Weirdest problem I ever experienced.

[Kara25]

So hello everyone. After enjoying my bike with my Dynojet kit finally installed due to some leaky carb bowl drain o rings and full on work hours everyday I parked the bike until the correct o rings arrive on the mailbox. The sitting period let?s say of the bike lasted about 15 days. During that time I disconnected the battery and got it home and Parked the bike on my closed garage. With the parts at hand and after a quick installation the weirdest thing of all happened. A perfectly running and functioning bike suddenly DOESNT HAVE SPARK AT ALL. Not to even a single one spark plug. The bike wears accel supercoils for about the last 1,5 years never had a problem everything was perfect with a fat blue spark very satisfied. Now this. I suspected a corroded ground somewhere (even though I clean them regularly) after re-cleaning everything still no spark. I know that the proper way is to get the trusty multimeter out and start measuring but due to a heavy schedule I can?t now. I just wanted to ask. Can suddenly the pickups or the igniter go out .???? I assumed that there would have been some signs of sorts but you never know.. thanks in advance for every piece of wisdom.

 

[LAB3]

Parked for awhile with zero changes made, I'd suspect low battery voltage.

 

[Kara25]

LAB3 it never crossed my mind cause the battery cranks the bike like hell its a lithium ion one and you feel like the starter will go flying so I don?t think it?s that low that it can?t create some spark at all... but nevertheless I shall throw her on the charger and see what happens!

 

[GregT]

Have you reconnected everything ? Often there's more than one wire to a battery terminal - and it's easy for one to drop out of sight and get missed.

 

[Nessism]

How much primary resistance on your coils? The stock coils are about 4 ohms. If your replacement coils are low resistance (like 2 ohms) that can damage the ignition system.

 

[Kara25]

Yes everything is connected as usual no mistakes there. As for the coils nessism I did my research two years ago before buying them they are the specified ones for my bike not the low resistance ones. Whatever aftermarket part I have on this bike EVERYTHING was bought and installed after research in those forums. I remember reading the stories of people buying the incorrect ones and frying their electricals so they are the correct ones plus they worked flawlessly for the last 2 years... I started this thread more like a discussion for sudden loss of spark on a working motorcycle after 15/20 days of sitting so I can get an idea what to attack when I have the time to sit and measure with my multimeter. One silly observation I want to point out here which might be normal is that when I was trying to see spark with the plugs laid on the block I touched the positive wire of the battery with my hand and it was warm to the touch.. not hot but warm. Is that any indication or just normal?

 

[grcamna2]

I would consider checking a bad connection to your right-hand switch,the kill switch? or other connection which feeds your coils,ign. switch plug? I am just guessing because I can't see the bike,always difficult without being right at the bike.

 

[GregT]

Has it got a sidestand switch ?

 

[Kara25]

No kill switches whatsoever on the bike.! Got an epiphany of sorts today before leaving for work and after this thing eating me up all night I went and removed the No4 spark plug from the bike. I hit the starter button and the bike almost started on 3 cylinders.! Immediately afterwards I put the removed plug on the No4 boot and grounded it on the block and it was sparking.! After 1 minute again the spark disappeared while I had the plug grounded on the engine. Can it be that the spark plug is faulty or shorted I guess and takes out the spark of the bike all together.???

 

[pdqford]

Being as it is a waste spark ignition system, a bad spark plug MIGHT take out one cylinder as well as its companion cylinder.
I think it’s time for you to get the meter out.

 

[GregT]

Try for a spark with the plug caps off the wires. Bad caps are more common than you'd think.

 

[Kara25]

Greg T you are right.Thing is those accel wires and caps are not the screw on type where you can unscrew the cap cut some wire off and screw them back in. Besides the spark plug itself being faulty I am starting to suspect also the cap because it uses the terminal nut on top of the spark plug and I can see that inside some of the caps the round metallic connector that grabs on top of the terminal nut of the plug is widened from pulling out and pushing back to insert on the plugs during maintenance etc..

 

[grcamna2]

Greg T you are right.Thing is those accel wires and caps are not the screw on type where you can unscrew the cap cut some wire off and screw them back in. Besides the spark plug itself being faulty I am starting to suspect also the cap because it uses the terminal nut on top of the spark plug and I can see that inside some of the caps the round metallic connector that grabs on top of the terminal nut of the plug is widened from pulling out and pushing back to insert on the plugs during maintenance etc..

Kara,are you running silicone-core ignition wires ? I have had trouble with those in the past;I switched to copper-core high-tension spark plug wires for a more solid connection.

 

[Kara25]

Yes those are the wires the shiny rubbery like ones.! Today I will throw 4 new plugs on the bike and see what happens and if anything changes

 

[Kara25]

So update I put 4 new plugs on the bike and it started right up like nothing happened.! Any thoughts.?The old plugs upon removal and inspection 1,2,3 where brownish porcelain colour and brown ground electrode which I am happy with even if it is a little rich but the spark plug of No4 cylinder the porcelain was like out of the box and the ground tip ash/white which I assume is lean burning and the plug was shot. The plugs were on the bike long before installing the Dynojet stage 3 kit. I think colourtune tricked me and I left the No4 cylinder running lean. I turned the mixture screw of No4 carb half a turn outwards to richen it up and I will inspect them again in a short while.

 

[ajh]

I had a similar problem today. Bike was running fine, did about 70 miles today and then was idling for 3 minutes and just stopped and would not start again. Checking for spark at plugs it was very weak or non existent. I noticed when it sparked, it was just after I stopped the starter turning so figured the starter was taking all the battery power. Starter was turning fine but battery voltage was low so charged for an hour and it started on the button immediately.
Because I had been spinning it on the starter a lot trying to start it and to check for spark I cant say what level the battery was when the bike originally stopped so not 100% sure that was the problem.
I'll put a plug in and see what the spark looks like now and will check the battery voltage a few times. All very weird!

A few days later now and checked the voltages 13.5v for the battery and 14.6v when running/charging and the spark looks fine. Bike runs fine as well so Ill just have to see how it goes

 

[Kara25]

On my case after replacing all 4 spark plugs (why not) everything returned to normal.! Also noticed that one carb boot on the cylinder that the plug was ashy white was not tightened enough even With the new clamps that I got. Tightened it down probably there was unwanted air sucked through the small opening thus the lean cylinder.. everything returned to normal. Now waiting for new EBC rear pads and new pins.! If anyone is interested to give some advice I am thinking about installing an oil cooler.! The temperatures here in Greece this summer are surreal 45-48 Celsius and my drive to work has 8(!) traffic lights from home to the office sooo I don?t feel so comfy about the bike on the way there.! I know that you need to install an adapter where the oil sensor is located but I am looking for info on example can any adapter from an 8V Gs fit on my 550E?? What about the oil cooler itself?? If there is any complete kit with everything included so I just button everything up and go will be the best!