strange ignition problem...

[Lee O]

'82 1100E. Bought it not running and the previous owner couldn't tell me anything.

1. Carbs have been thoroughly gone through twice,
2. wont start, or even cough - choke does nothing,
3. spray some starter fluid - fires right up, idles high - then drops
4. crack the throttle and it immediately DIES.
5. #2 & #4 pipes are hot; #1 & #3 are cold
6. pulled the plugs and #1 is wet, so it doesn't seem to be a fuel flow problem.

If it was 1/4 or 2/3 I would figure a bad coil, but I've never seen it with 2/4 firing and 1/3 not. (yes, the plug wires are on the right cylinders)

let me know what you think...

[TheCafeKid]

running pods or the stock airbox? Did you check the ignition timing? Are the coils wired up correctly? Have you check the plug boots for continutiy? pull the plugs from the head, put them on the wires and ground them to the head and see if they are sparking themselves.

[Lee O]

running pods or the stock airbox? Did you check the ignition timing? Are the coils wired up correctly? Have you check the plug boots for continutiy? pull the plugs from the head, put them on the wires and ground them to the head and see if they are sparking themselves.

running pods, just pulled the valve cover to double check the cams and adjust the valves, tested the plugs against the head and they do spark (however, not very strong, #1 and #2 were sparking about the same and #2 is firing).

Weird.

[TheCafeKid]

What size jets are you running? Where are your adjustment screws set at? You should, even with stock jetting, be able to get it to start and idle with the stock pilot jets and pods. If they havent been changed, the jets that is, you'll need to get them switched out to run pods or you will fry your head, not to mention have abike that runs like crap. Take a look at the jet sizes and let us know

[Lee O]

What size jets are you running? Where are your adjustment screws set at? You should, even with stock jetting, be able to get it to start and idle with the stock pilot jets and pods. If they havent been changed, the jets that is, you'll need to get them switched out to run pods or you will fry your head, not to mention have abike that runs like crap. Take a look at the jet sizes and let us know

I bumped the main jets up to 122.5 to run pods; pilot jets are stock. Even with the current set up, 2/4 fire and run, 1/3 downpipes are stone cold.

[TheCafeKid]

122.5 is way too small. I am at a 135 main right now, though i think its one step rich. I will be installing a 132.5 or perhaps even a 130 at some point.


Try a 130 or a 132.5 and a 47.5 pilot jet. You'll also need to try to do something about the needle too, since yours are likely not adjustable. You can shim them out a bit, with some small washers, but im not sure you can get enough in there to work. But either way your 122.5 is too small. However, even with the STOCK pilot, you SHOULD be able to get it to idle...

Did YOU clean the carbs??

[Lee O]

122.5 is way too small. I am at a 135 main right now, though i think its one step rich. I will be installing a 132.5 or perhaps even a 130 at some point.


Try a 130 or a 132.5 and a 47.5 pilot jet. You'll also need to try to do something about the needle too, since yours are likely not adjustable. You can shim them out a bit, with some small washers, but im not sure you can get enough in there to work. But either way your 122.5 is too small. However, even with the STOCK pilot, you SHOULD be able to get it to idle...

Did YOU clean the carbs??

I'm at about 5500" elevation (Denver) and didn't want to "drown" it by going too big on the mains. I cleaned the carbs myself and put in V&H adjustable needles, set on the 4th rung.

It idles fine on 2/4, 1/3 aren't doing anything. I double checked the cam positions when I set the valve clearances. I will bump up the pilots, but I think it's an ignition issue rather than a fuel flow issue. It had been sitting for a couple years and the guy I bought it from was no help. I cleaned it all around and the valves move freely. I would figure it would either run, or not run, but I wasn't expecting it to run 50/50.

[TheCafeKid]

Ahh didnt see you were in Denver. I still think you're on the lean side of things but you will figure that out at some point which main will work for you (be sure to figure THAT out first, as you have to work backwards on the CVs to get them tuned right.. a point i didnt know untill recently)

At any rate, it DOES sound like it might be an electrical issue. Id check to see how many volts youre getting at the coils..should be at least 12 or more. Connections might need cleaned up as well. You could also pull the caps off the plug wires and snip back some of the wire to make sure there are clean connections there. You say its been a while since its run, Id go thru all the ignition connections and CLEAN them just to be sure... Im running into a bit of that myself on my 1100ES.. shes been well taken care of but humidity can reeek havok on those old connections.. WHen you checked the cams did you check to see if they lined up with the timing mark on the timing plate? With the cam mark "1" facing flat with the gasket surface, and the "2" straight up, the timing mark |T 1-4 should be lined up with the mark on the plate. You should also have 20 link pins on the cam chain starting from the one over top of "2" arrow, to "3" arrow, thats 20 including the ones over the arrow marks... One tooth off might cause a big enough problem... If thats all good, we can start looking at other causes...