Dead cylinders XS11

[Shuriken]

I was running with no caps on my Dad's Honda CL350 twin until it kept jumping to the engine. On his bike, I can hold the plug lead more than 1 inch from the plug and it will jump to the plug with a great spark.

I've just had some funny issues with my XS that lead me to believe it needs coils, leads, etc. Besides, if I ever put a big bore into it, I sure as heck want a good electrical system so if I have problems I don't have to assume it's the big bore kit.

Ben

[fusionking]

keep it simple

I just went to the bike shop and bought new NGK ones and they look great!! took about 2 minutes......... now I don't have that little thing to worry about and they are reusable. I say screw the resistor! Just use resistor plugs.

[dlbryant1]

This is what fixed my problems. I put the new spark plug caps on and still same problem. While I was test running I noted when RPM’s came up they drop real quick. I still had the pickup cover off so I started messing with the wires and all the sudden, the RPM went up. I pulled on the pickup wires again and the motor died. With closer inspection I found two pickup wires broke. I repaired the wires and found a lot of my missing RPM’s.

Thanks for everyone’s input. Special thanks to the XS11 Board and Gary Granger!!!!!

[fusionking]

Good!

[Bodoc]

"I never lost all fire. I would lose cylinders while riding at 55 mph, sometimes when I stopped and let it idle the cylinders would start to fire and I could take off again."

dlbryant1 It sounds like you have the same problem I have had on both of my 78 XS1100Es. The key I was looking for in searching for someone with this problem is when you said "sometimes when I stopped and let it idle the cylinders would start to fire". The next time it suddenly looses fire try shutting the kill switch to off and right back to run. I'll bet it comes back to life immediately when you do.

Mine will run fine until I ease the throttle open very slowly from closed - say I was running alone at low rpm and just eased open the throttle. The engine would immediately loose half its power and feel like it was running on 2 cylinders. It will stay that way until I either flipped the kill switch off and back to run or else I turned the key off/on or if I pull in the clutch and wait for the engine to drop to minimum idle. This is something which began on my first 11E when it was only 1 - 2 years old (I bought it new). It would not happen very often but seemed to happen more often the longer I had that bike. I sold it when I moved from California to SC in 1980 and I bought an identical one (with 15K less miles on it for the same price I sold the old one for. Both are full factory dress Macho Maroon fairing/lowers/bags/luggage rack equipped. ... I digress ... My current 11E is doing this much more often, maybe 5 - 10 times a day. Again, it is ALWAYS initiated when I SLOWLY roll the throttle on from fully closed and it does not matter what gear I am in at the time. And ALWAYS it is immediately corrected by momentarily killing the engine. I have always believed this to be a problem associated with the vacuum advance sticking since the advance is maximum at closed trottle. I do not believe this is related to the broken pickup wire problem since the engine never cuts out or misfires except as described above. I have ordered new ACCELL coils and will put them in soon (trying to get a better spark to offset my plug fouling due to worn out valve seals). I have also ordered new top gasket set and valve seals which I will put in if the new coils don't make the problem (smoke and fouling on initial startup) livable for a while.
longer. I will let you know if the coil has any effect on the lost power problem. If it doesn't, I will try jumping the kill switch at the wiring harness to bypass the switch. My bike runs this same way when it gets caught in a rain storm. That is another reason to suspect my coils and also the kill switch. If water in the kill switch is pulling the red/white 12volt wire voltage down to low for the electronics. Still that doesn't explain why the problem is immediately cleared up when kill/run is cycled.

Any comments on our "COMMON?" problem are welcomed.

Thanks

Jim[I]

[DEmily]

I had a similar proble. 1 and 4 dropped off. Messed with the pickups and found a broken wire. However, after fixing the broken wire, still not fire to 1 and 4. Already had new accel coils. I switched pickup to see if it was a bad pickup and I lost fire to all cylinders. Came beack the next day and all four were firing again. Drove it for a very short distance and 1 and 4 dropped off again. Randy suggested the loose solder joints in the TCI unit. I pulled the TCI and openned it up. No obvious cold solder joints. I wnet ahead resoldered the solder joints and VAROOM!!! she has been kick butt and taking names without hesitation.