Firing on one cylinder

Repsol · Post by **Repsol** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 4:27 pm

Been a long winter here in New York. Today was a nice day so I figured I do some messing around on the Dream. I tried to start her up and she was firing on only one cylinder (the right one). I really know nothing about points but I figured I'd take the cover off and see if there was an "on/off" switch in there;) Anyway I basically touched the felt portion of the point and it started running on both cylinders. Before I pulled the point cover I did check to see if there was spark on the left side and there was none. My question is what did I do or is it PFM (pure expletive magic)

Repsol · Post by **Repsol** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 7:12 pm

Here is an image of the points that I have. Thought they may help if someone sees anything strange in there.

48lesco · Post by **48lesco** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 7:38 pm

Hey Rep - I'd say it was Pure Coincidence because if you have spark on at least one side, that means there's nothing wrong with the points. Each time the points open, both plugs fire even though one of the cylinders is on the exhaust stroke and that spark is "wasted." I do believe I see some original resistor caps there though. If that's the case, I'd replace those or at least cut a 1/4" off the left wire and reinstall it. Got to be something between the coil and the spark plug (wire, cap, or plug). But if it ain't broke now, maybe don't fix it! New NGK 5K resistor caps are cheap and the plugs can go bad too.
-48

Repsol · Post by **Repsol** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 7:58 pm

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering why there was only one point and two spark plugs. That makes a lot of sense. I don't plan on taking the Dream cross country or anything like that so if one plug starts acting up I'd be able to limp home. Both wires look a little worse for wear so maybe I'll replace them.

mike in idaho · Post by **mike in idaho** » Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:59 pm

Maybe you had a plug that was borderline gas- fouled. If it does it again, pull the cap loose from the plug on the dead cylinder and hold it up about 1/4 inch. The extra voltage, built up from jumping the gap, will fire a partially fouled plug.

Repsol · Post by **Repsol** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:26 pm

mike in idaho wrote:Maybe you had a plug that was borderline gas- fouled. If it does it again, pull the cap loose from the plug on the dead cylinder and hold it up about 1/4 inch. The extra voltage, built up from jumping the gap, will fire a partially fouled plug.

So I tried this trick and it worked like a charm. Bike runs like a million bucks but only after clearing the left cylinder. So what's the verdict...a new set of plugs in order? They looked okay but I don't know when they were changed last. It's been my experience that a new set of plugs solves a bunch of problems.

SWARDLAW · Post by **SWARDLAW** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 11:02 am

My 69 ca77 did the same thing and it turned out the coil was bad. After changing the coil to a later model new cb550 coil it has never ran better.