Resistance plug wires.

[fredintoon]

My XS11SG came with green Dyna dual outlet coils marked 3 Ohm & Accel graphite conductor plug leads that look like they were meant for a car. I fed it NKG BPR6ES plugs like the book in McClouds store said to use. OK, it used to run fine but now I'm in the midst of chasing down a power fade, starts off running good then after a few miles it runs awful and guzzles gas.
#2 & #3 plugs are a nice pale tan while #1 & #4 are as black as a pot. All the helpful tests on this site say the iggy is OK, I have yet to try swapping the coil wires and plug leads to see if the problem transfers to the other cylinders.
Thing is, the coils both measure ~14KOhm but the coil plus the plug leads measure ~24KOhm. Is this right or should I be using copper conductor plug leads with these coils & plugs?
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[xssiveone]

Fred, that sounds like it might be the pickup wires. They are located under the cover at the left end of the crankshaft. Check here for diagnosis and repair tips: Pickup coil fix

[randy]

I tend to agree with Chris on this one, but might add that it may be that the coil goes open when it heats up. BTDT

HTH

Randy

[fredintoon]

10% chance

It's been said that 90% of carb problems are ignition problems in disguise so no matter what, my problem was the iggy, right?
Well I'd already found and fixed the broken pickup wire causing the intermittent stumble but WTF? So I tried mix'n'matching the coils.
Although fixing the pathetic way the PO had mounted those Dynas and cleaning and dielectric greasing the connections musta made the coils happier, no matter which coil fired what plug, #4 didn't run.
Then I borrowed a compression tester and all 4 cylinders read just about 150psi.
I'd shot through all 4 carbs jets & passages with a spraycan of carb cleaner the week before too.
So I took #4 carb off the rack, tore it apart and put the body to soak in carb cleaning solution overnight.
Then I shoved #1 & #2 carbs still on their rack into #3 & #4 intake boots and the world's lumpiest 550cc twin fired right up!
Obviously #4 carb had not been cleaned well enough last time.
This morning I rebuilt #4 carb, reassembled the bike and it fired up and ran on all four.
This makes me a 10%er and I should be happy the thing now runs OK but Oh, the complications of that four carb balancing act instead of a single big ol' downdraft.
Fred Hill, S'toon.