[Jehos]

I'm having a problem with my 2006. Some background--I just bought a 2006 with 782 miles on it. Since then, I've put about 100 miles on it. A couple weekends ago I dropped it on the right-hand side in my parking lot. Since then, the right-hand cylinder seems to not be sparking all the time (or possibly not at all)--sometimes the engine RPMs drop and it wants to stall when it's warming up, even under full choke. Before the drop, full choke would send the engine racing up to like 3000 or 3500 RPM right after I'd start the bike. Now this doesn't happen all the time, so it could just be that the bike is colder. Tonight when I was working on it, I fired it up on full choke and the engine raced just like I'm used to it doing. I can't say 100% how it normally behaves since I've had the bike for such a short time.

So the symptoms:

- Sometimes the bike wants to stall even with full choke. No amount of twiddling with the choke and throttle cures the problem.
- I've only ridden once when the bike was idling rough, and even after riding across downtown and hopping on the highway for a couple miles it still idled really rough.
- The right-side exhaust blows out some white smoke every time the cylinder fires (I get little puffs that match the engine RPM). I'm almost certain it's not oil, it doesn't have the bluish tinge and doesn't smell like oil (I've had cars that burned oil badly, I know the smell well).
- The left-hand exhaust pipe right where it comes out of the engine heats up much faster than the right. I think this tells me the right-hand cylinder isn't firing, or isn't firing all the time.

Anyway, to test whether it was the coil I swapped the right and left side coil, but the problem remained on the right-hand side. Same smoke, same not heating up, although the idle wasn't rough. I don't know if that's because it's warmer--it's about 60 degrees here right now.

One thing I noticed when doing the swap--on the side coming from the battery, there's a red and black wire and a blue and grey wire. On the left-hand side, the red wire goes to the blue terminal on the coil, but on the right it's the blue wire going to the blue terminal. Is my right-hand coil wired up wrong? Can anybody with the same or similar year check their bike and see if that's how the wiring goes? I don't have a manual for my bike yet and won't be able to get one until this weekend so I figured I'd ask here first.

 

[fog]

Since you swapped the coils and the problem didn't. (swap) I don't believe the coils or the ignition is you problem. Check the condition of the insides of the plug boots and clean them.
Then look to the carbs. and or fuel system . The white smoke could be water too.

FOG

 

[Jehos]

So does how the coil is hooked up not matter? Like I said, the coils on each side are hooked up two different ways. Is there a positive and ground side of a coil, or can those be reversed with no issues?

 

[MrSciTrek]

Have you had a chance to pull the plugs after a poor starting episode?

If so, what do they look like?

Maybe run a long cardboard/paper tube into the combustion chamber to see if it's wet in there, and what it smells like (coolant vs fuel vs alien saliva).

 

[Jehos]

I have pulled the plugs, they were clean (looked like normal plugs after 850 miles of use). What I didn't do that I probably should have was lay each one against the frame and fire up the bike to make sure I was getting spark. My dad came over this past weekend to help me figure out what's wrong and we sort of gave up on the plugs after seeing they were clean and discovering that his compression tester for cars wouldn't fit since the bike plugs are much smaller diameter.

 

[fog]

Check the insides of the plug caps. They un screw from the wires, take the rubber off and clean the insides. Down in the bottom there is a brass screw that holds a resistor. be sure all that is tight. Then cut off 1/4" of both ends of wires and renew the connections. Or better get new COPPER wire.
Then work on the carbs. Be sure the pilot jets are open and unplug the Pilot screws and adjust them. If you don't know how ......ask.

FOG

 

[Jehos]

Update - did a proper spark check, spark is not the problem. Last night I pulled the carbs and checked everything out. It looks like everything is clean--there's no gunk buildup in the float bowls, I can see through both the pilot and main jets, all the moving pieces seem to move properly, etc. My dad took the carbs home with him to blow and clean them out.

While I have the carbs off, is there anything else I need to do? FOG, you mentioned adjusting the pilot screws. Do you have a link or any more info on how to do that? Getting everything apart wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be, but I'd rather do everything I need to do all at once.

If for some reason I *still* have a problem after the carb cleaning, is compression the next thing to check? Hopefully that won't be the case, but I figure I'll ask now so I'm prepared if things go south this weekend when we put it all back together.

 

[MrSciTrek]

Check the insides of the plug caps. They unscrew from the wires, take the rubber off and clean the insides. Down in the bottom there is a brass screw that holds a resistor. Be sure all that is tight. Then cut off 1/4" of both ends of wires and renew the connections. Or better get new COPPER wire.

FOG

If we get copper plug wires will we make radio noise for homes & cars we drive past?

 

[fog]

Check the insides of the plug caps. They unscrew from the wires, take the rubber off and clean the insides. Down in the bottom there is a brass screw that holds a resistor. Be sure all that is tight. Then cut off 1/4" of both ends of wires and renew the connections. Or better get new COPPER wire.

FOG

If we get copper plug wires will we make radio noise for homes & cars we drive past?

Only on AM and then only for about 5 feet around the bike. The bike has a resistor in the plug leads to clip the residual spark that's the cause of most spurious radiation. Then who cares?

FOG

 

[Guest]

That makes so much sense. I was testing for continuity through the plug wires and the connector thingies (that grab the top of the plugs. I was expecting 0 resistance, but got something like 5 ohms.

 

[trhouse]

So does how the coil is hooked up not matter? Like I said, the coils on each side are hooked up two different ways. Is there a positive and ground side of a coil, or can those be reversed with no issues?

There is a subtle difference which makes no difference in this case. How you hook up the to the coil will reverse the polarity of the high voltage pulse to the spark plug so if it is +10 kilovolts one way it will be -10 kilovolts the other way. The fuel being ignited cannot tell the difference.

The ignition coil is similar to how high voltage is generated in CRT displays except in that case it matters. The electron gun of a CRT produces electrons which need to be accelerated towards the viewing screen which has an anode that needs to be at a high + potential like +25 kilovolts to attract the electrons. If it is reversed it does not work too well.