark plug clicks on to? Or the other end that plugs into the coils? I'll have to look at this later. I just came back to the house for a minute. My third child was born this morning at 8 AM. Gavin weighed 6 lbs and 10 oz. Momma is recovering nicely as well. Time to run back to the hospital. Hooray for 2, 4 and 6 AM feedings!

[mitch]

Congrats

Ok threes enough, yes the cap that plugs onto the spark plug just unscrew it cut off a quater inch and screw it back on . Keep us informed and stop screwing around or you wont be able to afford that bike
Doug

[manshack_one]

mitch, don't worry about my screwing around getting in the way of the bike. Beside's, it's already paid for. (the bike that is). I'll have some time tomorrow when I trade places with my mother-in-law at the hospital for a night. But i'm not wasting any time up there at the hospital, i've got my dennis kirk and jc whitney catalog with me.

[club44]

I have a similar issue with my XJ1100 and traced it back to my CDI box. However, in a post TOPCAT told me to check the fusebox with the fuses out. The glass fuses may sometimes look good but are not. Check the coils and pick-ups, plugs you have done. If all of these are checking out, then I agree with the suggestion of taking apart the CDI box and checking it.
Good luck!!

Club44

[manshack_one]

Well, I finally got someone more knowledgeable about mechanics to help me look at the bike and he thinks the coils are bad. We can get 12V all the way through the battery, TCI box up to the coils. The resistance is ok on the primary side but the secondary side is not to be found. The PO put on ACCEL aftermarket coils on it. My uncle was saying that it could possibly not be grounded correctly causing the resistance problem. Anyone care to comment on that?

Also, if someone has a good set of coils for an 80 1100 special (the motor is from a 79 special) send me an offer or I'd be happy to pay shipping back and forth to be able to test with a good known set of coils! Thanks in advance.


One other question, when checking for resistance can someone comment on exactly where they put the voltmeter leads? I'm not sure but he may have been grounding to the engine block when checking and I didn't want to argue since his help was free.

[DiverRay]

Try reading this, http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...=&threadid=583 It should show you what you need to check. You can find this from the MAIN page, XS11.COM, scroll down to the repair section, and FAQ about coils.

[manshack_one]

Found that the coils on the bike were Accel Super Coils and have a part number of 140404. They're showing 1.5 ohms on the primary but only 12.6 on the secondary. I'm not sure if this set needs the resistor to be bypassed or not.

Thinking they're bad I bought a used stock set from a site member. I can't get a reading on the secondary side at all. The primary side stays at 1.9 or 2.0. On a stock set I'm supposed to put my voltmeter leads up into the part that hooks onto the sparkplug right?

My battery shows like 11.8 or 11.9 volts. The TCI module shows 12V where it's supposed to and the coils show 12V at the orange/grey wires. The bike turns over so I know the master fuse is ok. The starter is turning. The tip switch has been removed. I'm at a loss. I don't think I'm looking over any safety features that would keep it from running. The kill switch was hotwired a long time ago to run all the time.

[desert1]

No spark

I had a no spark condition on my parts bike a 79 Special. The bike would turn over fine the problem turned out to be one of the pick-ups under the timing cover had gotten wet and rusted internally. The bike sat in the weather for 3 years water got by the gasket and leaked into an indent ontop of the pick-up.....soon as I soldered and shrink-rapped in a replacement bike started, tons of spark.
Bruce

[planedick]

Kill switch hotwired?

I think the kill switch only shorts the coil to ground making it not work. If it's hot wired that will keep it form sparking. I believe the kill switch must be open. Am I right? Prom, other gurus chime in here.......

[manshack_one]

When I had the starter button control off the bike for testing the bike wouldn't crank unless the red/white wires were touching so that's how it's wired right now.

I've noticed a few other things about the bike while messing around. I don't have a working headlight (it should come on when the ignition switch is turned on right?) I don't have a working horn. The right turn signal is ok but the relay doesn't sound too strong. The left turn signal won't come on at all either. Do these problems have to be straightened out first before the bike would try and start? From other things I've read it's always possible a bike wouldn't be allowed to start unless all the safety features (like the tip switch) are in working order.


Also, I'm not 100% sure about the Accel coils that were on the bike. They were part number 140404. Did this set need the ballast resistor bypassed? Now that the stock set is back on it I probably need to check that it isn't bypassed.

[TopCatGr58]

STOP! Take those Accel coils OUT NOW!

Hey Manshack,

NOW that you've given us the proper model #, those coils are for the Capacitive Discharge/CDI type ignition systems, and only use 0.7 ohms, and will KILL your TCI if they haven't already done so!

The Accel coils you would have wanted would have been the 140403 which uses 3 ohms, and THEN you would have bypassed the resistor!

SO....those coils are NOT usable in the XS11, AND you may have fried your TCI to boot! Save yourself a trip, put the OEM coils in it, check them with a meter. THEN do the TCI test per Randy's web page, and IF it's not working right, then you either send Randy your TCI for repair at a nominal=reasonable fee, or you can find a 2H7 series TCI on the "Bay"!

Sorry for the bad news, but you hadn't told us the model #, and we assumed that they were the right kind that the PO had put on there!
T.C.

[manshack_one]

Wish I would have told you sooner!

So, with the stock ones back in there I've got 2.0 ohms on the primary and can't seem to get anything off the secondary's.

I'll go out later and check that the ballast resistor is plugged in and redo the TCI check.

Since these Accel coils ohm out ok for their model number I guess I could always ebay them and recoup a little cash towards TCI repair should it need it.

Thanks TC!

I've got to wonder however, how did they have the bike running at all if they were the wrong ones? I guess it might have contributed to the "runs but floods" issue if it was causing weak spark.