A girl wants a ride this weekend

[Tony]

I've got an 82' GS 1100 GL with K&N Pods, 4:1 VanceHines, and rejetting. Bike accelerates well in any gear until 5k rpms, it will then stumble and has no power. All plugs are fouled with dry black soot and seem to have relatively week spark; I'm not seeing the fat blue spark that many speak of, only smaller one's dancing around edges. The bike also pops from time to time when cruising. I recently got the bike and replaced the plugs due to no spark. When I replaced them the old plugs looked good (tan) with no soot. I also replaced all the wires this past weekend, caps still looked good. I believe the coils are originals. I took the plugs out after a ride and brushed them off good, went for another 6 mile spin and they were starting to foul again.

Where should I begin? With the coils? Ignition? I just spent a lot of time searching the site and found some similar issues but not as specific as mine. I really appreciate all your help as the title indicates my little predicament.

[chef1366]

What jets are you running? The main may be too big or the igniter may be going bad.

[Tony]

Thanks a lot for your reply, really appreciate it. I wish I could tell you the jet size, I didn't do the work. If it isn't the jets would it most likely be the coils?

[Poot]

I would think about the carbs (and check the air filter, but thats not this problem)


Have you had the carbs cleaned or tuned?

It is likely that you are running a mixture which is much too rich, if your plugs are fouling and there is popping when your cruising sometimes.

Checking the jets, and cleaning the carbs if needed might also help your situation. Taking care of the carbs would most likely solve your problems in this case.



POOT

[Tony]

Yeah . . . I've gone through the carb rebuild series by eye but haven't physically done it yet. I was hoping it could wait until the winter, especially with gas prices the way they are. How would I determine the jet size after removing them? If I mic them what should the measurement be? Where should I measure on the jets?

On another note, I noticed the maps in the signatures of yourself and Chef before. I've been lucky enough to see the majority of them in my truck but it's a dream to do it on this GS.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Be sure you have clean electrical connections everywhere, and a battery with good voltage. Take a new plug, correctly gapped, and check the spark quality at each cylinder by slowly cranking the motor with a wrench. If the spark looks good/bluish in a dark/semi-dark area, then the problem points to the intake or the carbs. Be sure the air filter is clean and there are no airbox blockages before focusing on carburetion.
If the spark looks weak, then I suggest getting some resistance reads at the primary and secondary sides of the coils. If the reads are good, then the ignitor will need to be tested. You need a specific manual to test the ignitor. The electrical system can be a bit scary for some but if you get a good tester and manual, it doesn't take that long to check the basic parts and the electrical is the first thing that needs checking on older bikes. You generally save time and frustration by checking things in a correct order.
If all electrical tests pass, then focus on the carbs starting with carb identification (correct type/size?) and then check the overall condition(Clean?), then determining what your float level adjustment/operation is and then what jetting you have.

[Tony]

Thanks a lot Keith. I forgot to mention that the plugs are gapped correctly. I'm really not happy with the spark. I don't get a nice fat blue spark, just many dancing around the edges. The bike very consistently does not have power at 5k and all plugs are equally fouled. I can see where this would either be the jets or electrical.

What would be good readings on the primary and secondary sides of the coils? When measuring this would I have the key on with bike not running and ground of meter on ground of battery? Sorry, I'm kinda a green horn with this stuff but sure am enjoying learning.

[Poot]

Yeah . . . I've gone through the carb rebuild series by eye but haven't physically done it yet. I was hoping it could wait until the winter, especially with gas prices the way they are. How would I determine the jet size after removing them? If I mic them what should the measurement be? Where should I measure on the jets?

On another note, I noticed the maps in the signatures of yourself and Chef before. I've been lucky enough to see the majority of them in my truck but it's a dream to do it on this GS.

lol,

with un-tuned carbs and/or a dirty air filter, your losing gas milage big time. Hopefully its not an electrical problem.....carbs are really not that hard to fix/take apart, and not that expensive compared to some of the electrical components.

No doubt though, it would be best to check the coils/ignitor stuff first though, since that should be easy peasy.

good luck!

POOT

[Tony]

So what would good readings on the primary and secondary sides of the coils be? I know it will be a little less than 12V but what is acceptable?

[Matchless]

Tony,
Also just check if you are getting the full 12V on your coil. Some older bikes are losing up to 2v via the ignition switch and the coils work at their best at 12V.

[don_gibb6512]

So what would good readings on the primary and secondary sides of the coils be? I know it will be a little less than 12V but what is acceptable?

Hi Tony. The Primary side should be between 3-5ohm and the secondary (plug cap to plug cap) should be 31-33K ohms. If you're still running the OEM coils, they most certainly could be the culprit. I had an OEM set breaking down in the secondary windings with symptoms like what you're experiencing. A good replacement for your coils would be the Dyna Green 3ohm, not the mini's. If you decide to replace your signal generator (black box and coil pickups) with the Dyna S, the mini's aren't compatible.

Here's a link to the right set of coils from Z1:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=210

I hope this helps. Let me know how it goes and good luck !!

Don

[Tony]

Thank you Don, this is great. I really appreciate your help. I'll most certainly let you know.

[don_gibb6512]

I forgot to add (but this is obvious) that if you end up ordering the coils, don't forget to order the Dyna wires. There are several different colors to choose from. When in doubt, call Z1 and talk to them. They're very helpful.

Don

[ALB80-850]

Where about in Wyoming county are you?

[82Shafty]

I just chased down a similar issue on an 82GL 1100.

With new NGK boots from DK, my secondaries ohm 22.5 darn near the same as my Dad's 82 1100GL with new boots. I'm not sure where the 30-50K Suzi came up with in the shop manual, but real world this is what two identical suzi's have on their secondary sides.

My suggestion is this, lose the pods go out and whack the bike WOT and see how it pulls. With no pods if it runs up to redline you are rich, if it's worse, you are lean.

I could have sworn that I had a spark issue, I would bring the bike up to 7 in first, whack the throttle and it would cut out off and on up to 9.

I pulled the over-oiled K&N uni out of it, took it out on the road and the darn thing kept revving to 9500 as it was pulling very strong and very fast.

Cleaned, re-oiled and installed the K&N and now she runs great. I did find that two of my spark plug boots had infinite ohms. At 3.30 a piece, it's good PM to replace them.