Thanks 48. Need to put that on my to-do list.
I don't believe there were any 305 folks there. I would have expected them to chime in on my giro thread, which is why I posted it. There were a few from the S90 forum, but not sure if they made it to this one. I have not been on that forum for some time now.
regards,
Rob
Plugs foulingBeen busy with other stuff and just got back to the CL77. It's been raining and cold over the last couple of weeks. Bike's been in the garage, but air has been damp. Took it out yesterday and started it and only ran on one cylinder. Pulled the plugs and had good spark on the right and so-so spark on the left. Decided to try swapping plugs around and she fired up on both cylinders.
This is very frustrating. I still cannot point to a consistent piece of evidence that points me in any specific direction. The left pipe is a little oily on the end so that cylinder might be another clue. But I cannot understand why the bike would run fine one day and the run on one cylinder a few days later. Although the inconsistency does point me at moisture at play somewhere. The fact that once it is warmed up, it run perfectly from that point on. I have another project I need to get back into s won't be playing with the Honda unless I can resist the desire to sort this out, once and for all. regards, Rob
Rob,
I was just getting ready to post a similar issue when I saw your detailed thread. I have a 63 Dream that is exhibiting the same behavior, which simplifies things a bit since I'm using a single carb - but I'm still seeing similar behavior, runs great one day,then goes intermittent to single cylinder to fine again after I clean the plugs. Have chased similar things on the carb, timing, and now I've convinced myself that I need a new coil, but after reading the inputs on your post, when I install the new coil, at the very least I'll be making sure all the grounds are good as well. Like you, I have one cylinder that seems to be burning a bit of oil, frustrating since I just replaced all the rings because of severe oil burning on one cyclinder when I got the bike for restoration. Periodic lite smoke now (usually when the cylinder isn't firing all the time), but when the bike is running well, I can pull the plug on that cylinder and its nice and brown - until it quits running then it's black and wet. The stage after running well is a random miss in the unloaded running operation, like cruising at 40, with hitches periodically in the engine output. It will continue to run that way, no change even as it warms up. Then the next stage is missing completely on one cylinder, the bike will idle, but obviously no power. Then the last stage is no start, both plugs wet. Clean the plugs, and check the spark and as you mentioned, sometimes no spark other times weak spark, not always going through the electrode....thus the jump to the coil and wires that are admittedly original and one of the few things that have not been updated/replaced on the bike Anyway, I've ordered a new coil and wires and plug cap, should have them next week, so we'll see. BTW, I did alot of the carb stuff first, messed with the float height, but left the jets alone since everything was original and refurbished (bike has less than 9k on it). Played with other carb settings and needle height, got everything so that the bike will run strong (when both cylinders are firing), but still struggling with this intermittent operation. Oh yeah, no moisture issues, all of this has been happening on a garaged bike. Anyway, thanks for the detailed descriptions and everyone else for the inputs, I'll let you know how things work out with the new coil and wires (along with the ground cleaning) when that stuff arrives. Thanks, Jack Hi,
Like I wrote earlier, both sides should electrical exactly the same. Since you are going to measure resistance, leave the ignition key at home ! Put two new plugs in the caps, and let them hang in the air. Now put one measuring wire (from your multimeter) on the electrode of the plug, the other wire to the ground of the bike (for example the lower engine hanger bolt). Write down the resistance you measure for this side, repeat the whole sequence for the other side. Use the same ground point for both measurements ! Do this 5 times, over and over again, thus when finished, you should have measured and written down 5 values for the left side and 5 values for the right side. Calculate the average of the left side, and the average for the right side, the averages should be the same (more or less). If not measure every part in the chain (resistance ) until you find the part witch is giving trouble (the parts in the chain are secondary coil, high tension wire, plug cap, plug) If everything is the same, you know that the secondary part (high tension part) is good from a static point of view. Please respond here with your measurements results, before you take the next step. Jensen
Did not want you to think I am ignoring the responses. Have been preoccucpied with other things that need to be done and the bike has sat since my last post.
I like your idea of checking resistance for the secondary electrical chain, Jensen and will do that once I get back into bike mode. I'm retiring on Nov 30 so will have lots of time to dedicate to bike stuff. It will probably be akin to an 8 hour/day job during most of the winter. I'm in the process of putting a '66 T120R Triumph back together after a groun up restoration and yesterday I put a '39 Indian 4 in the garage. I'm running out of room, but not projects. Will report back when I get back to the Honda. regards, Rob
Jensen,
I started to do your suggested test, but immediately noticed a problem, confirmed by actual test - the electrode of the plug does not go to ground.The multimeter showed infinite resistance, and looking at the circuit, I don't see how it would be grounded. So I don't have any results as to resistance. I did check if there was any resistance between the engine ground and the battery, and saw about 2.5 ohms. Let me know what I'm misinterpreting about your directions. I also installed the new coil and saw what I thought was a stronger spark, the bike started right up and ran well on both cylinders. I shut down and later started again and immediately had poor running, pulled the plug and no spark on the right cylinder (the problem cylinder). Cleaned the plug, and got a spark but not reliably through the electrode (sometimes arpound the base). Put in a new spark plug and got the spark through the electrode, so the plug appeared to be fouled. Blasted the old(er - it was new about 4 months ago, but has had oil fouling on it until I replaced the rings) plug, got a good spark, put it back in and took the bike for a ride around the neighborhood. I'm still getting the intermittent missing during unloaded operation that smooths out when I accelerate, but it appears to be running better than it was. I don't know what the missing is due to, but it seems to be spark related since I see the miss in the timing light flashing off periodically when I'm timing the bike. I've been going through all the posts and see alot about loose advance springs that may have a play on what I have going on, since my timing was problematic (couldn't get the idle timing to Bill Silver's recommendation), but that doesn't explain the miss. The bike runs pretty well now, excluding the miss (reasonable idle, good acceleration) but I'm kinda of at a loss over what to do about the miss. Rob, sorry about leeching on your post, but it seemed like a lot of what you were saying was too familiar... Jack
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