Sputter putt putt

[KA1J]

So I get caught in a deluge today right in the middle of an unsavory part of Boston, one where I would not want to leave my bike if it stalled out. When I started out from a stop sign it acted like I was trying to start off in 3rd gear. I was getting misfires and needed to up the RPM to keep it going just like when the original coils got wet. I found it seemed to run normally if I went slower and kept the engine running for a few moments and then it would idle & run as normal.

I didn't look at the TCI but I hadn't gone through any puddles and I'm pretty assured it didn't get wet. I also have a relay which brings direct power from the battery to the coils so I get no voltage drop. I have a pair of DC-1 Dyna coils in it and new 8MM coil wire held suspended by coil wire spacers. I didn't expect to have any kind of issues with misfire from rain after putting them in. Normally It's got full power and runs clean.

What might I look at to fix this sputtering.
Thank ye, thank ye!

[bikerphil]

The water gets in the harness below the shifter on the left side where the neutral light wire enters the sheathing. This can cause the pick up coil wires to give an erratic signal to the TCI. It happens on XS's and might also happen on the XJ, similar setup.

[KA1J]

The water gets in the harness below the shifter on the left side where the neutral light wire enters the sheathing. This can cause the pick up coil wires to give an erratic signal to the TCI. It happens on XS's and might also happen on the XJ, similar setup.

Hi Phil,

That's good to know. Is there a known simple & easy fix or do I need to be more creative?

[bikerphil]

Try to waterproof that harness by wrapping it with good quality electrical tape in the area of the neutral wire.

[natemoen]

Quick fix, take the neutral light wire and put it under one of the case bolts to ground it out. Should fun it, if not then move on to next part.

After you get home, make sure all the wires are sealed and water tight. The factory pickup coil spices down there aren't very good, seal them all up.

[GLoweVA]

Take a look at the 2nd pic down on this thread. It shows the factory splices on the pick up coil wires.
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38293

[KA1J]

I remember a teacher I had telling us everyone is entitled to have more than one disease at the same time. Also, that just because someone has signs and symptoms of one disease, it may be another that is causing what you conclude is the problem. That tidbit happens to ring true with my experience that caused me to ask for help with the engine sputtering in the rain, even with full output dynacoils in place.

I started the bike for the ride home and pretty much everything was now dry from the storm two days earlier, except for the foam around the seat. I looked for but didn't easily see the pickup/neutral wires & being underneath the bike and me wanting to beat the next wave of rain coming in, seeing as other than a momentary shudder when it started, all seemed well and with a silent prayer, headed out of Boston & back to CT.

Right as I got to I-95 I lost 1/2 of my ignition and was concerned but figured as long as I still had acceleration I could complete the 90 mile trip & fix it at home. I just didn't want to stop the bike in case it stalled and I couldn't restart it. The other option was to call my girlfriend & have her pick me up, take me to CT so I could get my trailer & then do the ugly and drive back to MA get it to then bring it home.

I'm driving along at 65 sounding like a motorboat engine and wondered what could I check at that moment while driving & having leather gauntlets I figured I could access the coils not worrying about getting a shock and move them enough to see if a wire had came loose. The way I had attached the coils was to bolt them in place in the front, leaving the back un bolted as the stock mount didn't conform to the rear mounts on the dynacoils. Doing it this way they hung perfectly. So after fiddling with the left side a bit I felt the engine fire normally and then back to the motorboating. Fiddling with the right side gave me longer periods of running right but it would still go back to the 2 cylinders firing and that motorboating sound. Somehow in the fray I accidentally hit the kill switch and ended up beached just before an exit. I didn't know I'd hit the kill switch, I thought the problem had magnified and bike had just died.

I had to unpack the stuff on the bike to see if the TCI was an issue and I wanted to check the fuses but needed to loosen the gas tank and pull it back so I could have access to the coils. What I found was the bolt holding the right coil had come loose and then undone and the screw connecting the right wire to the dynacoil input was shorting out on the solid tube part of the brake line to the portioning valve. Just then I noticed blue flashing lights and it was the first motorcycle trooper I've ever seen in all the times I've been on I-95.

Told him what I was doing, picked up a thick piece of cardboard trash along the side of the road & used that as an insulator between the screw & tube and turned the key and sonofabitch it started up perfectly. He & I had a nice talk about bikes & seeing I was OK took off. I made the trip back with no shudder and when I ran into the rain I knew was coming, it didn't sputter a lick so it must have been coincidence that with the first time I'd been in a deluge, the first intermittent issues with the loose coil showed up. I used a wire tie to hold it in place when I got back & this'll be a working fix.

Never the less, the suggestions and links to other peoples problems with this are enough for me that I added checking the pick up wires and assuring all connections are intact to my list of next spring to-do gems.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[DGXSER]

Nice job finding the issue!!

[jetmechmarty]

This winter I am going to replace these:


With these:

and heat shrink.

or....I may give these a go.

It's a waterproof heat shrink splice.

[KA1J]

I've been seriously thinking about using liquid tape when I do these next year. It works great on the intake manifolds & when I tried it on a pair of wires I soldered, they looked sealed perfectly.

[natemoen]

It's a waterproof heat shrink splice.

I have started using these for a lot if things. They work well, just be careful when crimping that you don't cut the insulation, then it sort of defeats the purpose....