Mysterious 2-cyl loss while driving....

[Shuriken]

Time for more tinkering.

My XS, 40k+ miles likes to puff out a nice smoke bomb when starting and it even is lightly puffing while running. I know the rings and valves are worn because of the compression readings and valve clearances, and other "wear" noises. It burns oil too.

I'm in the process of repainting the gas tank with House of Kolour urethane paint (wow!) and just got my golf cart emblems. But with the bike needing that expensive rebuild, I'm not sure if I can dump $1k into it. Perhaps I'll get her pretty and get what I can out of her. I have another ('78) partzer in the back yard I could tinker with or sell with the runner to try and get a little cash back.

But that's not what this post is about....

The bike is mysteriously loosing power to 2 cylinders. Then it lurches forward when they get spark or fuel again. It happens so abruptly I'm guessing one of my coils is failing or shorting out. I checked the pickup wires not too long ago. Time to check again? Anybody had this problem before?

Ben

[Ken Talbot]

Time to check pick-up coils again - yes!

[Shuriken]

Looks like it's cyls 1 and 4. Limped the bike a couple of blocks on cyls 2 and 3. Pipes 1 and 4 are cold. Tinkered with and tested the pickup wires and got nothing.

I think my coils are going or something....

Ben

[Bill]

Ben wrote:

Looks like it's cyls 1 and 4. Limped the bike a couple of blocks on cyls 2 and 3. Pipes 1 and 4 are cold. Tinkered with and tested the pickup wires and got nothing.

I think my coils are going or something...

Definitely sounds coil related! The right hand ingnition coil provides spark to those cylinders and the pickup coils control the ignition coils.

Check the pickup coils by following this tech tip:

Pick-Up Coil Wire Repair

It can also be as simple as a bad connection to the small ignition coil. Check for that first. If that doesn't help, check the ignition coils by following this tech tip:

New Wires In Old Coils

There are also other helpful tips in the Battery/Electrical section of the Repair Tips on XS11.COM

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

XSively,

[Dark Horse]

I did the pick-up coil wire fix when I first got the Dark Horse. Two years later I started having the same symptoms. I thought I had done a good job the first time. I found out later that others had the same experience and have done the fix 2+ times.

I also found that the type of wire you use is important. The more flexible the better. This last time I purchased some replacement leads for a Volt/Ohm meter and cut the necessary wire from those. They are very strong and flexible.

So far they have worked great.

Hope it's something that simple for your fix.

Ride safe.

Bob

[Shuriken]

Hey Bob, how is everything in the North end of the state? Our riding season is coming to a close, eh?

I'd like to test the coils individually, among other things. I've been fiddling with the pickup wires for a few hours and don't get any changes. I think one of my coils is not getting any input (pickup wires on up) or it I have a short somewhere or the coil itself is faulty.

I need the "quick" fix because my bike is getting to the point where it needs lots of $$ into it and I still haven't decided if I will do it yet.

If worse comes to worse, I've painted the frame and am working on a $150 dollar urethane paint job on the tank and panels, which would make the bike ready to sell. If I can sell it like that, perhaps I could get rid of it and the parts bike I have for $7-800 dollars or so. It really isn't worth much puffing so much smoke.

Ben

[scalded dog]

Wisconsin salvage yard has a couple used xs 1100 low miles engines, $500, plus shipping around $200. $700 total for a great looking bike.

[Shuriken]

It's just a gamble - getting another motor that is. Why would it be in the salvage yard if it didn't have probs? I'd hate to pay that kind of money and get jacked. Now if it were more like $300 or so to have it shipped to me, perhaps the risk would be light enough. If I'm going to pay $700 for a motor I'll pay $700 plus just a bit more for the big bore kit and head work or something.

That's not saying I wouldn't like to do something like that - it would be sweet to pick up a low mileage motor and find nothing wrong with it. I'm just too pessimistic.

On the other hand, I could always sell the runner and try to get the parts bike going. I got it for $100 bucks or so, so I'd have a little room to work. It has good tires and a good set of carbs....

Ben

[scalded dog]

Wisconsin salvage yard has a large number of positive feedback on ebay, in the thousands if I remember correctly, didn't see any negative feedback. I purchased some S&S after market exhaust pipe and mufflers for a bid of around $80. about a year ago, have been very happy with them, just thought I would let you know, about an alternative if you wanted to keep the bike.

[carlxs1100s]

2 CYLINDERS

yes ive had this fault but if the weather was cold it would keep the coils cold and would keep working if no rain after 15 mins the coil would start breaking down
it took me ages to work out at the time some (1984) 19 years ago
replaced one coil and it was sorted

[Shuriken]

That's exactly where I'm headed - coils that is. Perhaps I'll try a coils from my parts bike. Thanks for the replies and keep 'em coming.

:-)

Ben

[jawnski]

I've had the same problem. I had an issue of intermittent power, sputtering. It got so bad, I dumped my bike with my girlfriend on the back. I went through the pick up coil fix but cylinders 1 and 4 were still not firing.

Finally, I tracked my problem to the CDI, “black box” ignition unit under the seat. I inspected it carefully and found a broken solder joint. I soldered it and it fixed the problem. I used the wrong solder however and after a year, it corroded. I just went through this problem again and removed all the bad solder, cleaned it up, resoldered and I’m up and running.

If you have a parts bike, it’s simple. Try the black box from the parts bike and let us know how it goes.

John Richau
http://jawnski.redirectme.net/yamaha/solderjob.htm

[Shuriken]

Thanks for the tip John. That's probably the easiest thing to try. I will try the ignition coil probably tomorrow, and the black box the following day or so. I'll let you all know what I find.

Ben

[Shuriken]

Okay, it's kudos to John. Before doing anything else (testing), I removed and inspected the black box on my '80g. When I took it off it looks like someone has replaced it. It says 1977 XS11 on the back - looks like someone replaced the original '80g black box.

Anyhow, sure enough, upon very close inspection, some of the solder connections were broken. I hot soldered every questionable one and now have spark again and the bike runs smoother.

I'm mostly done with the gloss black paint job on my tank and side panels - I got some runs in the clear coat !#$!. Other than that, the bike is coming along. Now it just needs some 100hp big bore or something....

Ben

[jawnski]

I'm glad to hear your bike runs now but just a few things

You said it runs smoother; are all the cylinders firing?

You also mentioned that your black box reads "77 xs11”. I don’t know for sure but some someone posted that it’s essential the numbers on the box match.

I have an ‘80 xs1100G and the number on my black box reads TIDI14-01 with another number below it 2H7-10.

I gotta go vote now.

Good luck.

John