Perplexed

[OldHarley]

I removed the starter wire and tried to kick start my bike. I now have 12 volts at the points when they are open so I can see there is a problem somewhere in the starter circuit. I tried to kick start her and she is firing. It even backfired once. Progress! I checked the points again and I don't have power until just past the "f"notch and actually when the rotor hits the "t" notch. I will try to adjust this. Any feedback on whether this sounds like an issue?

12v continuous power is supplied to the coil. When the points open, at "F", they interrupt the current to the coil which causes the field in the coil to collapse and induces the high voltage needed to fire the plugs.

Since your description does not seem to match what I have described, I would say it is an issue.

[LOUD MOUSE]

Did you use the timing procedure in the FAQ section?. ....lm

I removed the starter wire and tried to kick start my bike. I now have 12 volts at the points when they are open so I can see there is a problem somewhere in the starter circuit. I tried to kick start her and she is firing. It even backfired once. Progress! I checked the points again and I don't have power until just past the "f"notch and actually when the rotor hits the "t" notch. I will try to adjust this. Any feedback on whether this sounds like an issue?

[Eljeef]

Did you use the timing procedure in the FAQ section?. ....lm


I think I did last year. I got the bike running! I took a close look at my points and they meet flush but they are angled. I had a very hard time trying to gap them. I changed the points to a new set I had that met flush and had an aven amount of material all the way across. I then set my gap, adjusted my points plate so that I had power almost exactly as the f mark hit the pointer, and gave it a kick. It took two or three kicks and it was running. I need to fine tune now. Btw I took video of this but apparently I had my camera upside down. When I play the video on my computer it shows upside down. I don't know how or if I can correct this.

[conbs]

Jeff, You get an A+ for diligence and patience. Good to hear you finally got it running.

For the benefit of everyone, what did you find was the issue with the low voltage at the points? I just read this thread again and didn't see what you had found.

Congrats on your success and I hope you will soon have that perma-grin from riding your Dream.

[Eljeef]

Jeff, You get an A+ for diligence and patience. Good to hear you finally got it running.

For the benefit of everyone, what did you find was the issue with the low voltage at the points? I just read this thread again and didn't see what you had found.

Congrats on your success and I hope you will soon have that perma-grin from riding your Dream.

Thanks. I did capture everything on video but when I transferred the vid to my computer it shows upside down. I guess my smart phone was upside down when I used it to record. As for the problem with the degraded voltage at the points, I still haven't completely ascertained the cause. I disconnected the outside starter wire and that took away the issue. I now have full voltage at the points lug when the points are open. Once I reviewed LM's tutorial for timing and tweaked the points plate a little she fired up. I kept it running with the throttle until it warmed up enough to adjust the air screw and now it runs on it's own and sounds oh so sweet. So the problem is in the starter or the starter solenoid I would think. If I can figure out how to make my video be right side up I will post it. Cheers. Jeff.

[Eljeef]

Okay, I will try to post video of my attempts to get this bike running. Be warned...it's a little lengthy. Just click on the images. I think if you make the vid full screen it won't be jumpy.




And after some more tuning...