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Feel like making my bike a boat anchor.....

  • Thread starter Thread starter RMC
  • Start date Start date
R

RMC

Guest
Okay.....followed the stator papers and everything seems to check within the parameters given.......with the exception of final voltage at battery at 5000 RPM......13.4vDC

Carbs are clean and shiny no air leaks...all boots in great shape. Factory airbox is installed. No vacuum leaks.

Symptom #1.......cylinder 2 and 3 no fire. Coil for 2 and 3.....checks out fine via volt meter. (Have not tried putting plug in to see if I have a spark...no extra plugs laying around)

Symptom #2.......wires immediately after R/R connect plug to Stator wires get very hot. (I moved the ground from the battery box to the negative side of the battery yesterday....no change)

Symptom #3.......some really impressive back firing!

Symptom #4.......won't idle....probably because #2 and #3 not firing. (Will idle with choke on....idled fine before)

I'm at my wits end because I didn't have these problems a few weeks ago. All cylinders fired and the bike idled great....actually purred.

I have replaced the petcock since with a factory fresh one, but it appears to flowing correctly. I've checked the grounds and they all appear to be in good shape.

Brand spanking new battery!

Bike info....1982 GS650G...15K miles.

Any help is greatly appreciated.[-o<

Ross
 
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Symptom #1.......cylinder 2 and 3 no fire. Coil for 2 and 3.....checks out fine via volt meter. (Have not tried putting plug in to see if I have a spark...no extra plugs laying around)

Can you switch coils to check to see if coils is faulty? Move coil for 1 and 4 to power 2 and 3. If 2 and 3 fire then problem with original 2 and 3 coil.
Your symptoms 3 and 4 are most likely related to misfiring cylinders.

One other concern is how is your battery? Fairly new and fully charged? Weak charging can lead to a run down battery that will not spark adequately.
 
I guess I can switch the coils.......but I sort of ruled that out when they checked out okay with the volt meter.

I did a continuity test on the wires leading to the coils and that checked out okay.

I ruled out the battery when it performed the same with the battery charger hooked up.
 
RMC said:
I guess I can switch the coils.......but I sort of ruled that out when they checked out okay with the volt meter.
Click to expand...


My coils checked out fine with a voltmeter, but I was not getting a good spark (I would get a poor spark with new plugs and no spark with fouled plugs). I replaced the coils and the difference is astounding. I think if the insulation starts breaking down but there is still some, the low voltage of the voltmeter doesn't cross the insulation but the high voltage in practice crosses it. At least that's my theory. Also I replaced the coils with better dynatek ones, so that probably helped.
 
plug caps

plug caps

try checking if one of your plug caps is bad. Pull back the rubber boot, and they will unscrew from the plug wire. They should all be the same resistance.
 
Steve said:
I LIKE ANCHORS. 8-[


How far would I have to drive to come pick it up? :-s


.
Click to expand...
Hey now....that's not helping much!

Do you know if there is supposed to be a ground from the R/R mounting screw to the frame?
 
RMC said:
Hey now....that's not helping much!
Click to expand...
Just doing what I can. 8-[


RMC said:
Do you know if there is supposed to be a ground from the R/R mounting screw to the frame?
Click to expand...
Yes, there should be a good ground. The r/r mount is not necessarily the ground, there should be a wire (probably black) that is attached somewhere to the frame. Somehow, Suzuki saw fit to rely on the battery box for a ground, but most of them are rubber-mounted, so grounding is only a dream. If you don't want to cut and extend the ground wire, at least add another wire from where it is currently "grounded" and run that wire straight to the battery.


.
 
Steve said:
Yes, there should be a good ground. The r/r mount is not necessarily the ground, there should be a wire (probably black) that is attached somewhere to the frame. Somehow, Suzuki saw fit to rely on the battery box for a ground, but most of them are rubber-mounted, so grounding is only a dream. If you don't want to cut and extend the ground wire, at least add another wire from where it is currently "grounded" and run that wire straight to the battery.
.
Click to expand...
I managed to run the blk/white wire coming out of the R/R to the negative on the battery. Do I also need to ground the R/R, at the mounting screw, to the frame?

Swapped the coils and now only #4 fires.

Thanks,
Ross
 
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RMC said:
Do I also need to ground the R/R, at the mounting screw, to the frame?
Click to expand...
As far as I know, as long as you have a ground wire connected (and you say that you do), the r/r can float in the breeze if it wants. It does not even have to be mounted, let alone mounted to a ground.


.
 
what is your voltage at the coils with the key turned to the on position??

When cranking??

I had to wire in a relay from the battery to the coils as my old wiring was not getting good current to the coils from my spanking new battery.
:-D
 
Those voltages sound too low. With my setup I could not get a good spark below 11-12 volts (12 was ok, 11 was really pushing it). If you have 10.18v to one coil when you're NOT cranking, either your battery is shot or your wiring is corroded and acting as a resistor (or both). Since you have different voltages to each coil, your wiring is definitely causing problems. If your battery is below 12.7 or so when fully charged and the bike is off, you need a new battery. Anyways, I'd correct the voltage going to the coils before suspecting bad coils. Hope that helps :)


Edit: make sure your multimeter pins are touching clean bare metal. You will get screwy readings that could be off by a volt or two if the connectors you're probing are even slightly corroded. I found that out the hard way :) Just scrape at them with a utility blade or something.
 
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79-GS550-L said:
Those voltages sound too low. With my setup I could not get a good spark below 11-12 volts (12 was ok, 11 was really pushing it). If you have 10.18v to one coil when you're NOT cranking, either your battery is shot or your wiring is corroded and acting as a resistor (or both). Since you have different voltages to each coil, your wiring is definitely causing problems. If your battery is below 12.7 or so when fully charged and the bike is off, you need a new battery. Anyways, I'd correct the voltage going to the coils before suspecting bad coils. Hope that helps :)


Edit: make sure your multimeter pins are touching clean bare metal. You will get screwy readings that could be off by a volt or two if the connectors you're probing are even slightly corroded. I found that out the hard way :) Just scrape at them with a utility blade or something.
Click to expand...

Battery is at 12.54 before doing anything, but I have the same symptoms when I have the charger hooked up.

How do I know if the Ignitor is bad?
 
Ignitor... hmm, I have points so I'm not sure. But I would assume the ignitor would pass all 12.whatever volts to the coils, no? All I can suggest is to try measuring voltage drop across the wiring harness (measure from battery negative to the ignitor output, then from battery negative to the coils).

Also, when my battery was bad, putting it on the charger did not help. The charger does not supply enough current for sparks (and I used a 3 amp charger too, which was twice the maximum size for that battery!) Although if I had stock coils it might have. I don't know.

Oh, you could try jumper cables to a car. Disconnect the motorcycle battery completely and clamp the jumper cables straight to the battery leads. That should provide plenty of power :)
 
Workshop manual only say to replace coils and plugs for bad ignition....not really a lot of help there.

Charging system seems to say that there is an open circuit....e.g.a short either from the reg rec or in the generator.

This seems to be way past what the manual was written for originally.

Maybe its time for a dyna ignition kit.

I thought that with a points system you didn't have a CDI box? That was only on electronic ignition units as you can't use early points ignition with the later electronic models as the coils were different.

suzuki mad.
 
I'm pretty sure that being a 1982 that it's electronic ignition.

The thing that's so frustrating is that it was running awesome just a few weeks ago.
 
Pain in the butt when things happen like that. Do you have a spare CDI box or coils to change that can be changed to see if that improves the ignition problem?

Are you running a stock reg/rec, honda amendment or a electrex modern replacement?

Workshop manual (GS1000, GS(X)1100) talks through the voltage and electronic ignition if that would help you to test them.

I'd be happy to post the details of how to as per the book....

Removed plugs No 3 and 4.
Remove cover and unplug signal generator lead wire.
Connect Suzuki Pocket tester (X1Oohms?) + side to the blue wire and the - to the green wire. Then watch the plugs. You should see No4 spark when you attach the cables and No3 spark when you remove one.
If that doesn't happen then the CDI/Singal generator is duff.


Testing the generator+reg/rec you need the engine runing at 5,000rpm. If it wont the book doesn't help you.

Basically, turn all the switches off apart from the headlight and remove the headlight fuse from the fuse holder. Connect to the battery +to+ then -to -. Its says if you have 14-15.5 all is OK. If you have more that 15.5v the reg/rec is faulty and if you get less an 14v the generator is faulty.

the book also shows another test for rectifier, generator, regulator and it also talks about the coils also.

Suzuki mad.
 
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