| Author | Message | |||
     Lazyme21 |
Hey Guys, I am having this weird issue with my bike that I had a couple of months ago and it just revisited me yesterday. The bike won't turn over, it seems like the plugs aren't getting any spark. We changed the plugs on the bike, the old ones were burnt. after changing the plugs the bike turned over but stalled out. When we tried to turn it back on it wouldn't do anything, just sounded like it wanted to start but wouldn't. When this first happened the spark plug cables were replaced and it went away. I am thinking that it may be the ignition coil but I am not sure. Any one have any ideas? | |||
| Fullpower |
that is normal.. you will not get any spark when the engine is not turning. | |||
| Fullpower |
the burnt spark plug portion of your problem sounds very scary. i would consider professional help. | |||
| Saintly |
I think you are using the term "turn over" incorrectly. I think what you mean is it wont run or "fire up". "turning over" usually refers to the engine rotating or cranking during the starting procedure. When you say things like "it seems like the plugs aren't getting any spark" and "just sounded like it wanted to start but wouldn't" it leads me to believe that you engine is tuning over or cranking. An engine which does not turn over is usually either seized or has a dead battery (or the kickstarter has broken off ... or the person kicking is tired ha-ha). Anyway, let us know what the case is and I'm sure we can go from there. | |||
| Lazyme21 |
Yeah, sorry about that. The engine is turning but it won't fire up. Plus there is a smell of gas, of course.  (Message edited by lazyme21 on July 16, 2005) | |||
| Chainsaw |
Check for spark, pull a plug wire, insert screwdriver into wire, hit starter, look for spark inside the boot or hope to get shocked (just a mild buzz). No spark & no shock means coil(s) trouble. Jump a wire between pin #1 and Pin #2 on the data link, turn key on, ignition on, wait 8 seconds. Count number of times engine light flashes. That number can narrow your trouble down to a more specific place (i.e. ECM, front coil, rear coil, etc.) | |||
| Saintly |
In that case, the first thing that I would check for is spark at both plug wires with a spark tester or a spare plug(grounded from its base to any chassis ground. If you have no spark on either wire then check for power to the coil. Do this by removing the air filter top plastic cover followed by the upper inner cover, the filter element, and finally the baseplate or lower airbox). With all this removed, you will see the coil on the left side. Unplug the connector, it should have 3 wires on it. One of them(the center wire I believe- but I'm not 100% certain) should be hot (ie. 12 volts) when the key is on AND the ignition switch is in the "run" position. The other two wire are the single fire signal wires from the pcm/ignition module. Regardless, one of those three wires must have constant power with the key on. If not, look for a blown ignition fuse/circuit breaker or a broke wire/connection. Good luck | |||
| Lazyme21 |
Should I meter that amount of power coming through the plug cable? Could that show that the ignition coil is about to go? If so, how much power should be going through the spark plug cable? The day that the problem came back I was on the bike and it felt like if I came to a stop the bike would stall, and when I pulled up to my friends house it did in fact stall. So, when it was running it would keep going. That is why I think maybe the coil is about to go, or already has. | |||
| Duff24 |
You said you smelled gas? Is there any dripping out on the ground anywhere? Had you taken your bike apart previously to when this started happening like taken your airbox all the way out for some reason? | |||
| Saintly |
As far as trying to measure the coil output voltage, I've seen some coils that put out as much as 60,000 volts from the coil towers. This may be a tough thing to measure without frying a few multi-meters. Usually the coils output can be determined by watching the spark jump the gap of the tester or spare plug. If you have any question about it's intensity, then open the gap on the test plug to .070 and try that. If the spark can jump a seventy thou. gap it's probably sufficient. You could also check the resistence of the coils windings with an ohm meter. the resistence of each of the two windings should be the same and is usually between 2.4 and 4.0 ohms. this would be measured between the common (+) terminal and each of the two individual singe fire ground terminals on the coil. se my poor drawing: resistance should be 2.4 - 4.0 between BOTH terminals "A" & "B" and terminals "B" & "C".
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| Fullpower |
the chance of your coil being "about to go" is vanishingly small. if your ignition coil is functioning presently, and has no obvious physical damage, ie cracked, melted, burned, stinky, corroded contacts, and you measure neither open nor short with an ohmmeter, then you can reasonably expect it to last the life of the bike. perhaps your idle is set too low? this can make the bike hard to start. look for the simple stuff first before replacing expensive parts. | |||
| Lazyme21 |
We have done a TPS reset and checked the idle. If I disconnect the ignition coil and then try to start the bike it does the same thing if the coil was plugged in. If I plug the coil in at that point the bike starts up fine. Then after a while it will stall out again and will not start back up until I unplug the coil and plug it back in. I think there is a fault in the coil. Not sure, the coil is only $40, so I ordered a new one today and we will see what happens when I get it. Thanks for all the help guys. If you have any other ideas, they are welcome. |
