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Hard Starting... Resolved!
Hi, All.
Just wanted to share my story, as I figure I'm not likely the only one who had this problem:
The bike didn't like to start... always took lots of cranking. It would usually give a spark just as I hit the starter button, and another as I let go of the button, and sometimes a few sparks in-between, but it wasn't consistent. It would also miss at idle up until the engine was really hot. This would sometimes result in a stall at a stop light or stopped in traffic, followed by lots of cranking, sweating, and swearing. Here's what I found:
1) The TCI was underpowered. Voltages that should have been the same as battery voltage were about 0.9V low. I think this was due to a 42 ohm resistance from the black wire at the TCI to ground with the key in the "on" position. I fixed this by cleaning and filing the ground connections at the voltage regulator (both between the regulator and the frame, and the ground rings that are bolted to the regulator).
2) I had both a ballast resistor, and high resistance coils installed. Also, the wires on the ballast resistor were really frayed, but I couldn't identify any actual broken wires, or shorting to ground. I unplugged the ballast resistor and connected the two ends that had been plugged into it (red wire with white stripe under the left side of the tank). Note that if you've got stock 1.5 ohm coils installed, you probably should need the ballast resistor connected. IIRC, my coils (not stock) were reading about 2.4 ohms, where the stock coils are only 1.5 ohms.
After I cleaned my ground connections and removed the ballast resistor, it seemed like the bike jumped to life as soon as I touched the start button without even a crank... just touched the button and had ignition. This monring, it was about 3 degrees C (damn near freezing for you southerners), and it fired right up again. Nothing caught fire on the ride to work, so I'm calling this resolved for now!
Hope this helps solve someone else's problem!
Just wanted to share my story, as I figure I'm not likely the only one who had this problem:
The bike didn't like to start... always took lots of cranking. It would usually give a spark just as I hit the starter button, and another as I let go of the button, and sometimes a few sparks in-between, but it wasn't consistent. It would also miss at idle up until the engine was really hot. This would sometimes result in a stall at a stop light or stopped in traffic, followed by lots of cranking, sweating, and swearing. Here's what I found:
1) The TCI was underpowered. Voltages that should have been the same as battery voltage were about 0.9V low. I think this was due to a 42 ohm resistance from the black wire at the TCI to ground with the key in the "on" position. I fixed this by cleaning and filing the ground connections at the voltage regulator (both between the regulator and the frame, and the ground rings that are bolted to the regulator).
2) I had both a ballast resistor, and high resistance coils installed. Also, the wires on the ballast resistor were really frayed, but I couldn't identify any actual broken wires, or shorting to ground. I unplugged the ballast resistor and connected the two ends that had been plugged into it (red wire with white stripe under the left side of the tank). Note that if you've got stock 1.5 ohm coils installed, you probably should need the ballast resistor connected. IIRC, my coils (not stock) were reading about 2.4 ohms, where the stock coils are only 1.5 ohms.
After I cleaned my ground connections and removed the ballast resistor, it seemed like the bike jumped to life as soon as I touched the start button without even a crank... just touched the button and had ignition. This monring, it was about 3 degrees C (damn near freezing for you southerners), and it fired right up again. Nothing caught fire on the ride to work, so I'm calling this resolved for now!
Hope this helps solve someone else's problem!
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