TOPIC:

Hi guys! I need some help here. New riding season with nice weather is approaching to my area. I had issues at the end of last season and of course now again. Bike starts pretty quick when cold and runs pretty decent with good power(at least to me). Once I shut it off and it’s warmed up she doesn’t want to start until cool down. At the beginning of last season new spark plugs did the trick. I just installed new plugs and no change, my coils are reading 2.2ohms when cool but once I heated them with a heat gun they went nuts pass 5,6 and at one point infinite, so my assumption is they’re bad but to confirm it the question is, how hot should I get them to diagnose properly? Maybe I went too far? They were hot to the touch for sure,  I still have to check the caps for 5,000 ohms and I looked into the WG relay setup but will hold on the mod as I’m getting the same voltage from post to post of battery to the wire at the coil. So voltage is checking good. Any help would be great I’m trying to get on the road but I rather be safe 

Whatever it is, it is affecting all 4 cylinders at once.
I would look at your ignition module. Carry some canned air(canned air is flammable-use compressed CO2--see below) and cool the module by inverting the can and cooling the module if the bike doesn't start.
It seems weird that heat would affect both coils at the same time.
Grab a few inline spark testers from Harbor Freight to verify spark.

 

How about the secondary coil readings 10 - 15 kOhms and the condition of the ignition cable core wire, they can be corroded.

Seems like it's likely an ignition issue but have to ask if the valves are properly adjusted?  If the valves are tight they may be hanging open when hot thus bleeding off compression.  Failing to start hot is a very common symptom of overly tight valves.

wrote:

Whatever it is, it is affecting all 4 cylinders at once.
I would look at your ignition module. Carry some canned air and cool the module by inverting the can and cooling the module if the bike doesn't start.
It seems weird that heat would affect both coils at the same time.
Grab a few inline spark testers from Harbor Freight to verify spark.

Never though of that, but now I’ll add this to my list of test I need to perform on it, I appreciate it. 

wrote:

Seems like it's likely an ignition issue but have to ask if the valves are properly adjusted?  If the valves are tight they may be hanging open when hot thus bleeding off compression.  Failing to start hot is a very common symptom of overly tight valves.
I keep reading about the valves and I keep telling myself it can’t be because the bike moves pretty quick and with power when running but it makes since than when off and hot by expansion and weak/ off adjustment valves I’m loosing the compression to start strong. I have a copy of the repair manual but never done this on a bike, I’ll check it this weekend hopefully , thanks so much

 

wrote:

How about the secondary coil readings 10 - 15 kOhms and the condition of the ignition cable core wire, they can be corroded.

I didn’t checked my secondary’s because I was rushing, it was raining here last night and bike is outside with a cover so just removed the tank and did a quick inspection on the coils. I will dig deeper this weekend on secondary resistances, last year. I cut the tips of the wires because they were coming off easily from coil caps ( I just got this bike as a first bike rider gift last year) so it’s been a little project to get her 100%. 
I will confirm all specs this weekend and clean redo connections as/if  needed.  I appreciate that 
 

Just a little warning. Canned air is flammable.
So don't aim it at open flame and make sure the bike is off.

Actually, scratch using canned air.
You can probably use a CO2 canister used for inflating tires.
Just turn it upside down to chill the device.
much safer.

wrote:

Just a little warning. Canned air is flammable.
So don't aim it at open flame and make sure the bike is off.

Actually, scratch using canned air.
You can probably use a CO2 canister used for inflating tires.
Just turn it upside down to chill the device.
much safer.

that sounds good, I’ll try to get one of those to keep it safe, that’s a good point! 

 

Hey all! An  Update here.... so I took the tank and use a temporary fuel supply hose from the tank to the carbs, ran it and when shut off had the same issue as before, coils weren’t hot and resistance was at 2.2-2.3 ohms. Voltage was the same as battery. I replaced the ends of the primary wires to the coils anyways, and even solder the connections and cleaned the coil terminals. Found one fuse on the box messed up and melting the fuse box a little bit, wire was hard (guess oxidation?) cut it and use a new Inline fuse same amperage and solder connections.  I didn’t checked the secondary coils but decided to have the bike pulled next to my car and jump it with car started, and it started every time with within 2-3 seconds. Thats when I realized while the battery is holding voltage it didn’t had power to crank and supply the power needed to start the bike. I did had it on a trickle charge but sat outside all winter which was bitter here in PA. And guess what, Being a rookie when I searched the battery last year it came up as a 8amp and that’s what I installed. Just installed a 12amp which is way bigger and taller, it’s changing for the 24 hour mark, tomorrow  if I get to run it I’ll post more updates. 

Something may be amiss with your charging system.
Hard to know which part yet.

You may already know this but if you jump your bike from your car; leave the car off.
Otherwise, you may mess up your regulator/rectifier.

Grab your meter
DC V
key on/ignition on/engine not running
everything connected

black probe on Positive battery post(metal part of battery)
red probe on the white wire in fuse block you just fixed.(make sure fuse is connected)

If you have more than .5V then you have too much of a voltage drop along that line(if negative just reverse your probes).
The white wire supplies power to everything except the starter and charging.
By doing this test, you are checking the entire wire from the battery post to point where you touch on the fuse.
If there is any corrosion, wire breakage, high resistance between those 2 probe points, it will show up as higher than .5V dc.
If you do find higher than .5V, move one of the probes closer to the other probe.
When the voltage drops you will have found your issue.

wrote:

Something may be amiss with your charging system.
Hard to know which part yet.

You may already know this but if you jump your bike from your car; leave the car off.
Otherwise, you may mess up your regulator/rectifier.

Grab your meter
DC V
key on/ignition on/engine not running
everything connected

black probe on Positive battery post(metal part of battery)
red probe on the white wire in fuse block you just fixed.(make sure fuse is connected)

If you have more than .5V then you have too much of a voltage drop along that line(if negative just reverse your probes).
The white wire supplies power to everything except the starter and charging.
By doing this test, you are checking the entire wire from the battery post to point where you touch on the fuse.
If there is any corrosion, wire breakage, high resistance between those 2 probe points, it will show up as higher than .5V dc.
If you do find higher than .5V, move one of the probes closer to the other probe.
When the voltage drops you will have found your issue.

I didn’t knew that, I herd people saying it but I thought it was a he said/ she said thing until you explain the results. Glad I been spared! so just to be sure I understood, ignition on, one prob on battery positive and with my negative I’m going to contact the wire I fixed and look for drops, (assuming higher voltage due to resistance created by corrosion or other issues inside wiring?) more than .5v will indicated issues and from there I move towards terminal once voltage is back to .5v I have found the area affected and needing repair? 
That’s cool I appreciate the knowledge sharing