Ignition problems

[Troll]

    I think I have the problem figured out. No guarantee, since I can't see the bike, but..... I just flooded my 1500, this afternoon. I have been riding it on and off since mid Feb, but the weather, lately hasn't really been ideal...I went to start it today, after all, it's 40 right now, so it should start. Yeah, right. The battery was down a little, and it didn't crank as well as it should have (might have been the 10 deg overnight temp), It popped a few times and almost started, then nothing. Put my battery charger on it and waited about 15 mins, tried again. almost but not quite. I kept cranking it, like a dummy, and by now it was drowned. Pulled the plugs and they were dripping with unburned fuel.  Went to napa and got 4 new plugs for $2.19 each, cranked the engine with the plugs out and the throttle wide open until the raw fuel quit spraying out of the cylinders, put in the plugs, and a couple of pops and a HUGE cloud of smoke and it's running fine. Here's the deal. Any engine using a waste spark system will exhibit this kind of a situation if one of the plugs gets fouled. The spark goes to the plug with the burnable mixture, which is the easiest to ionize and makes a conductive path for the plug. Since the coils on the drifter fire one plug on each cylinder, the wet plug will effectively short out the pair of plugs. If two get wet, say the right and left on the rear, then the whole thing goes down. This kind of thing happens with cars as well as bikes, so flooding it requires replacing the plugs, unless the weather is warm enough to get the fuel to evaporate. Cold weather and alcohol fuels don't really mix that well, and the systems they use to fire the plugs on modern engines have high voltage, but not high amperage.  High voltage/low amp systems make plugs last a long time by limiting metal migration from the anode to the cathode, but aren't very good at burning off deposits.  I could go on about electronic ign systems, but try 4 new plugs (don't try to get by with just 2) and see what happens. Make sure you crank the engine with the plugs out first to clear any liquid fuel from the cylinders, or you will be right back where you started.

[chief]

That really sounds like an electrical problem... something may have a flaky ground??

[Troll]

No problems other than the no start that left me about 2 miles from home. I had just ridden 360 miles, stopped for dinner, and then continued home. Next morning I went to the gas station and put in 4.5 gallons, and it wouldn't start at the pump, so I pushed it out of the way and waited like I had before, but this time no magic, and certainly no joy. Sometimes I think about the possibility of it having left me 65 miles from home instead of 2.

[hornbuckle77]

With the aftermarket ignition switch, ever have any problems with the oil light, temp light, and fuel light blinking on and off? They seem to come on with throtle and at times on decel. I've gone over the wiring several times but can't seem to figure it out....
Thanks

[Troll]

  When you turn the key on, you should be able to hear the fuel pump for 2 seconds. It's priming the system. If there is no noise, then the pump is not running. I found out the hard, and expensive way, that there is a resistor built into the ign. switch harness that drops the voltage going to the ecm to make it more difficult to hot wire and steal the bike. If the voltage is wrong, the pump will not turn on. I had this problem last summer, 4 times. The fuel pump wouldn't turn on after filling up with over 4.5 gallons, on a hot day, until the bike cooled for several minutes. I suspected the fuel pump, and ordered one....only to find out $600 later, that the aftermarket ign. switch that was on the bike when I bought it, was the culprit.   If it turns out you need a fuel pump, I have one in pristine condition.

[chief]

First check the kill switch...

Check the kick stand and clutch switch and make sure the plug caps are secure

If you have plenty of fuel and all switches are ok..

immediately after attempting a start pull a plug and check the insulator. If its wet, you are getting fuel. If not, you may have a fuel pump problem.

The EFI does a self-diagnosis... the procedure for getting any error codes is located over in the mods/tips area of the web site.

No error codes, do a spark test ... that will tell you if a coil is bad.

[LightEagle]

I have a '99 1500 with new battery and plugs.  Yesterday I started up to get fuel for a ride and it seem to take a little longer to fire up.  Today it cranks like crazy, but no fire.  A couple of small  coughs every now and then.  Should I be looking at the coil/s and wires?  Thanks in advance.

Mike Conlisk
LightEagle
'99 1500 Stock