Need some help engine missing

[dkip]

My gas mileage dropped by about 10 mpg. I checked and my left back cylinder wasn't heating up the pipe so I removed the plug and it was fouled I replaced with new plug but pipe still does not heat up So cylinder is still not firing. I can do some repairs but am not sure on what is the best way to trace this problem. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

dale

[V7Goose]

The first step would be to see if you have any spark at all from that coil. Start by removing the plug cap from the wire (unscrew it), stick a small nail in the end of he end of the wire to contact the copper core, hold the wire with insulated pliers so it is near the engine case or frame (bare metal, not painted), then start the engine. You should see a very strong spark jumping from the nail. If not, troubleshoot the coil.

 

If you do have a spark from the bare wire, next step is to check the resistance of the cap - should be about 10K ohms.

 

Let us know your results and we'll identify the next steps.

Goose

Edited August 18, 2011 by V7Goose

[saddlebum]

Need some help engine missing

I would start by checking the neighbours garage and then slowly work my way down the street. If that fails check Yammer Dans new shop

[Sylvester]

I would start by checking the neighbours garage and then slowly work my way down the street. If that fails check Yammer Dans new shop

 

Yammer Dans shop is not quite up and running yet. Best to go to Bubba's shop down the road a fer bit.

 

[BoomerCPO]

Sounds like them pygmies are in yer neighborhood......

Boomer....who sez it's Bush's fault.

[Black Owl]

I would start by checking the neighbours garage and then slowly work my way down the street. If that fails check Yammer Dans new shop

 

:rotfl: My first thought when I read the title of this thread was, "Did he check under the saddle?"

[myminpins]

:rotfl: My first thought when I read the title of this thread was, "Did he check under the saddle?"

 

Me too!!!!

[Black Owl]

Reminds me of the old story about the two blondes who met at the service department of their local VW dealer.

They got to talking and the first blonde tells the other that she is there because her engine is missing.

The second blonde tells her not to worry about it because there is a spare in the trunk. :bang head:

[dkip]

Thanks V7goose

The spark from the nail seems very weak . How do I trouble shoot the coil

 

dale

[V7Goose]

Thanks V7goose

The spark from the nail seems very weak . How do I trouble shoot the coil

 

dale

First, do the exact same test for the other rear cylinder. This will allow you to be certain that the "weak" spark you think you see is actually weak. Assuming the other rear cylinder shows a strong spark from the bare wire, then the only test left to do is to simply swap the coils.

 

Here is the easy way to do that. The two rear coils are mounted below the battery near the swing arm pivot. They are easily seen from under the right side of the bike while it is on the side stand. The most simple test is to simply reverse the wires on the coils, meaning the LR coil will now fire the RR plug. Not hard to do with needle nose pliers. The spade connectors are different sizes between the hot and ground terminals, so should be no problem to swap the wires without mixing them up. Make the change and see if the other header pipe is now cold - if it is, you have proven you have a bad coil. If the problem stays with the original cylinder, you have proven that either the ignitor is bad or the wires to that coil are bad.

 

After you complete the test, do not forget to swap the coil wires back! The bike will not care, but you might go crazy in the future trying to trace down some other problem.

Goose

[Uturn]

Same thing happened to me more or less. I was down at Muffinman's to do a ColorTune and the rear plug wasn't firing. It turned out to be a bad coil. Jeff said that was the second one he ran into on a 2006 RSV in three weeks. Really a coincidence, huh? Ordered the coil, finished the colortune and all is well and the RSV runs like HELLo !!!! Good luck with yours!!! Call Muffinman, tell him road trip :>).

 

MIKE aka Uturn

Edited August 19, 2011 by Uturn

[FuzzyRSTD]

:rotfl: My first thought when I read the title of this thread was, "Did he check under the saddle?"

 

Ya, me too Black owl. I thought "Woe" engine is gone ???? :rotf:

 

Sorry Dkip, hope you get her humming soon. V7Goose is good with this stuff. Hang in there.

[dkip]

I tried the nail thing with the other coil guess my plyers are not so well insulted. My heart is strong anyways. Seems to be lots of spark by the lifter I got

Tried to change the wires on the coils seemed like both cylinders were not getting hot don't no if I had the clips on tight kind of hard to tell.

Switch wires back on coil and left side did not warm up right did again.

So I'am thinking it's a coil. What do I have to remove to get at them my fat fingers don't seem to fit in that spot

[V7Goose]

I have never had to remove the rear coils, so I cannot tell you specifics. Hopefully someone here will chime in. If not, I will take a look at it tomorrow and try to give you the details.

 

I would still urge you to try and get a good test by switching the coil wires. Only two possible results -

1. same cylinder stays cold, proving that problem is NOT the coil, or

2. other rear cylinder gets cold but original one fires well, proving that the problem IS the coil.

 

If you are sure you have a bad coil, I can send you one, but I have no idea what the cost of Canada shipping would be - within the U.S. it would just be $5.

Goose

[dkip]

I will try to switch coil wires tomorrow I dont thing I was getting them to fit on tight and make good contact I will try again when I have some more time.

Thanks very much for all your help

dale

[V7Goose]

Here is a bit more information on the coil wires. All four coils have one wire that is the same color - this is the common wire and does not need to be switched. I do not remember for sure what the color is, but I think it is the wider spade terminal. You can check the color by referring to the schematic diagram, or just wipe off the wires on both rear coils and see which two are the same color. Each coil has one wire that is a different color than the other coils - this should be the narrower spade terminal. For the test you need to do, this different colored wire is the only one you need to switch.

Goose

[dkip]

The wider wire is black. the narrow ones are orange and yellow.

Changing two wires will be easier than four.

Thanks

[Dano]

I was hoping that Goose would have told you to use a VERY well insulated pair of pliers to hold that spark wire! At least up to 15,000 volts!

 

But now you know.........

[dug050]

You stated that when you switched the wires neither cylinder got hot, a silly question but did you also switch the spark plug wires? If not you are messing up the firing order and were probably running on 2 cylinders.

As Goose said, you are swapping the coils firing these two cylinders without the trouble of physically moving them to see if the problem moves.

I may be stating the obvious but just to be sure.... ask me how I know

 

Doug

[dkip]

No I did not switch the plug wires and yes it did seem like it was running on two cylinders

I will try again

Thanks

[V7Goose]

You stated that when you switched the wires neither cylinder got hot, a silly question but did you also switch the spark plug wires? If not you are messing up the firing order and were probably running on 2 cylinders.

As Goose said, you are swapping the coils firing these two cylinders without the trouble of physically moving them to see if the problem moves.

I may be stating the obvious but just to be sure.... ask me how I know

 

Doug

Doug, thank you for pointing this out - it was a HUGE oversight for me not to have made that clear (sorry dkip)!

 

Currently the orange wire triggers the left side coil to fire the #1 left rear cylinder, and the yellow wire triggers the other coil for the #3 cylinder. You simply want to reverse the coils, which means swapping the orange and yellow wires AND swapping the plug wires.

 

BTW - you did not tell me what the resistance of the plug cap was while you had it off - did you measure it? That could easily be your whole problem (which is why it was part of the first test I wanted you to do).

Goose

Edited August 19, 2011 by V7Goose

[dkip]

I did not measure the resistance of the plug gap. I don't know whats needed to do this.

 

I thought by having tested it for spark with out the plug cap on and getting no spark It would be the coil.

I.am home from work now and I will change the wires on the coil and plugs to see what this does.

I've checked all the dealers in the area and they all say the coil is a back order 2-3 weeks

I'am waiting to find out if I can get one from a wrecker.

Thanks for all your help

[dkip]

I changed both plug wires and coil wires and now the let cylinder is getting hot but not the right.

So I still have to do more test to show its not the plug cap

 

dale

[Venturous Randy]

I changed both plug wires and coil wires and now the let cylinder is getting hot but not the right.

So I still have to do more test to show its not the plug cap

 

dale

 

Did you swap the wires at the coils or at the plugs? If you swapped the wires at the coils, the caps stayed at the same place. If you swapped the wires at the plugs, then you may have moved the problem from one plug to the other one.

RandyA

[dug050]

Since the problem moved from the left cylinder to the right when you switched coils you now have narrowed it down to a problem with that coil. It could be a bad coil, excessive resistence in the plug cap or a bad ignitor.

To check the resistence in the plug cap you need a multimeter that can measure resistence in Ohms. Unscrew the cap from the plug wire and place one test lead on the brass screw in the cap where the plug wire came out of and the other lead on the fitting that pushes onto the sparkplug. You should have about 10 ohms resistence. If it is much more than 11 ohms reach up inside the cap with a slotted screwdriver and unscrew the fitting that pushes onto the sparkplug. Be careful not to loose any parts, you should have a small washer, a spring and a resistor. The problem is that corrosion builds up on the washer and spring and increases the resistence resulting in a weak spark. Clean everything up and reassemble. When you screw the cap back onto the sparkplug lead it is a good idea to cut about 1/4" off the lead to make a good connection.

If this doesn't solve the problem then I would change the coil and if you still have a problem the ignitor will have to be replaced.