Spark dies, then mysteriously returns. ICM prob?

My ignition problem turned out to be a bad Pulse Coil.
-Installed to new spark plugs
-New Plug Caps and wire cored cables
-Installed a used ignition coil
Problem persisted...
-Installed a new Dyna S ignition system and had mechanic synch the carbs.
Took bike out yesterday for a good run and it never missed a beat all day! Feels like it has more response and power and is running smoother. Now this machine is starting to feel the the one I had in California! I think I will be able to take some trips this summer and feel confident that my machine will get me there and back.

I also got some SeaFoam, (after reading about it on here) and added a half can to a fill up. Ran that tank down and fill the tank again. Then on the next fill up, I added the remaining half can.
My bike used to smoke pretty bad from the right side pipes when I first started it cold on full choke.
After the first tank of SeaFoam in the gas, a friend commented that he's not seing any smoke any more. Now he's using it in his old bike.
I plan to add some to my crankcase and then run a few miles before my next oil and filter change.

For what it is worth, on my 1981 Kaw 1000CSR, I had to replace my pickup coils. One of them was bad, and I used an ohmmeter to find the bad one. On my bike, it would run on 2 cyls until it warmed up, and then start running on 4 cyls. It did this fairly consistently, and it took me a long time to get it right for the following reasons:
I bid on, waited to win, and won ignition coils off Ebay. Waited for them to be shipped to me. Drive the 20 miles to my bro's place where the bike was stored, and they did not solve the problem. I then discovered this forum, and found Salvation when Lou D. emailed me with instructions for pinpointing the problem. It was the pickup coils. Bid on, waited to win, waited for the wrong pickup coils to be shipped to me. The picture was not a good one on ebay.
Bid on, waited to win, and got outbid at the last hour by somebody else. At this point, I went to the local salvage yard, and got the right ones for $60. I can tell you that the pickup coils that mount with the screws pointing forward and backward(versus pointing toward the engine) are more rare, and expensive on Ebay.
Anyway, I drove the 20 miles to my bro's place with my salvage yard pickup coils, and now i am reunited with my Kaw.

Hay Major, I got the pulsing coils the other day. I did some testing on them today. When they are cold they measure out like new. Than I threw them in the oven while measuring the Ohms. As the 1/4 coil was heating up the resistance started climbing I got the coil all the way to 250f before it hit the upper service limit of 540 Ohms after I let it stay in there for about 20 minutes at that temperature but the coil would not open. At that point I puled it out of the oven and started smacking it on the counter to see if i could get it to fail. I could not. I wonder if it is the IC module that was bad and not the pulsing coils. Tomorrow i will mount them in my bike and take it for a ride. Not too far, just round and round for about half an hour and see if I can get it to fail.

Well that is interesting.
I'll have to check with my mechanic, who installed the Dyna S system for me. If I recall, he mentioned that the new system did not make use of the original Ignition Igniter Box. All I know is that the bike is doing great with the new system in place.
Meanwhile, you got yourself a good set of coils.

That is correct, The Dina replaces both the pulsing coils and the IC box. So it may have been either. I did not have a chance to install the coils on my bike yesterday to check them out yet s i still don't know for sure. how long did it take usually before the ignition started to falter?

otakar wrote:

That is correct, The Dina replaces both the pulsing coils and the IC box. So it may have been either. I did not have a chance to install the coils on my bike yesterday to check them out yet s i still don't know for sure. how long did it take usually before the ignition started to falter?

Well, Me and a riding pal will usually take off to ride around one of the lakes around here and those rides are often sixty or seventy miles.
I'd say the problem typically manifested itself within twenty to forty miles. Then I'd be lugging along on two cylinders. I'd have to go a gear lower than I normally would, for the speed I was going, to keep her moving. We would reach a rest area and pull in and the bike would just quit but then after sitting for a while I'd get her going again and sometime it would be ok and other times I could feel those cylinders cut in and out on the way home.

Since it is very simple to change those and takes no more than 5-10 minutes, I will have a set of good coils with me and a small meter so I can check them and change them If one fails. Did the RPM you ran make any difference? Is city driving and a lot of idle time worse or better than continuous cruising at highway speeds? All I will need to bring with me is the Allan Wrench for the points cover and a Phillips for the coils.

otakar wrote:

Since it is very simple to change those and takes no more than 5-10 minutes, I will have a set of good coils with me and a small meter so I can check them and change them If one fails. Did the RPM you ran make any difference? Is city driving and a lot of idle time worse or better than continuous cruising at highway speeds? All I will need to bring with me is the Allan Wrench for the points cover and a Phillips for the coils.

Oh Ya, forgot to mention that it always seemed to happen after running in 5th gear for a while. With so many miles of winding two lane road through wooded country around here, much of my riding is in 4th, around 4000 to 4500 rpm but when I'd get up into 5th and keep it there for a while is when it would usually happen. A real letdown when you bank into a series of s-turns and give it some gas and it don't want to accelerate cause it's gagging along on two cylinders.

More than once I'd stop somewhere to let it cool and pull the plugs to find #1 and #4 all black and fouled.

MajDSaster wrote:

otakar wrote:

Since it is very simple to change those and takes no more than 5-10 minutes, I will have a set of good coils with me and a small meter so I can check them and change them If one fails. Did the RPM you ran make any difference? Is city driving and a lot of idle time worse or better than continuous cruising at highway speeds? All I will need to bring with me is the Allan Wrench for the points cover and a Phillips for the coils.

Oh Ya, forgot to mention that it always seemed to happen after running in 5th gear for a while. With so many miles of winding two lane road through wooded country around here, much of my riding is in 4th, around 4000 to 4500 rpm but when I'd get up into 5th and keep it there for a while is when it would usually happen. A real letdown when you bank into a series of s-turns and give it some gas and it don't want to accelerate cause it's gagging along on two cylinders.

More than once I'd stop somewhere to let it cool and pull the plugs to find #1 and #4 all black and fouled.

If not already done, would assure float bowl fuel levels are within spec, especially that they're not too high, using the clear tube test.

Might also try leaning the pilot circuits.

Also assure choke plungers are going all the way down when the choke is off.

And that the air filter is clean and unobstructed, and not over oiled (if applicable).

With brand new plug, what is visible quality of spark?

Good Fortune!

The bike already runs with the new ignition. I installed the pulsers today, and ran them for about an hour and a half on city streets. I will take it on the highway tomorrow and test them for about 100Mi at highway speeds.

Well I thought my ignition problem was fixed with the Dyna-S system but on a recent trip to Maine, the problem returned.

I was cruising along and enjoying the ride, just glad to get out of town for a couple of days when the bike started stuttering as I tried to accelerate up a grade. Pretty soon it was gagging along on two cylinders and I barely made it into a parking lot. Pulling the plugs revealed the usual carbon fouling on the 1st and 4th while the 2nd and 3rd were running clean. After about a half hour, I got it started and headed down the road and it gradually smoothed out. But it made me nervous for the rest of the trip till I got home.

My mechanic insisted is has to be an electrical issue. He said that, considering the age, there could be some corrosion inside a wire that causes an intermittent loss or reduction of power. So I asked him if there was any reason I couldn’t run a direct line from the battery to the coils and he said there wasn’t.

Using an in-line fuse at the battery, I ran a line to a toggle switch which I mounted on a small panel that is attached to the handlebar clamps. The line from the switch splits to feed both coils with connectors that allowed the original wires to piggy-back onto them so the bike is running on the original wiring. All of the new wiring is housed in rubber vacuum line, to protect it.

I planned on running the bike on the original wiring until it began stuttering on two cylinders again and then I would throw the switch. If the cylinders cut back in and I regain full power, then I’ll know that I can defeat the intermittent problem and go places on the bike with confidence.

When I finished with my new wiring job and put all my tools away, I grabbed a spray can of electrical contact cleaner, which I had bought at the parts store, as an after thought, while I was buying the switch, fuse and vacuum line.

Under the left side cover of my Kz1000, there are six electrical connector blocks. Each block has from three to five wires that are joined into harnesses which all seem to tie into the large main wiring harness. Many of the brass contacts in these connectors had various degrees of corrosion built up on them.
With all six connector blocks unplugged, I sprayed the contacts, inside the male and female parts of the connectors and then left them unplugged for a while to be sure they were dry, (though a test spray on a flat surface revealed that this contact cleaner evaporates very fast). I then plugged in all six connectors.

Twenty minutes later I was riding down the road to a friend’s house and could feel a definite difference in the bike. Over the following four days, we went for rides of sixty and seventy miles per day. The bike has not missed a beat! It has been almost three weeks now and I have been riding as much as I can. Long rides on winding, hilly back roads. High speed runs on the interstate. Commutes of twenty five or thirty miles to go some stores or go to work, (I finally got a full time job after a year of unemployment!)
My riding pal says that when I’m riding next to him, he hears the difference, even over the straight pipes of his Victory. This tired, twenty-nine year old Kz 1000 is running like watch and I still have not had a chance to test my by-pass circuit. Plus, I’ve noticed that my turn signals are flashing faster than they used to and my horn is loud and strong, when it used to sound kind of feeble.

So now I wonder if I could have fixed most of my trouble with this bike two years ago with a four dollar can of contact cleaner!

I use a brand called "De-oxit" on my electrical connectors in my bike. www.deoxit.com is their website.