Last fall I did an oil change on my bike. Started it up, turn it off and added a little more oil. Attemped to re-start the bike and it wouldnt. It will turn over but won't start.
I am still troubleshooting the bike and I was wondering if anyone had any insight or similiar problems. Here is a list of some of the brand new parts I have bought. Both ignition coils, plus, wires and rectifier. The battery was new last year but have been charging it constantly in addition to getting a boost from my car.
Through using the manual and other techniques, I have verified that the fuel pump, starting relay, starting solenoid, neutral switch, clutch switch, main switch and run switch are working. My stator is measuring a higher than normal resistance (0.9 as opposed to the 0.31 ohms as required). I am not certain if the pick-up coil is working but I don't think this would prevent the bike from starting.
I bought another ignitor from e-bay which I had tried out and worked last year....still doesnt help.
I don't know what else to try. Does anyone have any ideas?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Just for !@#4s and giggles put your ohm meter on resistance and cross the two leads subtract this reading from your reistance checks especaiily the stator.
the fact that it ran suggests there is nothing wrong with the system although even if the stator isn't working the bike should run on battery power alone for an hour or two. So how old is the battery have you charged it recently? Carbed bikes can get a bit cantakerious if they haven't run in a while sometimes they will start well dead cold and start well hot but if you catch them inbetween they just won't. Check fuel level and the tap is on kill witch side stand switch and clutch cutout. Where is the choke set what do the carbs look like ie is thier fuel running over the outside from shagged seals and gaskets (might be time for a birthday) or are they nice and clean, fuel filters drain the bowls of the carbs 1 to see if there is any fuel there 2 small volumes of fuel go off a lot quicker than large volumes so dropping the crap out of the bowls and getting some realitvly fresh fuel from the tank will be all it takes.
What exactly do you mean buy the pick up coil? to sensor that detects crank position and tr****** the spark that might be important methinks. Have you tried removing a plug and holing it against the engine case (WITH INSULATED PLIERS) and see if you get spark at the plug, if you do you can pretty much say that everything in the ignition system is working. You may have just flooded it on the restart and it chucked a hissy fit.
Thank you for your input. I'll bring you up to speed on some of the tests I did.
I just bought a new battery right now just to rule that out and still wont start.
I did the test with the spark plugs removed and checked for spark...the results are intermittent..sometimes they spark sometimes they don't (tested on different days). My ignition coils I bought brand new a year ago so I would like to rule them out.
I confirmed that the kickstand switch and oil sender are providing the correct signal back to the igniter and I confirmed that the ignition coils are also conected properly back to the igniter.
I wonder if this igniter I purchased on E-bay is defective already also? Is there a way to check it's function? I tried to measure the voltage output going to the ignition coils but my meter will not react fast enough.
To answer you previous question, when I touch the leads together there is no resistance. I have a fairly good meter. My stator is just old. Regardless, the stator is not in my mind at the moment as that is a charging issue.
Ignition boxes/ ignitors tend to ethier work or they don't in my experice and unless you do something really stupid are pretty reliable. Maybe check the earth connections for the ignitior make sure its clean and good metal to metal contact as well as the main earth lead from the battery. The other thing that works on my old Guzzi which is a similar setup (carbs/eleccy ignition) the ignition box has two advances one for hit and one for cold, essentially the way it works is it starts the bike with the cold setting after a couple of rotations of the crank if the bike hasn't fired it then assumes the bike is hot and switches to that. Problem been is if your bike is still dead cold won't start. If you cycle the kill switch (off then on) this usually resets the ingition box back to the cold setting.
You could probally test the function of the ignitor box but off the bike you'd probally need a cro and a pulse genorator. Actually this misght be worth a go try using a 12volt (glorifyed globe and aliagator clip with a bit of wire test lamp) on the low voltage connections of the coils as you crank the motor if the test lamp flickers.
Duh me is stupid the obious way to do this if you can get hold of a timing lamp ie the basic one for tuning a car put it on one of the HT leads and see if it flashes if you wanted to get really fancy the manual probally describs how to check the timing so you can test not only if its sparking but if its sparking at the right moment.
That last post was a good one by the way...good way of thinking.
The answer is that all four spark plugs were not working. When I tested them again this morning by means of holding them up against the exhaust flange, the spark was being generated at the point where the threads were touching the flange and not at the electrode. I thought it was a bit weird but dismissed it because all four plugs were doing the same thing.
What are the chances? I put the old plugs back in and the bike runs. I am completely speachless. The failed plugs were NGK. When I put the old plugs in, completed the exact same test, the spark was at the electrode.
Thank you all who contributed to this post. It gave me different things to think about.
Glad you got the bike running again, but didn't you change the plugs after it wouldn't start? So it wouldn't start with the old plugs as well at first?
I did not change the plugs after it wouldnt start. I only tested them. When I first tested them last fall, two were sparking at the electrode and two were sparking at the base. At the time I brushed it off to be my error in testing (the fact that it didnt spark at the electrode). I saw a spark and thought they were all ok.
I called a friend for help and his thoughts immediately went to the spark plugs. He says he has numerous occasions where the plugs have failed out of the box (NGK).
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