Total Motorcycle Community Forums

So I put some new coils on the bike the other day and tried to fire up the bike, problem was it only fired on one side. I checkd the plug and found no spark. I checked the voltage at that plug and got about 12v. I checked to make sure I didn't have any loose connections and that there weren't any open circuits on that coil. Everything checkes out as far as I can tell but still no spark. I even checked the tolerences of my points on that side and things were good but no spark. I'm a bit dumbfounded on this one.

Did you check the condenser?

Check the sparkplug.

I did check the condensor, in fact I swapped it with the one from the old set of coils just to make sure. Spark plugs are brand new and I swapped the plugs side to side to see if I had a bad plug. But it there was still no spark on the right side and wicked awesome spark on the left.

Did you try swapping the plug wires?

Okay, so I got the firing thing figured out. I put new points on the bike with the coils and I think I messed up on putting one of the points on and it was grounding out so I never got a spark. Reset the points and boom! awesome spark on both sides.

So I took the bike for a spin and it was making a really loud snappy sound like it was backfiring, only it was only making that sound, almost like there weren't any mufflers on it at all. I only went about 6 miles in all and it was really doggy by the time I got back. I checked the plugs (as this whole problem started with plugs that were super fouled, super fast) and sure as "poo poo" brand new plugs were carbon fouled so bad that you could visually see the thick carbon buildup. So now I know I have a hot spark, and my jets are stock, with aftermarket muffs that are "freer flowing" which would mean I should be running a little bit lean.

So that only leaves compression I think. I had my bike in the shop last year and the guy told me I had good compression, but maybe he was an idiot or something. I could have bad compression. I just reset my valve tappets and as I understand it, they are in the right spot. So does that mean my only other option is to rebuild the engine? I was hoping I'd get to ride this thing at some point this year...

Get a proper compression test done first. You want to be sure that's the problem before ripping it down and tossing that kinda cash at it.

What if my floats are set a little too high? I know they're not so high that fuel comes out the overflow. But is it possible that i'm flooding the engine a bit? Or could my timing be a bit off? I'm hoping its something I can fix relitively easy.

Fargo360 wrote: So I took the bike for a spin and it was making a really loud snappy sound like it was backfiring, only it was only making that sound, almost like there weren't any mufflers on it at all

That sounds like head gasket gone........Plugs fouling too, very possibly gasket blowing oil into combustion chamber. Alternatively, could be exhaust gasket/s blowing and an old partially blocked air filter