Cylinders cutting in and out

Out of the blue, my motorcycle started running like hammered poop. It goes anywhere from firing on 2 to 4 cylinders seemingly at random. So random, I thought I'd fixed it a couple times with my tinkering, only to have it start bucking a couple blocks down the road. I am happy that I can tell by ear how many cylinders my bike is running on, but that game gets old real fast. It does seem to help if I'm going faster, so that got me thinking "spark".

I replaced the spark plugs in hope of the $8 miracle fix, but no joy.

I pulled off the pickup cover to check the timing, and it was right on. I pulled off the pickup plate and the advance seemed a little sad looking, so I greased it up with some chain lube and worked the mechanism a little. It didn't seem to be frozen. I re-timed it after putting it back together and it seems to be advancing the timing just fine. I didn't have any more time to troubleshoot before going to work, so I thought I'd ask you fellas your opinion.

I'm gonna go through the electrics tomorrow. Anyone think it could be something else? I'm going out of town tomorrow evening, and I was hoping to ride the KZ.

If not aleady done for suspected electrical issues would check for:

Low battery or poor connections at terminals or where negative attaches to ground;

Proper voltage reaching coils.

Good Luck!

l0g1c wrote:

Out of the blue, my motorcycle started running like hammered poop.

When mine did that it was from crap getting into a main jet.

That was also going to be my idea, small particles plugging & unplugging the pilots & mains like rust in the tank. Either that or you have some connectors that are just laying together & not plugged in properly or grounding out

bountyhunter wrote:

l0g1c wrote:

Out of the blue, my motorcycle started running like hammered poop.

When mine did that it was from crap getting into a main jet.

Maybe posting this in the Electrical section was a bit optimistic. I did replace this ugly bugger when I put on my valve cover gasket. Maybe some gunk got by.