spark plugs - are they telling me anything ?

[Steve]

If you need corroboration, Eric, I have also done that to several bikes. About half of the bikes in my stable have had their wires trimmed a bit, and I have done it to several of the many that I have worked on in my travels.

By the way, the NGK caps screw on, just like the stock ones do.


Sedelen, I hope none of your caps have 500k ohm resistances. The resistance specification for a stock setup (which is from one cap to the other, through the coil) is only about 30k, and that includes both caps. Those caps should only be 5k, not 500k ohms.

.

[BigD_83]

I believe that I have read several members stating that the OEM caps can also be unscrewed and a short section of wire trimmed and re-install the caps for better spark?
Is this a fact or just copying what has been written by a previous poster? (Here-say)

Eric

Done it. Helped immensely with a weak spark issue I had before I got new coils.

[GateKeeper]

OK,,,,so I clipped one of the wires about a 1/4 inch, had a biatch of a time getting the boot back on, certainly is not easy to screw it back on, that is for sure....

too the bike out for a spin, noticed no difference, but tomorrow I will clip the other 3 and struggle putting the caps back on, but I will get it done, take a spin, and report back.

If no change, I will add a bit more seafoam, and run it a bit more, and see.....

Bike runs fine otherwise, however coming up to a stop sign or lights, the rpms will dip and a good chance of it dying, so I either hold in the clutch, or drop to neutral and blip the throttle ever so slightly to keep her going

I am not liking this......

ohhh I will take a few pics of the snipping of the wires tomorrow....

.

[koolaid_kid]

After you clip it, you should see shiny bits in the core of the wire, this is fresh, clean, un-oxidized copper. If you do not see shiny bits, clip it a bit more. This is crucial. You must see shiny bits.
When you go to screw the cap back on, keep in mind the first thing you have to do is pierce the inside of the wire core with the point that is in the plug cap. Just a couple of hints, hope they help.

[GateKeeper]

Good points Thanks....

I did see nice shiny bits on the one I cut, so that is a good thing, I finally did screw on, but it did take some twisting on and on and on....and it finally grabbed and it was OK.

By the way, I do think the seafoam is doing at least something, I can see some smoke out of the tail pipe, I did not have this before so something is happening, burning off, cleaning up etc....

.

[Redman]

OK,,,,so I clipped one of the wires about a 1/4 inch, had a biatch of a time getting the boot back on, certainly is not easy to screw it back on, that is for sure.........

.

See how there is a little rubber boot on the plug cap?
Put that rubber boot on wire first and push it up a little bit out of the way, then push-screw the cap onto the wire, then pull the boot down onto the cap.

.

[GateKeeper]

still stalling

Redman - Thanks for the tip....

So I did the other 3, even put a dab of di-electric grease buttoned it all up, put on new rubber boots as well, top and bottom, added another 1/4 bottle of seafoam.

and....

still the same crap, she will start, she will go, she will even idle after warming up for a bit, no choke required, I can turn her off, and restart, but she will still die on me after running on the road, come to a stop, and she will drop the rpm's and stall....

I went out tonight about a 10 minute ride, stopped off at a coffee shop, met a friend there, shot the breeze with him for a bit (he loved the bike) by the way he has a nice BMW R1200 I think it was, all the gadgets, even the windshield goes up and down with the touch of a button...

so anyways, about an hour goes by, I am going to head home, get on the bike, no choke, hit the start button, she starts and more or less idles, I don't sit around too long, and drive off (30 seconds or so) ride her good down the road, 60-80 km per hour, and get a few green lights, then a red light, gear down, almost to a full stop, drop the bike into neutral and stop, feet on the ground, and she STALLS.......

Panic mode, as soon as she died the bloody light is changing to green.....

clutch in, hit the start button she fires up, drop her into first, and get going, bloody F150 behind me and crawling up my arse......

get home fine no issues the rest of the way as I had all greens, and when I had to stop or slow down, I kept blipping the throttle, get into the driveway put her in neutral, release the clutch side stand out, I have to open the garage, and she sits there idling with absolutely no issues.....

I will have to pull the plugs to see how they look as well, just no time right now, maybe take a run tomorrow and at lwast pull the 1 and 4 plug, 2 and 3 are a pain.....

I give up....

this is what I did earlier in the day...










sorry for the crappy pictures....

.

[spyug]

drop the bike into neutral and stop

Jeez you don't want to do that. Its always best to leave it in first gear with clutch in and one on the mirror to watch for jackazzes running up your keester. Rememember I mentioned the Viet guy that came up right behind me when I had your bike out Friday? If I hadn't moved forward as I saw him coming, I'm sure he would have hit me.

I'm still thinking it is a carb, idle circuit issue, and possibly those air mixture screw o-rings.

Another thought I've been having ( mostly about my own bike issues) is the possibility of air leakage through the holes that the butterfly shaft goes through. The schematic shows o-rings on the outsides of the carbs and we don't normally change those. I'm thinking if they start to break down in the dip then we would have a problem with air getting in wouldn't we?

Something else to ponder on.

Hopefully it will get better as you ride this week.

Cheers,
spyug

[7981GS]

GK, do you have a tight fit on your vacuum hose from the #2 carb to the petcock?

Eric

[GateKeeper]

drop the bike into neutral and stop

Late last night and no one behind me at the time, so it was OK, was just trying out different ways....of which neither seemed to make a difference.

I'm still thinking it is a carb, idle circuit issue, and possibly those air mixture screw o-rings.

This is a possibility, hard to say, they were changed, along with all the others, and being so small, could easily get damaged, etc...

GK, do you have a tight fit on your vacuum hose from the #2 carb to the petcock?

as far as I remember yes, but I can and will check on that today, just to make sure...


Worse case scenario, there is a bike shop just around the corner, going to go and talk to them as well see if they have any ideas, thoughts, suggestions, don't want to pay anyone to diagnose and fix the problem, but if I cannot get it sorted out, another set of eyes and ears on the problem might come up with something....

Today I will go for a bit of a ride and pull the plugs, to at least see what they look like after a good little run

Thanks for the tips and ideas

.

[wanrep]

Have the carbs been synched with vacuum gauges?
It can have a big effect on plug color and idle issues.

[GateKeeper]

Have the carbs been synched with vacuum gauges?
It can have a big effect on plug color and idle issues.

Thanks

Yes they have..



Have not had a chance to go out, perhaps today, give her a good run around town, and come in and pull the plugs, see if anything has changed

.

[GateKeeper]

So on the off chance, I might have a fuel issue, I drained number one carb, and it seems to be OK







some of the specs you might see are probably because I didn't clean the plastic bowl very well prior to draining into it, over all I think it's OK






But I did a few electrical tests while I was feeling in the mood and here is a synopsis of what I have found

Bike was cold and sitting overnight in the garage, has not been touched, other than my emptying of the #1 carb, and so I got my digital volt meter and with the bike off put the leads onto the battery and got a reading of

12.7 volts

I started the bike up, running with a bit of choke I check again I get

14.4 volts

pick up idle to 3000 rpms, get 13.3 and go to 5000 rpms still the same 13.4

I release the throttle, choke was off and the bike dies

clutch in hit the start button and she fires up no problem, turn the key to off and she turns off

check voltage show 13.3

turn key to ON position I get 12.2

back off and it shows now 12.7

turn the key to ON, start up bike, idling at 1400 rpms now and showing me 14.2 volts

what the hey...........

turn the thing off and come into the house and write up this story....

what gives...............

.

[gustovh]

What gives you ask...good question, go to the stator papers and run the tests, it does not take long.

Try takeing apart the gas cap and cleaning it, you may have a plugged vent.

Is it a 16 valve motor?
V

[Steve]

Those voltage numbers are showing me that the charging system is trying to work, but there might be a poor ground connection from the R/R to the battery.

Check to see where the R/R is grounded. Many times, it is simply grounded back to its mounting bolt, which is rubber-isolated from the rest of the chassis, and relies on yet another wire that might be connected to the chassis or the battery. Try running a new wire from wherever the R/R is currently grounded directly to the battery and see if your voltage at speed improves.

.