Help if you can, or trip is cancelled...

[CA]

I am not even kidding, I loaded up my bike to go 600 miles through the smokies with my brother and on the way to his house the thing started running like crap. It sounded like it did just before I replaced my coils. Started running on less then 4 cylinders, backfirng through the carbs etc. I recently put on mikexs green coils, and it ran great for about a week. Now its back to the same ole. Guess I didn't need new coils....idk.

Here is the deal. I have 10.4 volts getting to the coils. Yet when I check the grounds on the coils. I read 1.7 instead of 0. I hope they have not already crapped out on me. I checked the pickup wires, they look perfect. I do have a lone directly hot unplugged wire in the headlight its an empty case so its not sparking r anything but I can't find where it goes to. Doesn't look like to anything really.

So that's where I am at right now. I suppose I won't be seeing the tale of the dragon anytime soon. Maybe its for the best! ha

thanks

[DGXSER]

You say the pickup coil wires LOOK ok. Have you tried runnign the engine with the timing cover off and carfully moving the wires around to see if something changes? More than a couple folks have found that to reveal a problem where they could not see any.

[CA]

I removed the cover messed with the wires tried to run it, then tried again and got no improvement...does that count?? haha this is sort of getting comical at this point.

That is a good idea about the running test. That is if i can even get it too start now. it seemed to be getting worse.

[psycoreefer]

I am not even kidding, I loaded up my bike to go 600 miles through the smokies with my brother and on the way to his house the thing started running like crap. It sounded like it did just before I replaced my coils. Started running on less then 4 cylinders, backfirng through the carbs etc. I recently put on mikexs green coils, and it ran great for about a week. Now its back to the same ole. Guess I didn't need new coils....idk.

Here is the deal. I have 10.4 volts getting to the coils. Yet when I check the grounds on the coils. I read 1.7 instead of 0. I hope they have not already crapped out on me. I checked the pickup wires, they look perfect. I do have a lone directly hot unplugged wire in the headlight its an empty case so its not sparking r anything but I can't find where it goes to. Doesn't look like to anything really.

So that's where I am at right now. I suppose I won't be seeing the tale of the dragon anytime soon. Maybe its for the best! ha

thanks

That lone wire is probably the "accessory" hot wire, if you had a fairing it would be powering the lighter, at least on mine, I've got the same wire.

I'd second the Pickup wires, the usual culprit.

You could also try removing the seat, start it up and wiggle the plugs on the TCI to see if it changes. When I got mine it did like you describe, except it happened when hitting bumps in the road. Finally figured out the female side of the spades were loose and not making good contact on the TCI. Just a little pinch with a pair of pliers fixed em up good.

[randy]

Yet when I check the grounds on the coils. I read 1.7 instead of 0

Please clarify, are you checking the Orange or Gray from the TCI to ground? In that case you won't read zero except for a few seconds after the key is turned on, then it will go high. That's a built-in safety feature in the TCI to keep from overheating the coils if you just leave the key on.

[DGXSER]

Kind of counts, I'd try the running test if you can. Not that I have ever done this as the 81 models I primarily have worked on are not nearly as likely to have this issue.

Remind us again, what do your plugs look like in each of the four?

[psycoreefer]

If it won't start even better, now you can narrow down which two aren't firing and track back. IMHO finding occasional problems is much harder then finding an all the time problem.

[CA]

Randy, actually that was reading directly from the coil itself. the orange and gray wires complete the circuit and read 11.7 if I remember correctly. All I know is the coil "negative," opposite the positive line reads 1.7. I just thought that was strange.

It has been harder to start ever since I put the new coils on. Now since its only running on half an engine it really doesnt like to start.

This has been a cursed day, I jsut got caught in a terrential down pour (which probably would have hit us on the road) looking for my brothers dog, and i ripped my brand new rain suit on a chain link fence. My brother has spent four hours at the dmv trying to get his Motorcylce license and still hasn't come back yet. We were supposed to leave at noon. its 3:30.

Probably a good thing we didnt leave, I probably would be getting plowed by a semi right about now with today's luck~

[psycoreefer]

sometimes things don't work out for a reason....

so is 1.7 with one probe on the negative terminal and the other on the positive? If so that may be your problem, They should read 3-ish ohms resistance on the primary side.

If on the other hand you've got one probe on the negative coil terminal and the other on the bike frame you shouldn't read anything, that negative terminal isn't really a ground - the coils actually ground through the mounting ears. The negative terminal is actually only sometimes grounded as controlled by the TCI to make the coils fire.

[XSokieSPECIAL]

CA....unload the bike and see if that makes a difference.

You may be pinching a wire somewhere or shorting something.

If it ran good before you loaded it and now it doesn't, odds are you did something by loading it.........JAT

[DGXSER]

That got me to thinking, dangerous I know. If you put Mikes green coils on which I believe are 3 ohm coils, did you remove the ballast resistor from the circuit?

[CA]

Well its safe to say the trip is cancelled. Too bad. It would be easy to curse the bike for the problem, but this recurring problem is mainly the fault of my re-current mis-diagnosis over the past few months. O well, like psycho said, maybe it was for the best.

Xsokie, that was one of my thoughts as well, yet it did not cure it. I even went through wiggling and shifting all avaliable wires as well. no luck.

DGXSER I did remove the ballast.

Tomorrow I plan on doing the pickup wire fix. Although I hate messing with perfecty good looking wire as my electrical skills are not the best. Obviously.

I will let you all know how it goes. more wire tracing ideas are welcome!

[Rasputin]

I have found a spot that caused me a problem once. It was not the usual spot for the wires on the pick up coils to fail. I believe someone had pulled the wires a bit and it had actually failed where the wires go thru the housing. I will try to mark where it was on a pic I borrowed from Ken Talbot's coil repair post. Mine had failed right at the rubber grommet where it exits the housing. I had to peel back the cloth type sleeve to find the break, but there it was. Hopefully my skills editing the pic show where I am yapping about. Good luck and hope this helps you or someone in the future.

[CA]

Welp I hope psycho is right, because now it won't start at all!! I am still learning my way around a volmeter so I did the old fashioned "see a spark" routine and on cylinders 2 3 4 I saw blue spark. 1 was a little harder to get to spark but i got it a few times.

I switched my brothers carbs onto mine just to make sure I knew what I was dealing with. And yes its electrical dang it.

Now I know there are a million "help my bike won't start!" threads so I will look through some of those. Its hard to check the pickup wires without it running half way I suppose. But I have been wiggling them with no avail.

So I guess they aren't firing at the right time at all huh?

[psycoreefer]

if you've got spark and it still won't start move on, if the pickups or TCI were at fault you wouldn't have any spark.

Next things to check would be:
1. Do you have fuel, after cranking are the plugs wet?
2. Do you have compression?
3. Is the ignition timing correct?