Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Trying to get my brother-in-laws bike running. It's a 1982 maxim 650. The bike hasn't ran in years. The issue is it will not start. We've checked fuel supply and flow, changed out the fuel, cleaned the carborator. Some of the wiring appears to be old and worn but after jiggling the connections the lights come on, the horn works. The bike motor does turn but just doesn't start. We've found that two of the cylinders are not getting spark #1 and # 3. These are coming off two different coils. and the other wires coming off the two coils do have spark. Any ideas?

New sparkplugs?

The spark plug wires may need changing also.

or the relay for #1 and #3 wires could be bad as well. I know my bike has 2 relays (I dont know the correct term sorry). One does #1 and #3 the other does #2 and #4.

Remote diagnosis over a data stream is riot, eh?

I would start with replacing the high tension leads to #1 & #3. And new plugs all 'round. See where that gets you.....

I know it's over a month old but i have a similar bike. To change the spark plug wires you have to change the coils as they are mounted inside the sealed coil housing. The XJ cd (put out by the people on the xj mailing list and www.xjbikes.com ) has service manuals for the various bikes in this line up. there are aftermarket coils that have removable cables and boots available as well.