Need help in Idaho please

[WMarshy]

Bill, let us know what that does anything for ya.... ya know, if your not shaking too much in order to type, from the adrenaline when it pulls your arms off.

[BillyRok]

Fixed it. KOA iron was junk but the guy in the tent next to had one...who knew

[3Phase]

Fixed it. KOA iron was junk but the guy in the tent next to had one...who knew

Right on! How are the tires holding up? The tire tread and air pressure cold is good and there are no strange cracks, lumps, bumps or thumps?

Motoman's got the skinny on the front fork seal and brakes; for the tight rear brake and burned disk, use a large screwdriver to lever the rear brake caliper open as far as it can go, then pump the brake pedal to close it back up. Do it a couple of times and it may work until you can get home but it may decide to finish burning up the rear brake or just lock up. As usual -- be careful and pay attention to what you're doing.

For the carburetors, if you're getting 41 MPG @ 75 MPH and you even THINK! about touching them even after you get home I'll build a bike just to ride it back East and knock you over the head with a used pizza box. Clean up the #3 spark plug boot along with the resistor and its friends and fuggedaboudit.

.

[motoman]

Right on! How are the tires holding up? The tire tread and air pressure cold is good and there are no strange cracks, lumps, bumps or thumps?

Motoman's got the skinny on the front fork seal and brakes; for the tight rear brake and burned disk, use a large screwdriver to lever the rear brake caliper open as far as it can go, then pump the brake pedal to close it back up. Do it a couple of times and it may work until you can get home but it may decide to finish burning up the rear brake or just lock up. As usual -- be careful and pay attention to what you're doing.

For the carburetors, if you're getting 41 MPG @ 75 MPH and you even THINK! about touching them even after you get home I'll build a bike just to ride it back East and knock you over the head with a used pizza box. Clean up the #3 spark plug boot along with the resistor and its friends and fuggedaboudit.

.

Big Plus1 on the last staement by 3Phase!............your carbs are having ignition issues....period. When you get it home, before even THINKING bout messin' with the carbs and their factory settings, go thru ALL electrical plug-ins, clean maticulously before re-plugging in. Pay SPECIAL attention to the 5 plug-ins behind fuse panel. Remove the right hand controls, dissassemble the stop switch and soak ALL pieces INCLUDING switch in EvaporRust, clean and blow dry with compressor. Now, see how new that red plastic insert in switch looks. Do the same with the left-side controls, as this likely will eliminate the signal low voltage your experienceing. No guessing here, the results of attacking the actual issues at their source, and not band-aiding it at the other end WILL keeps these things from rearing their ugly head in the future.

[WMarshy]

I talked with Bill again after the pickup wire fix and it sounds like the issue is still there... What's next? I'm leaning towards carb clean...

[motoman]

I talked with Bill again after the pickup wire fix and it sounds like the issue is still there... What's next? I'm leaning towards carb clean...

Could be possible........as a LAST resort!
SECONDARY ignition issues still exist, i.e. voltages TO coils(checked at coil plug-ins, key on), Coils themselves(should be 3ohm across both output poles), and plug cap resistors. Primary ignition, (you've covered part of it at pick-up wires). The signal issue at low rpms threw up an immediate red flag for a low votage issue, which is part of prim. system. Grounding points, SPECIALLY the three grounding wires attached to the regulator mounting screw, the mounting frame surface AND the regulator mounting surface top-side itself. The ignition switch internal contacts AND most ignored piece, the STOP switch internal contacts are COMMON voltage loss points, on ALL XS models.
Think I remember reading, prior to leaving you synced the carb pairs together. EXCELLENT choice! Good to hear you did NOT remove the tin covers on the idle mix screws. That factory setting is PERFECT...make NO change!
Number one problem with making a change is those teeny-tiny what USED to be actual black O-rings will now be, 32yrs. later, a minature tan squished un-glazed doughnut. If mixture screw is disturbed(rotated), those little glazed doughnuts WILL break into a couple unglazed doughnuts, still held in place, OR lose their seal........likely both.....DAHIK.
Same goes for factory float settings......do NOT change!
I say all this from recent experience with a nearby neighbors 81Special. He's my age, and the issue he was having was a unexplainable idle drop from the normal 1100rpm to 900rpm. Wisely, he wanted to find if there was an issue BEFORE raising that idle back up. Showed up at my place out of the blue, explained the problem. Had him pull the tank and all that octy fuster-cluck under there, re-hook tank setting bachwards, hooked up my mercury stixs and found the pairs a bit outa' sync. Left pair/right pair were still perfect......brought pairs together, and wa-la.....perfect 1100rpm idle as factory intended. The tin sealing covers over mixture screws are original and still there to this day, and is the smoothest, hardest pullin' later model Special I've ever ridden.....bar none......and a constant 41mpg, around town, highway, whatever as long as he don't get overly 'happy' with the rifgt hand. BTW, that's with 'run of the mill' pump alcohol/gas 87octane. Hell, these scoots will run on rat piss if you can get it to ignite.

[3Phase]

I talked with Bill again after the pickup wire fix and it sounds like the issue is still there... What's next? I'm leaning towards carb clean...

Tear apart the carburetors when the bike's getting 41 FMPG @ 75 MPH even with the cams slightly out of time, a dragging rear brake and bad pick-up coil wires? You bumped your head, Scooter!

Double-check the ignition system primary voltage and resistance along with the secondary resistance but leave the carburetors alone and run a bunch fresh fuel through them for a thousand miles or so and see if it's still acting up.

.

[WMarshy]

Six of one, half a dozen of the other

Im not saying he should do a 100% tear down. He could take them out and clean the pilot circuit only without removing the pilot screws and tin plugs in the towers. He certainly could rule out some of the easy electrical things too like taking apart the spark plug caps resistors and cleaning a few connections like grounds, but based on the symptoms being at certain RPM range (below 3000) it is indictative of pilot circuit being dirty. Been there done that. Should we start a poll and place bets?

Here's a thought, maybe we could lean it out even more and get 45 mpg. BTW, he put new plugs in it before he left the sellers place and after about 300 miles he still didnt have enough color to read so maybe he will have enough miles before long to take another read on them...

[jetmechmarty]

I should think white is good, so long as there are no scary looking flecks of aluminum on them.

[motoman]

Im not saying he should do a 100% tear down. He could take them out and clean the pilot circuit only without removing the pilot screws and tin plugs in the towers. He certainly could rule out some of the easy electrical things too like taking apart the spark plug caps resistors and cleaning a few connections like grounds, but based on the symptoms being at certain RPM range (below 3000) it is indictative of pilot circuit being dirty. Been there done that. Should we start a poll and place bets?

Here's a thought, maybe we could lean it out even more and get 45 mpg. BTW, he put new plugs in it before he left the sellers place and after about 300 miles he still didnt have enough color to read so maybe he will have enough miles before long to take another read on them...

With the fuel of today, there won't be any color on the porclien/electrode. If there is, it's runnin too rich. Sounds like from looks of plugs, fuel mixture IS dead-on.

Again, with the signals not flashing at idle, the issue is prim. voltage drops is causing secondary voltage issues at the lower rpm ranges.

[BillyRok]

Sorry for not posting more but the wifi where I've been hasn't worked very well. Seems that you all think I have voltage issues so let me ask a few questions rather than do a bunch of searching with my sketchy wifi connection. Easy stuff first...can I remove the 2 screws holding the kill switch assy together and take the 2halves apart without losing a bunch of small parts? Then I could spray with contact cleaner. Ignition switch--same process as kill switch is ok?

I can clean up the grounds that Moto mentioned, just need to remove the seat and tank ( of course the tank is chuck full right now ).

3Phase specifically how do I "double check the ignition system primary voltage and resistance along with secondary resistance?" What do I do and what am I looking for? I did bring my multimeter with me and a test light as well, just need coaching re: the diagnostics.

I was able to pick up the Motion Pro tool to clean up the leaky fork seal, all dry now. And the screw driver against the rear brake pad worked, too. Left hand on the screw driver and right hand on the brake pedal, worked back and forth, seems ok now. I try not to use the rear brake but I check it when I stop and it's not dragging. Tell you what though, I sure miss the SS brake lines on my XJ, what a HUGE difference in front braking systems!

Got lots of pics to post as soon as I get someplace with good connection, it's gorgeous country out here...you guys who get to ride it regularly are very fortunate.

Thanks for the continuing dialog about straightening this LG out.

[motoman]

Sorry for not posting more but the wifi where I've been hasn't worked very well. Seems that you all think I have voltage issues so let me ask a few questions rather than do a bunch of searching with my sketchy wifi connection. Easy stuff first...can I remove the 2 screws holding the kill switch assy together and take the 2halves apart without losing a bunch of small parts? Then I could spray with contact cleaner. Ignition switch--same process as kill switch is ok?

I can clean up the grounds that Moto mentioned, just need to remove the seat and tank ( of course the tank is chuck full right now ).

3Phase specifically how do I "double check the ignition system primary voltage and resistance along with secondary resistance?" What do I do and what am I looking for? I did bring my multimeter with me and a test light as well, just need coaching re: the diagnostics.

I was able to pick up the Motion Pro tool to clean up the leaky fork seal, all dry now. And the screw driver against the rear brake pad worked, too. Left hand on the screw driver and right hand on the brake pedal, worked back and forth, seems ok now. I try not to use the rear brake but I check it when I stop and it's not dragging. Tell you what though, I sure miss the SS brake lines on my XJ, what a HUGE difference in front braking systems!

Got lots of pics to post as soon as I get someplace with good connection, it's gorgeous country out here...you guys who get to ride it regularly are very fortunate.

Thanks for the continuing dialog about straightening this LG out.

Can 'cheat' on the ignition switch if you want, then remove it later at home base.
Right on the lower front side where the wires come out is a removable metal cover. One phillips screw on front side and it's off. With a can of heavy duty electrical cleaner from NAPA or similar, stick the attached straw up in there and lettr' have it while flippin' switch on and off. Alot of dark crud(and old lube) should roll out. That MAY help keep any 'all important smoke' from escaping.
Good to hear the SealMate solved the weeping fork issue..........can be a BRAKE saver out on a LD ride.
As for the kill switch......hmmm.....would hate to see the teeny springs boing to who knows where out there on the road away from home since that completes the running circuit.....JMO.

[3Phase]

3Phase specifically how do I "double check the ignition system primary voltage and resistance along with secondary resistance?" What do I do and what am I looking for? I did bring my multimeter with me and a test light as well, just need coaching re: the diagnostics.

Billy, here's a color schematic for your LG:-

1980 SG and 1981 SH color electrical wiring schematic

Alrighty then! You said you already checked the ignition secondary and the resistance across the #3 spark plug boot was a little high. Double-check the ignition coil secondary resistance, the spark plug boots and if you didn't check it before, the ignition coil primary resistance.

The ignition coil secondary resistance is ~15,00 Ohms across the spark plug wires without the spark plug boots.

The spark plug boots are usually 5,000 Ohms but some have 10,000 Ohm resistors on the outer #1 and #4 spark plugs.

The ignition coil primary resistance is ~1.5 Ohms across the +V Red/White wire and the -V Orange or Gray wires.


Check the voltage at the Red/White wire 2-pole connector for the ignition coil primary wires. It should be a little over 11V, not 12V, because it's run through a 1.5 Ohm Ballast Resistor to limit the current through the coils.

Check the voltage from the Red/White wire at the TCI 8-pole connector. It should be within a half volt of battery voltage.


If the voltage(s) are low, you'll have to dig deeper. Check the voltage dropped across each individual connection and component all the way from the battery to the TCI as if it were an individual resistor (it is).

.

[rdmcguy]

teeny flying objects

+1 motoman in regards to teeny spring AND ball bearing in the kill switch.
I found out the hard way I twisted a small piece of wire between the eyes on the wires and had a weird miss ...I discovered the problem one night when it was dark out....little lightning bolts on INCORRECTLY twisted wires...

[ViperRon]

I see you guys have been hitting on just about everything but I finally got to reading all this and caught 2 points, it was running fine and then went bad. He also changed the plugs before he left. I would like to know if he has champion plugs because I have had issues with specifically champion for many years in several application's when they were non resister. Seems they just cut a copper or multi-metal rod and after heat up and cool down it gets loose starts arcing and soon will not provide a hot spark. This can be checked with an ohm meter checking resistance from top to bottom. I have seen plugs that you could shake and hear the rod inside sliding back and forth. Its just one thing in the circuit that has not been checked.