Strange dyna coil failure

I had a really puzzling drop in performance today on my 83 GPZ 1100, and am hoping someone can shed some light on my problem.

A project bike I have almost finished started running very weak on cylinder #3 (exhaust stays warm while others are scalding hot). The performance is really horrible now, while yesterday it was running great. I found I was getting weak spark at cylinders 2 and 3, so I figure there is a problem with one of my coils. What I don't understand though, is why would cylinder 2 be firing nicely if it is a problem with the coil.

I have fairly new dynatek 3 ohm coils, and a dyna 2000 ignitor. I checked input voltage and both coils have practically no voltage drop (recently re-did a lot of the wiring). I have also subsituted both plugs and wires and everything seems to be fine.

Anyone else have any experience with dyna coils instantly failing like that? Or does anyone have any ideas for what else it could be?

Thanks!

Try swapping the coils around, so your 2-3 becomes 1-4. If the problem moves, then you know its coil related. If not then swap the plugs themselves, and see. Still no joy, you need to check the other side of the primary wiring. If you got good voltage, then you need the side to the Dyna, the trigger which is contact to ground checked out. Could be a poor connection, did you solder the wires or use a crimp connector? If everything checks out, then I guess I'd get a hold of Dyna and they can send you a check out for the 2000 ignition. Or go to there web site, they should have a troubleshooting guide for the 2000.

Mcjakass wrote:
Anyone else have any experience with dyna coils instantly failing like that? Or does anyone have any ideas for what else it could be?

Thanks!

I have seen coils fail. They run VERY hot and are subject to extreme voltage stress. I would hope a new coil would run a while before failing, but nothing is perfect.

I have had a new set of Dyna coils fail, They were replaced from factory on being returned.
From memory, one failed in the primary winding. I also seem to remember, I had to send a permit code, that I obtained from the Dyna factory, before they were despatched to the factory.
RegardZ.

Thanks guys, and sorry for not responding sooner. My oil pan was getting a heli-coil at the mechanic due to an unfortunate incident with a torque wrench...

I had already swapped the spark plugs and plug wires and they all checked out. Today I swapped out the coils to find that when I rechecked the spark, it seemed pretty similar across all cylinders. I started it up, and all cylinders are getting hot at the exhaust. So I guess the coils are probably fine, and it was due to some bad wiring. Will investigate further.

When I rode it though, it felt like it was really lacking performance. I haven't ridden the bike much, so it could all be in my head, but I think I remember it accellerating much stronger, especially at low throttle.

I just took it out for a bit of a longer ride, and when I got back, the coils, spark plugs, and top engine cover were very very hot. That's definitely not normal right? I know I'm now drifting my own thread off topic, but would anyone know what could cause that overheating? I've never dealt with any problem like this before.

Thanks again, and happy riding to all the north-easterners on what could be the last nice day of the year.
Chuck

I guess I should just do a quick follow up and say I have not found any other issues with my coils since I swapped them over, so I guess it must have been a pinched wire or something.

The coils and plugs getting hot was due to the coils becoming loose on the mounting brackets (doh!). Got them all tightened down nice and snug and have not seen that issue again.

It's hard to find good help these days