I have been working off and on and my 83 project bike since this time last year. I purchased it with a blown head gasket which I replaced. After I determined that the motor started and ran I noticed a bit of roughness at low speed, just off idle however I moved on and fixed up a few cosmetic issues. This year I replaced both tires, battery, plugs and brake discs. Changed all the fluids and added some ATF to the gas. At this point I started riding it in order to see if some of the roughness that I originally noted might just work itself out with some regular riding. Well after 100 miles it has not. Basically it starts and idles just fine, however if you open the throttle just a bit there is a stumble and slight miss right up through to 2000 RPM. When starting from zero under load you really have to work the clutch and the motor sounds like it is laboring just to get the bike going. It also makes that mechanical sound that you get when you are in too high a gear at too low a speed. Once you get into second and the revs up things smooth out however it still feels lazy all the way up to 3000 rpm. After that it wakes up and pulls fine up through the revs. When thinking about the problem I thought it might have a weak cylinder. I have yet to get my compression tester adapter to fit the hole so I was waiting to do the compression check before going any further however yesterday I tried to find the weak cylinder by unplugging spark plug wires one at a time to see which one had the least effect thinking this might point me to which cylinder was weak. I discovered something interesting. When sitting on the bike if I unplug either of the back two cylinders the bike starts and runs. Of course it has a full miss but it will start right up and go to a rough idle OK. However it I unplug either of the front cylinders and try to start the bike, it will not start at all unless I really work the throttle and it will not idle. It really sounds like it is only running on one cylinder at this point. So I remember reading here earlier that each coil runs a pair of cylinders. Front pair on one coil and back pair on the other coil? If this is the case I think I have a pretty strong indication that my rear cylinder coil is weak. Is this logic correct?? I have already looked at eBay for replacement coils. There are lots out there but most are used and they seem to come as a pair. Other then redoing the ignition system is there any other options for getting coils for these old bikes? The eBay route seems like a bit of a gamble. Thanks.
Coil Logic?
- Thread starter Jcol
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From your description of problem, I'm leaning towards carb problems as in blockage of some low speed jets and air/fuel mixture being off. Have you done anything with the carbs ?
yes it seems for sure more than just not one problem deal for sure ....its sounding like carbs is leaking into clylinders that you unplugged and weak spark back push in waisted spark firing in back cylinders the classic wing problems ... im afraid it no quick fix here iggy redo is diffinitly on table I think ... and carbs go bad in these conditions from the constant back flow abuse of waisted spark problem that cause laboring big time ... that's how I see it as you explained it
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yeah especially if it's spitting back into the carbs. Tough on the carb slides.
slabghost
Well-known member
Could be one or both advance units in the ignition are bad. Vacuum advance could be letting too much air in the carbs and mechanical advance could be stuck (rusted) or possibly have weak springs that would advance ignition too quickly. Carbs are also likely part of this issue. Try switching coil feeds and plug wires. If the problem moves you do have a weak coil too.
This would be my first test. There are several possible causes for a weak cylinder, and this would confirm or rule out the coils.[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=92763#p92763:3mu70835 said:
Cleveland Caulder
Member
hi cleveland here I have a gl1100 what would be the best way to change the coil feeds. the wires to the coils or the cdi plugs the reason is mine is running on just two cylinders. I put new eccel super coil's and new cdi units spent almost $400 bucks did not change anything pulled plug wires and put plugs in them and they were fireing almost purple so they are hot any help would be great thanks
hmmmmm....sheesh get caveman and take plugs out ...turn kill switch to off position .....spin motor with starter and pit your finger down to plug hole and see if compression spit your finger out or thumb what ever your using ...if it getting fire and push from cylinders its got to be carbs
Cleveland Caulder
Member
Thanks man I'll give it a try :headscratch:
Did you take the time to pull each sparkplug and visually check for spark? It sounds like carbs might be involved but if you don't start with the basics you might end up with 4 pages of helpful hints and still have a Wing that doesn't run right.
Cleveland Caulder
Member
Seem's i may have waisted money but i replaced coil's with accel super coil's and added new cdi unit's and soidered stator wire's noticed recdifire and cdi's are getting really hot don't no if it was before i changed the coils or not i used part number 140404 coils witch is what it called for with cdi's still it will run fine for around 4-5 minutes then start to miss. what it does is at idle stator put's out 14.v and when you bring it up to 2500-3000 drops to around 13.8---13.9 each single stator wire 1 at 4-5 v --2 at 4-5 v 3 at 5-6 volt's.kinda weird but guess is charging why it's higher at idle make's no sence and if it had a chaging problem would that make it not run on cylinder's cause when it start's to loss them it still has fire on them. the heat in the cdi's worry me any idear's I'll try anything
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slabghost
Well-known member
Should be about 13.1 volts at idle. Maybe you need another regulator rectifier? I'm pretty sure the 82 used the ballast resistor for the coils. If you still have it you should probably wire it back in. If the battery is weak it may be charging higher at idle trying to get the battery up to full charge.
Cleveland Caulder
Member
What would cause the cdi unit's to get hot running the ballast resistor is hooked up and mounted on new coil's battery good could it be a ground or somthing will check it also :headscratch:
don't run it anymore ....I think the coils are a mis match for the cdi unit ...refreah info on coils and what ohm they are.
Cleveland Caulder
Member
Hey joedrum the coil's are .7 ohm's is that the correct one's eccel call's for 140404 for cdi motorcycle is why i bought these ??
hmmm that don't sound right coils are way to low in resistance and will heat everything up ... hmmmm ...if its getting hot its liable to take out switches and all kinds of stuff ... still don't it run tell it figured out ... im thinking coils are no where close to right and wrong in the worst direction
Cleveland Caulder
Member
Is 7 ohm's not correct why would they call for these if not dawin's channel uses 140403 coil's and say's they are the one's to use opposite of what accel say's what a croc of Bs
if i have to i will just put the stock one's back on since coil's don't seem to be the issue anyway wow access labor and $$
if i have to i will just put the stock one's back on since coil's don't seem to be the issue anyway wow access labor and $$
well im not positive that it is wrong but it sure showing all the signs if it aint coil id put the old ones back
Cleveland Caulder
Member
Right That's what I'll do and see if the heat issue go's away Thank's for the help let you know the outcome of the coil change and get back to the other issue missing when it get's hot Thamk's again joe
PowerArc
Active member
See viewtopic.php?p=91507#p91507
You have basically proved the Neon coil test. Yes, you would show more current draw more at an idle with those coils and as you increased rpm you would reduce saturation of the coil and reduce the draw. Bet those ballast resistors were close to glowing in the dark.
The 140404 coil is a CDI coil and 0.7Ω and you do not have a CDI Ignition.
I am impressed the ignition sustained such abuse, it is near death. The stutter is being caused by the ballast resistor nearing failure due to the current load or the near failure of the transistors in the ignition module that switch the coils on/off.
That also answers that the ballast resistor probably is not needed in the GL1100 when the appropriate coils are used.
You have basically proved the Neon coil test. Yes, you would show more current draw more at an idle with those coils and as you increased rpm you would reduce saturation of the coil and reduce the draw. Bet those ballast resistors were close to glowing in the dark.
The 140404 coil is a CDI coil and 0.7Ω and you do not have a CDI Ignition.
I am impressed the ignition sustained such abuse, it is near death. The stutter is being caused by the ballast resistor nearing failure due to the current load or the near failure of the transistors in the ignition module that switch the coils on/off.
That also answers that the ballast resistor probably is not needed in the GL1100 when the appropriate coils are used.
